Management consultants with experience in the design and implementation of various types of business strategies provide strategy consulting. A strategy is a well-thought-out plan or course of action for achieving a specific goal. As the business world has shifted from local to global markets, the use of strategy consultants has grown in acceptance and popularity.
The Harvard Business School was the first to recognize strategy management as a distinct field of study in the 1960s. Harvard professors defined and developed the tools and approaches that form the foundation of this school of management in collaboration with Booz & Company, McKinsey, and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The Monitor Group was a groundbreaking strategic management consulting firm founded six Harvard Business School professors in 1983.
The growth of strategy consulting service firms was accelerated in the United States, where senior management is willing to admit the need for outside help to address the challenges of planning and managing a large company. Because senior management is expected to develop strategies and manage the firm independently, strategy consulting has been slow to gain traction in Europe and Asia. Hiring outsiders to complete these tasks is thought to cause a lack of confidence in management and leadership abilities.
It’s critical to have a clear set of expectations, deliverables, and a timeline in place before hiring a strategy consulting firm. Examine the consulting firm’s credentials carefully, and request and check at least five references. To ensure that the comparison is valid, verify that the referring companies actually hired this firm for a similar purpose.
Examine the consultant’s resume who will be working on your project. It’s crucial to figure out if he or she has the necessary experience in your industry to quickly grasp the issues and make a valuable contribution. Be wary of consultants who use buzzwords, jargon, and three-letter acronyms in their presentations. A skilled consultant should be able to take a complicated subject and simplify it for anyone, regardless of their background.
Consultant management is a necessary skill for ensuring that the company gets good value for its money. On a regular basis, the consultant should report to someone in the firm’s management structure. This person should be in charge of setting clear expectations, reviewing work products, and keeping the consultant on track to finish the project. It is very difficult to determine if the firm is getting adequate value for the cost of strategy consulting without this role.