Management Consulting Today and Tomorrow: Perspectives and Advice from 27 Leading World Experts

525 Pages·2010·3.18 MB·English

by  Larry E. Greiner

Management Consulting Today
and Tomorrow
This book provides a thorough examination of a variety of specialties
within the broad range of management consulting. A book of such
scope and depth could only be written by a large number of experts,
each from one of the many specialties related to management consult-
ing. Together, all 27 contributors take the reader through an industry
that is currently undergoing significant change. While covering all the
major practice areas of consulting, the book also offers new insights
into change processes and addresses compelling management issues
now facing consulting firms.
Larry Greiner is Professor of Management and Organization at the
University of Southern California.
Flemming Poulfelt is Professor of Management and Strategy, Vice
Dean at Copenhagen Business School, and Director of the CBS
Leadership Lab.

Management Consulting Today
and Tomorrow
Perspectives and Advice from 27 Leading
World Experts
Edited by
Larry Greiner
&
Flemming Poulfelt
First published 2005
by South-Western, part of the Thomson Corporation
This edition published in its original form
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2005 South-Western, part of the Thomson Corporation
© 2010 Taylor & Francis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Greiner, Larry E.
Management consulting today and tomorrow : perspectives and advice from 20 leading world
experts / by Larry E. Greiner & Flemming Poulfelt.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Business consultants. I. Poulfelt, Flemming. II. Title.
HD69.C6G733 2009
001–dc22
2008055610
ISBN 0-203-87507-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 10: 0–415–80359–4 (hbk)
ISBN 10: 0–415–80358–6 (pbk)
ISBN 10: 0–203–87507–9 (ebk)
ISBN 13: 978–0–415–80359–5 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978–0–415–80358–8 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978–0–203–87507–0 (ebk)
CONTENTS
Preface ix
Author Biographies xiii
Part1 Consulting Industry, Skills and Professionalism
Introduction 1
Chapter1 The Changing Global Consulting Industry 5
(Flemming Poulfelt, Copenhagen Business School,
Arvind Bhambri, USC and Larry Greiner, USC)
Chapter2 Professionalism in Consulting 33
(David Maister)
Chapter3 The Marketing and Selling of Consulting
Services 49
(Robert Duboff, Boston College and
Ernst & Young)
Part2 Major Practice Areas in Consulting
Introduction 71
Chapter4 Information Technology Consulting 75
(Richard Nolan, Harvard Business School and
Larry Bennigson, Harvard Interactive)
Chapter5 Strategy and Organization Consulting 101
(Adrian J. Slywotzky, Mercer Management
v
vi (cid:127) Contents
Consulting, and David Nadler, Mercer Delta
Organizational Consulting)
Chapter6 The Marketing Consultant 127
(Robert Spekman, U. of Virginia, and
Philip Kotler, Northwestern U.)
Chapter7 Operations Management Consulting 151
(Richard Chase and Ravi Kumar, USC)
Chapter8 Human Resources Management: New
Consulting Opportunities 173
(Edward Lawler and Susan Mohrman, USC)
Part3 Consulting in Different Contexts
Introduction 195
Chapter9 Consulting to CEOs and Boards 199
(David Nadler, Mercer Delta
Organizational Consulting)
Chapter10 Globalization Consulting 227
(Stephen Rhinesmith, CDR International)
Chapter11 Public Sector Consultation 249
(Alan Glassman, California State University at
Northridge and Morley Winograd, USC)
Part 4 Implementation and Change
Introduction 275
Chapter12 Intervention Strategies in Management
Consulting 279
(Tom Cummings, USC)
Chapter13 Consulting to Integrate Mergers and
Acquisitions 303
(Anthony Buono, Bentley U.)
Chapter14 On Becoming a Transformational Change
Agent 331
(Robert Quinn, U. of Michigan and
Shawn Quinn, Columbia U.)
Contents (cid:127) vii
Part5 Managing and Growing the Consulting Firm
Introduction 355
Chapter15 Managing Growth Stages in Consulting Firms 359
(Larry Greiner, USC and James Malernee,
Cornerstone Research)
Chapter16 High-Performance Consulting Firms 387
(Jay Lorsch, Harvard Business School)
Chapter17 Knowledge Management in Consulting 403
(Tom Davenport, Accenture and
Larry Prusak, IBM)
Part6 Looking Ahead at Management Consulting
Introduction 433
Chapter18 Will Consulting Go Online? 435
(Fiona Czerniawska, Arke Idea Consulting and
Kingston Business School)
Chapter19 Research on Management Consulting 455
(Flemming Poulfelt, Copenhagen Business
School and Larry Greiner, USC)
Appendix: Recent Books on Management Consulting 475
Index 479

PREFACE
This book provides an up-to-date evaluation of the many changes
taking place in the management consulting industry—it is wide in
scope of coverage and deep in its analysis and conclusions. The book
examines all of the major practice areas of consulting, including infor-
mation technology, marketing, operations, and human resources, and it
also provides new insights into change processes and addresses man-
agement issues facing consulting firms today.
Each chapter is written by a leading scholar/consultant expert in the
field. Quite simply, there is no other book on the market today that
takes such an advanced look at the complexity and variety of the man-
agement consulting profession, from its historical evolution, to current
issues, to its uncertain future. Every practicing and future consultant
will benefit from this book’s broad perspective, as well as its in-depth
treatment of specific consulting areas, trends and issues.
In 2005, we first published this manuscript under the title The
Contemporary Consultant; then readers told us that they assumed the
book was about individual consultants. However, this book is more
about management consulting as an industry in transition, giving great
coverage to the many facets of consulting addressed by world experts,
including their predictions about the future. So we have given it a new
title, Management Consulting Today and Tomorrow, that is more reflect-
ive of the contents, and are republishing it.
Most of the old fundamentals about how to consult and what to
consult about are now in a state of serious questioning and ultimate
transformation. These radical changes are being produced by a myriad
ix