The Economist: Business Consulting : A Guide to How It Works and How to Make It Work

The ultimate guide for those using or planning to use business consultants - and for consultants themselves In the last three decades of the 20th century the management consultancy industry grew at a cracking pace but increased scepticism about the value that consultants genuinely add, combined with the economic slowdown, has made life much tougher for the consulting industry. As firms have cut back on consulting services and begun to review the way they use consultants, consulting firms themselves are looking at how they need to change. People are now talking about business consulting rather than management consulting. Using real examples from a range of private sector firms, public sector organisations and from the consultants themselves, this book explores the new business consulting world and looks at every element of it with the aim of both helping firms make better use of consultants and showing consultants how they need to adapt and provide their clients a better service. In the last three decades of the twentieth century, the management consultancy industry grew at a cracking pace, but increased scepticism about the value that consultants genuinely add, combined with the economic slowdown, has made life much tougher for the consulting industry. As firms cut back on consulting services and begin to review the way they use consultants, consulting firms themselves are looking at how they need to change. People are now talking about business consulting rather than management consulting. Using real examples from a range of private sector firms, public sector organisations, and from the consultants themselves, this book explores the new business consulting world and looks at every element of it with the aim of both helping firms make better use of consultants and showing consultants how they need to adapt and provide their clients a better service. "This book explores the new shape of consulting. It examines why organisations use consultants, how consulting firms compete and what consultants do. Based on hundreds of interviews with the managers who hire consultants and the people who run consulting firms, it offers an authoritative analysis of this most shadowy of professions. It also provides invaluable practical advice on what organisations need to do to get the best out of the consultants they use and what consulting firms need to do to achieve the best results for those they work for."--Jacket A guide for those using or planning to use business consultants - and for consultants themselves. It explores the business consulting world and looks at different elements of it with the aim of both helping firms make better use of consultants and showing consultants how they need to adapt and provide their clients a better service.