Using real examples from a range of private sector firms, government departments and from the professional services firms themselves, this book explores the world of professional services procurement. Suitable for those who both use and provide professional services, it shows how they can work together effectively to their mutual benefit.
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.
The book explores the evolving landscape of the management consultancy industry, projected to face both opportunities and challenges over the next two decades. Key themes include the shifting dynamics of client-consultant relationships, the impact of international capital on firm survival, and the emergence of new alliances among competitors. Drawing on insights from interviews with prominent industry leaders, the author, a seasoned consultant, provides valuable perspectives for current and aspiring consultants, as well as clients engaging with consulting services.
As Machiavelli observed more than 500 years ago: "A Prince who is not himself wise cannot be wisely advised..." In other words, you do not get to be an effective and intelligent client because the consultants and other advisers you work with make you one; rather, you use consultants well because you are already a good, "shrewd" client. That is the heart of this book: to help clients take an intelligent approach to the use of consultants. Successful consulting depends on the quality of the client-consultant partnership. The trouble is that we are rarely clear about what "partnership" involves in practice. Is it an attitude of mind or something quite concrete, based on a contract that divides the risks and rewards of the work between both sides? Is it something that happens by osmosis, the product of the right chemistry between the individuals involved? Or does it require as much effort and conscious determination as any oth aspect of managing a project? This book tries to answer those questions and many more about the nature of the successful client-consultant "partnership". It examines the issue from different perspectives,as well as it looks at how this relationship varies across different European countries.