Management consultancy
Exam is going to be about the literature & the book, but not the workshops.
Lecture 1: introduction
What is management consulting?
Management consultancy is a knowledge-intensive service which independent business professionals
provide to managers of client organizations, and consists of objective advice on management’s
decisions regarding the solutions to the client organization’s problems and opportunities (narrow
definition), and may, in some cases, also consist of assistance with the management’s task regarding
the implementations of these solutions (broad definition)
It is not capital intensive, they are not selling a tangible product, they sell advice. But what is advice?
How do you know that the advice is good? How do you measure the impact of the advice? Basically,
all these firms have is knowledge but you really don’t know how accurate that knowledge is. You
assume that it is the case, they are highly intelligent people, with good education background, but
we don’t know for sure.
About the definition
It is a service, so it is intangible, there are no physical features that can be displayed or
communicated. There are some tangibles outputs (PowerPoint/reports). It cannot be stored, it is
perishable.
It is knowledge intensive; it requires a certain intellectual capability of the consultant.
It is based on independence: they need to be independent from their client in order to give impartial
advice. They also should have an equity relationship (not hierarchical).
This service is directed to the manager of the client organization. These are responsible for (parts of)
their organization. These are the person who are responsible for making decisions about problems &
opportunities of their organizations & countries.
It is about decision about the positioning & functioning of the company. It is not about personal
effectiveness (therefore you hire a coach), it is about business effectiveness.
Example of client opportunities & problems. There are 2 levels:
- Strategic level: It is about improving the LT performance of the organization as whole
enter a new industry, stagnant business, acquisition, need of more competiveness.
- Operational level: It is about improving the performance of one or more of the organization’s
operational activities over a shorter term.
Outsourcing a part of our activity? product quality improvement? need to reduce cost? Need
to retain our talent?
1
Exam is going to be about the literature & the book, but not the workshops.
Lecture 1: introduction
What is management consulting?
Management consultancy is a knowledge-intensive service which independent business professionals
provide to managers of client organizations, and consists of objective advice on management’s
decisions regarding the solutions to the client organization’s problems and opportunities (narrow
definition), and may, in some cases, also consist of assistance with the management’s task regarding
the implementations of these solutions (broad definition)
It is not capital intensive, they are not selling a tangible product, they sell advice. But what is advice?
How do you know that the advice is good? How do you measure the impact of the advice? Basically,
all these firms have is knowledge but you really don’t know how accurate that knowledge is. You
assume that it is the case, they are highly intelligent people, with good education background, but
we don’t know for sure.
About the definition
It is a service, so it is intangible, there are no physical features that can be displayed or
communicated. There are some tangibles outputs (PowerPoint/reports). It cannot be stored, it is
perishable.
It is knowledge intensive; it requires a certain intellectual capability of the consultant.
It is based on independence: they need to be independent from their client in order to give impartial
advice. They also should have an equity relationship (not hierarchical).
This service is directed to the manager of the client organization. These are responsible for (parts of)
their organization. These are the person who are responsible for making decisions about problems &
opportunities of their organizations & countries.
It is about decision about the positioning & functioning of the company. It is not about personal
effectiveness (therefore you hire a coach), it is about business effectiveness.
Example of client opportunities & problems. There are 2 levels:
- Strategic level: It is about improving the LT performance of the organization as whole
enter a new industry, stagnant business, acquisition, need of more competiveness.
- Operational level: It is about improving the performance of one or more of the organization’s
operational activities over a shorter term.
Outsourcing a part of our activity? product quality improvement? need to reduce cost? Need
to retain our talent?
1
