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An introduction to management consultancy / Marc G. Baaij.

By: Baaij, M. G [author.].
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookPublisher: London : Thousand Oaks, CA. : SAGE Publications Ltd., 2014Copyright date: ©2014Description: xix, 580 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9781446256138 (paperback); 9781446256121 (hardback).Subject(s): Business consultantsDDC classification: 658.46
Contents:
Defining management consultancy -- Origin and development of management consultancy -- Reasons, risks, and results of management consultancy -- Overview of the management consultancy industry landscape -- The competitive landscape of the management consultancy industry -- Macro-developments and the management consultancy industry -- The value chain of the management consultancy firm -- Managing the management consultancy firm -- People and careers in management consultancy -- Clients and other stakeholders -- Management of a consultancy project -- Structured problem diagnosis -- Structured solution development -- Structured communications -- Structured implementation.
Summary: The text is built around learning objectives to help students to understand the \'what\', \'how\', \'when\' and \'why\' at macro and micro levels of management consultancy and its stakeholders, and provides engaging real life examples and extra web materials for study.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

'I have never seen such a book about management consulting before: this sets a new standard. This book is extremely thorough and addresses all of the relevant topics.' - Sander van ′t Noordende, Group Chief Executive Products Operating Group, Accenture Whether you are looking to build on your management studies or experience of working in business, you are likely to have come across management consultancy and will need a clear and concise introduction to this area to help you understand its practices and techniques in order to hire and implement management consultancy in the future. This text provides you with these essentials for success in your studies and later industries when working with and not just for consultancy firms.

The text is built around learning objectives to empower your understanding of the ′what′, ′how′, ′when′ and ′why′ at macro and micro levels of management consultancy and its stakeholders, and provides you with engaging real life examples and extra web materials for study.

As well as full courses on management consultancy, this text will be invaluable to your management knowledge and skill-set across strategy, change, analytics, problem-solving, solution implementation and decision-making as applied by the world′s top management consulting firms, such as McKinsey & Company, The Boston Consulting Group, and Bain & Company. Lecturer's resources

Lecturer's guide Teaching notes per chapter Answer guidance to end-of-chapter questions in book Suggested discussion questions Suggested small group assignments Suggested small group field project Lecture slides Option 1: provide all figures of the book on PowerPoint slides Option 2: create complete PowerPoint presentations for each chapter Exercises Exam questions Discussion forum

Student resources

Templates for developing logical structures Web resources Consultancy publications Consultancy web site, career page Job application preparation services Consultancy institutions

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Defining management consultancy -- Origin and development of management consultancy -- Reasons, risks, and results of management consultancy -- Overview of the management consultancy industry landscape -- The competitive landscape of the management consultancy industry -- Macro-developments and the management consultancy industry -- The value chain of the management consultancy firm -- Managing the management consultancy firm -- People and careers in management consultancy -- Clients and other stakeholders -- Management of a consultancy project -- Structured problem diagnosis -- Structured solution development -- Structured communications -- Structured implementation.

The text is built around learning objectives to help students to understand the \'what\', \'how\', \'when\' and \'why\' at macro and micro levels of management consultancy and its stakeholders, and provides engaging real life examples and extra web materials for study.

CIT Module MGMT 9044 - Core reading.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • About the Author (p. xii)
  • Preface (p. xiii)
  • Acknowledgements (p. xix)
  • Part 1 The Management Consultancy Phenomenon (p. 1)
  • 1 Defining management consultancy (p. 7)
  • Introduction (p. 7)
  • Opposing perspectives on management consultancy (p. 8)
  • Characteristics of management consultancy (p. 10)
  • Definitions of management consultancy (p. 13)
  • Case study: Seizing the real opportunity (p. 19)
  • Categories of professional services (p. 21)
  • Roles of management consultants (p. 25)
  • Divisions of responsibilities (p. 30)
  • External versus internal management consultancy (p. 31)
  • Management consultancy as a profession (p. 32)
  • Summary (p. 36)
  • Reflective questions (p. 37)
  • Mini case study: To certify or not to certify (p. 38)
  • Further reading (p. 39)
  • References (p. 39)
  • 2 Origin and development of management consultancy (p. 42)
  • Introduction (p. 42)
  • The advisor through the ages (p. 43)
  • The emergence of the first field of management consultancy: operations consultancy (p. 45)
  • The emergence of the second field of management consultancy: organization and strategy consultancy (p. 49)
  • The emergence of the third field of management consultancy: information technology consultancy (p. 53)
  • Institutional changes driving the growth of management consultancy (p. 55)
  • Case study: McKinsey & Company (p. 59)
  • The rise and decline of management consultancies (p. 62)
  • Summary (p. 70)
  • Reflective questions (p. 70)
  • Mini case study: The return of an accountancy firm (p. 71)
  • Further reading (p. 72)
  • References (p. 72)
  • 3 Reasons, risks, and results of management consultancy (p. 75)
  • Introduction (p. 75)
  • Difficulties in measuring the effect of management consultancy (p. 76)
  • Fees for external management consultancy (p. 78)
  • Reasons for hiring management consultants (p. 82)
  • Case study: The effect of advice (p. 84)
  • The effects of knowledge (p. 86)
  • The effects of problem solving and management audits: three fields of management consultancy (p. 88)
  • The effects of informal roles (p. 90)
  • The effects of the growth in demand for management consultancy (p. 92)
  • External versus internal management consultancy (p. 92)
  • Risks of using external management consultancy (p. 96)
  • Resistance to management consultancy (p. 99)
  • Management consultants' practices for generating demand (p. 100)
  • Summary (p. 101)
  • Reflective questions (p. 102)
  • Mini case study: Claiming impact (p. 103)
  • Further reading (p. 103)
  • References (p. 104)
  • Part 2 The Management Consultancy Industry (p. 105)
  • 4 Overview of the management consultancy industry landscape (p. 111)
  • Introduction (p. 111)
  • Analysing the management consultancy industry (p. 112)
  • The management consultancy industry in three dimensions (p. 117)
  • Case study: Management consultancy across borders (p. 122)
  • Scale of firms in the management consultancy industry (p. 124)
  • Scope of firms in the management consultancy industry (p. 127)
  • Summary (p. 133)
  • Reflective questions (p. 134)
  • Mini case study: From Australia to Africa (p. 134)
  • Further reading (p. 136)
  • References (p. 136)
  • 5 The competitive landscape of the management consultancy industry (p. 138)
  • Introduction (p. 138)
  • Competitive strategies (p. 139)
  • Case study: A network-based management consultancy firm (p. 149)
  • Competitive forces (p. 151)
  • Key developments (p. 166)
  • Summary (p. 173)
  • Reflective questions (p. 174)
  • Mini case study: The invasion of foreign firms (p. 175)
  • Further reading (p. 176)
  • References (p. 176)
  • 6 Macro-developments and the management consultancy industry (p. 178)
  • Introduction (p. 178)
  • The impact of business cycles on management consultancy (p. 179)
  • The impact of technological waves on management consultancy (p. 183)
  • Case study: Management consultancy and ICT-driven disruption (p. 185)
  • The impact of management knowledge on management consultancy (p. 187)
  • The management knowledge cluster (p. 192)
  • Globalization and the spread of capitalism (p. 200)
  • Summary (p. 201)
  • Reflective questions (p. 202)
  • Mini case study: In search of the next big idea (p. 203)
  • Further reading (p. 204)
  • References (p. 204)
  • Part 3 The Management Consultancy Firm (p. 207)
  • 7 The value chain of the management consultancy firm (p. 213)
  • Introduction (p. 213)
  • Understanding the value chain (p. 214)
  • The primary activities of the management consultancy firm (p. 217)
  • The support activities of the management consultancy firm (p. 224)
  • Linkages between activities (p. 229)
  • Case study: Evalueserve and the outsourcing of high-end parts of the consultancy value chain (p. 230)
  • Value chain and competitive advantage (p. 231)
  • Disaggregation of the value chain (p. 233)
  • Summary (p. 236)
  • Reflective questions (p. 236)
  • Mini case study: Outsourcing the consultancy's activities? (p. 237)
  • Further reading (p. 237)
  • References (p. 238)
  • 8 Managing the management consultancy firm (p. 240)
  • Introduction (p. 240)
  • Business models (p. 241)
  • Organizational structures (p. 245)
  • Leadership and control (p. 248)
  • Organizational culture (p. 250)
  • Legal forms (p. 253)
  • Case study: Transition of a management consultancy firm (p. 255)
  • Micro-structure of a project team (p. 257)
  • Economics (p. 259)
  • Summary (p. 268)
  • Reflective questions (p. 269)
  • Mini case study: Downsizing the consultancy firm (p. 269)
  • Further reading (p. 270)
  • References (p. 270)
  • 9 People and careers in management consultancy (p. 273)
  • Introduction (p. 273)
  • Reasons for applying (p. 274)
  • A people business (p. 276)
  • The recruitment process (p. 278)
  • Case study: A case interview with a management consultancy firm (p. 280)
  • What are management consulting firms looking for? (p. 287)
  • Career structures (p. 291)
  • Performance appraisals (p. 298)
  • Turnover (p. 303)
  • The price of consultancy (p. 307)
  • Gender and consultancy (p. 308)
  • Life after the firm: alumni (p. 309)
  • Summary (p. 311)
  • Reflective questions (p. 312)
  • Mini case study: Promotion to partner? (p. 312)
  • Further reading (p. 314)
  • References (p. 314)
  • Part 4 The Management Consultancy Project (p. 315)
  • 10 Clients and other stakeholders (p. 321)
  • Introduction (p. 321)
  • The management consultancy cycle (p. 322)
  • The consultant's perspective (p. 324)
  • The client's perspective (p. 330)
  • Case study: Understanding the client (p. 338)
  • Understanding the prospect's real hiring reason (p. 339)
  • The role of the client's stakeholders (p. 344)
  • Developing the proposal (p. 347)
  • Setting the fee (p. 351)
  • Presenting the proposal (p. 354)
  • The contract (p. 355)
  • Procurement models (p. 356)
  • Ethics and social responsibility (p. 360)
  • Summary (p. 361)
  • Reflective questions (p. 362)
  • Mini case study: The alumnus (p. 362)
  • Further reading (p. 363)
  • References (p. 363)
  • 11 Management of a consultancy project (p. 366)
  • Introduction (p. 366)
  • Defining the management consultancy project (p. 367)
  • Structuring the management consultancy project (p. 368)
  • Phase 1 Initiation (p. 370)
  • Phase 2 Design (p. 373)
  • Phase 3 Execution (p. 381)
  • Phase 4 Control (p. 381)
  • Phase 5 Closure (p. 383)
  • Case study: Client team members (p. 385)
  • Organizing the management consultancy project (p. 386)
  • The consultancy project manager (p. 389)
  • The consultancy project team member (p. 392)
  • Summary (p. 394)
  • Reflective questions (p. 395)
  • Mini case study: Internal versus external consultants - who is in the lead? (p. 396)
  • Further reading (p. 397)
  • References (p. 397)
  • 12 Structured problem diagnosis (p. 399)
  • Introduction (p. 399)
  • The people side of problem solving (p. 400)
  • Approaches to problem solving (p. 401)
  • What is a problem? (p. 403)
  • The result gap (p. 403)
  • Structured problem diagnosis (p. 406)
  • Extended case study: AcStrat Consulting (p. 413)
  • Structured opportunity diagnosis (p. 432)
  • Summary (p. 438)
  • Mini case study: Ivy Business School (p. 439)
  • Exercises (p. 446)
  • Reflective questions (p. 447)
  • Further reading (p. 448)
  • References (p. 448)
  • 13 Structured solution development (p. 450)
  • Introduction (p. 450)
  • Why use a structured approach? (p. 451)
  • Identify the decisions (p. 451)
  • Extended case study: AcStrat Consulting (p. 453)
  • Develop possible solutions (p. 454)
  • Structure possible solutions (p. 457)
  • Select a hypothesis about a possible solution (p. 458)
  • Test a hypothesis (p. 459)
  • Design the analysis (p. 463)
  • Collect the data (p. 467)
  • Analyse the assumptions (p. 472)
  • Uncertainty (p. 474)
  • Make decisions about the solution (p. 480)
  • Plan for implementation (p. 483)
  • Summary (p. 485)
  • Mini case study: Ivy Business School (p. 486)
  • Exercises (p. 491)
  • Reflective questions (p. 492)
  • Further reading (p. 492)
  • References (p. 492)
  • 14 Structured communications (p. 494)
  • Introduction (p. 494)
  • Communications during the project (p. 495)
  • Developing the final presentation (p. 497)
  • Extended case study: AcStrat Consulting (p. 505)
  • Developing the interim presentation (p. 509)
  • Developing a story line (p. 510)
  • Designing a presentation slide (p. 512)
  • Using visualizations (p. 516)
  • Summary (p. 526)
  • Mini case study: Ivy Business School (p. 527)
  • Exercises (p. 529)
  • Reflective questions (p. 531)
  • Further reading (p. 531)
  • 15 Structured implementation (p. 533)
  • Introduction (p. 533)
  • Consultants and change (p. 534)
  • From recommendation to implementation (p. 537)
  • Roles of management consultants during implementation (p. 538)
  • Clients and change (p. 540)
  • Case study: From solution development to implementation (p. 544)
  • Relation between solution development and implementation (p. 545)
  • Structured implementation (p. 548)
  • Why some implementation projects may fail (p. 559)
  • Evaluate the implementation (p. 564)
  • Summary (p. 568)
  • Mini case study: The merger of AcStrat and Delta (p. 569)
  • Reflective questions (p. 571)
  • Further reading (p. 572)
  • References (p. 572)
  • Index (p. 573)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Marc G. Baaij is Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam. He has previously worked as a management consultant and research manager at The Boston Consulting Group.