Intelligent Enterprise

The term "Intelligent Enterprise" refers to a management approach that applies technology and new service paradigms to the challenge of improving business performance. The concept, as articulated in James Brian Quinn's seminal book Intelligent Enterprise (Free Press, 1992) posits that intellect is the core resource in producing and delivering services. The book describes the management approach and computing infrastructure needed to harness that intellect effectively. This approach is referred to in business jargon as Knowledge Management, of which Quinn is an important proponent. Quinn is the William and Josephine Buchanan Professor of Management at the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.

James Brian Quinn, a 1949 Yale graduate with an MBA from Harvard and a PhD from Columbia University began teaching in Dartmouth’s Tuck Business School in 1957 till his retirement in 1993 (Hall, 2012). His expertise lied in the field of strategic planning, entrepreneurial innovation and management of technological change. At the time between his successes, he received fellowships that included Ford Foundation (1963-4), the Alfred. P. Sloan Foundation (1967–68), and the Fulbright Exchange program (1973). Quinn published extensively on educational books on both corporate and national policy – which included his theory of Intelligent Enterprise - an expansion of Knowledge Management (Academy of Management, 2012).

In 1983, Quinn began his research on Intelligent Enterprise during his preparation for a conference on “Technology and Economics” (Quinn 1992). When severely researching Quinn exposed his interest in the role of technology in service – and believed it was the key to advancement in infrastructure and manufacture. With the help of Penny Paquette and Ms Patricia Higgins, Quinn began data studies and interviews – mainly involving careers of advanced technology users in major service industries. Quinn found that there was a definite connection between technology and business and highlighted these results in journals including Scientific American, Harvard Business Review and Sloan Management Review (Academy of Management, 2014).

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