PENCORP was formed in 1984 to help companies better cope with imposed change and the stop-start consequences of the flexible labour market.

The company’s particular expertise is with the corporate applications of organisational memory (OM), the institution-specific know-how accrued from experience that characterises any organisation’s ability to perform. Call it practice, know-how, procedure, even history, this uniquely corporate form of intellectual capital is arguably the most important constituent of any institution’s durability. Without it – this is the state known as corporate amnesia - businesses have little experiential advantage because they can’t benefit from their own hindsight.

Arnold Kransdorff is a specialist in experiential learning and the leading UK authority on the consequences of the flexible labour market. The innovator of the concept known as corporate amnesia, his book on the subject “Corporate Amnesia” (Butterworth Heinemann, ISBN 0 7506 3949 0) was shortlisted for the MCA’s Management Book of the Year in 1998 (see website). A former financial analyst and industrial commentator for the Financial Times, he has won several national and international awards for his work in management, among them Industrial Feature Writer of the Year (1981) and an Award of Excellence (1997) from Anbar Management Intelligence, the world's leading guide in management journal literature. In 2006, Gower published "Corporate DNA" (details). His third book "The Death of Wisdom" was published in 2008 by the Business Expert Press (details)

A Visiting Fellow at Nottingham University Business School Institute of International Business History (UNIBHI), he is a guest lecturer at many UK and overseas business schools. He is also a regular speaker at international conferences, with his work widely published in academic journals, trade journals and the national press.

Pencorp are leaders in the use of Oral Debriefing techniques in management development, succession planning and post-implementation reviews, and the production of corporate histories.

SOME CLIENTS

RECENT SEMINARS

World Business Forum, Paris
British Computer Society, London
Association for Management Education and Development (AMED)
Luton University
Sunderland University
Dundee Graduate School of Management
Haifa Technion, Israel
University of Nottingham
University of Auckland
University of Queensland (Brisbane)

SOME ENDORSEMENTS OF OUR WORK

Professor Alfred Chandler, Harvard University: "I’m indeed impressed by your work and methodology."

Professor Malcolm McDonald, Cranfield School of Management: "I am fascinated by your approach and originality."

Sir Peter Parker, former chairman, British Rail: "I am struck by the innovative ideas of what you are doing."

Sir Campbell Adamson, chairman of Abbey National: "Without exception all acclaim it as a first rate piece of work of the highest standard which more than meets the original expectations."

Professor Gerald Vinten, President of the Institute of Internal Auditors, U.K. & Ireland: "Your technique [EBM] places business history consultancy right at the centre of organisational effectiveness and strategic need. The technique has real potential to win through, to save significant expenditure, and to lead to sustainable and long-lasting improvement."

Management Decision journal: ".... innovative. It is refreshing and exciting to see such a useful application [Overlap]."

Sir Nigel Mobbs, chairman of Slough Estates: "We must congratulate Pencorp on the efficient way the whole business was conducted."

Russell Williams, Sunderland Business School: "Pencorp champions experiential learning and convincingly challenges the popular notion that the flexible labour market, alone, is the corporate remedy for today's fast pace of change. The company has also innovated both the concept of corporate amnesia and some resourceful management tools for capturing organisations' valuable and hard-earned knowledge that is routinely forgotten or otherwise walks out of the front door when employees leave."

Allan Brown, British Computer Society: "I would like to think I have become a convert. I have seen the evidence of corporate amnesia a number of times, including my present assignment."

Professor John Pheby, Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Luton Business School: "Arnold Kransdorff is a very original and interesting speaker. I have heard him speak on a number of occasions and have always been impressed by the insightful nature of his talks. He has much of interest to state and his novel ideas will shortly become the new conventional wisdom."

Paul Hyde-Thomson, chairman of Ibstock Johnsen: ".... a marvelous achievement. I have heard nothing but praise from all quarters."

William J. Brookes, branch chairman, Institute of Management (IoM):.”I have always found Arnold Kransdorff’s lectures, discussions and ad-hoc conversations stimulating and thought provoking. In these days of ‘downsizing’ and ‘flattening the organisation’, with its middle management emphasis on youth rather than experience, I feel that his message is both timely and significant. It we do not follow his advice large sections of our management heritage will disappear and we will be continually ‘re-inventing the wheel.’”

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