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CASE STUDY 2.1

SCIENCECO MANAGING AN

EXPERT WORKFORCE

ScienceCo was founded in 1980. It is a medium-sized, technology-based consultancy
company, located on the outskirts of London. It operates today on a global basis. At
the time of its inception, the founder wished to create a consultancy environment that
would not only develop solutions in response to client problems, but also stimulate
invention and innovation more generally. Eighty-five per cent of the workforce are
highly educated scientists and technologists, who rely primarily on their expertise and
knowledge rather than equipment or systems to provide inventions and innovative
solutions for manufacturing, engineering and pharmaceutical companies around the
world.
Since 1980, the firm has grown from a small entrepreneurial business employing
a handful of scientific consultants specializing in engineering and communications to
a medium-sized company employing about 200 people and incorporating other sci-
entific disciplines such as biotechnology, applied sciences and information systems.
The workforce is truly international, incorporating 19 different nationalities. In defin-
ing the type of projects that ScienceCo conducted for their clients, it is important to
understand the difference between invention and innovation. Consultants working
in interdisciplinary project teams develop completely new concepts and products
that are marketed as intellectual property rights (IPR) to clients and project teams.
They also develop innovative solutions to client problems using existing concepts,
ideas and technologies in new ways. The firm has been responsible for the invention
of major scientific and technological developments that are recognized and used
throughout the world. One such item is the electronic security tag, which since its
invention has been manufactured and marketed by the Swedish firm Esselte. Sci-
enceCo is primarily in the business of creating new knowledge and applying existing
knowledge in new ways.
A crucial issue for management at ScienceCo has always been attracting and
retaining a highly skilled, expert workforce of international standing in order for the
firm to grow and successfully compete on a global basis. Thus developing an appro-
priate organizational environment in which expert consultants are keen to work has
been of paramount importance. The following sections outline the organizational
structure, human resource practices, patterns of IT usage and organizational culture
that have developed within the firm over time.

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