There’s scarcely a major company that does not use consultants and the public sector is increasingly turning to consultants for help in delivering public services. Three-quarters of consulting work in done for clients where the consulting firm has an established relationship. Yet the business consulting industry has changed beyond recognition in the past ten years. The spread of outsourcing and off shoring, the rise of the professional procurement department, wider use of contingency fees and a squeeze on margins have all combined to reshape the environment in which consultants operate dramatically. This book explores the new shape of consulting. It examines why organizations 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 organizations 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.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Fiona Czerniawska
Fiona Czerniawska is the founder and managing director of Arkimeda, a firm that specialises in researching and consulting on strategic issues in the consulting industry. Previously, she spent more than 15 years as a management consultant, working primarily in marketing and strategy for Pricewaterhouse Coopers. After Oxford University, she obtained a PhD from teh University of London and an MBA from Kingston Business School. she is the director of the UK Management Consultancies Association's Think Tank and the author of a number of books and publications on consulting, including Management Consultancy: What Next?, Value-Based Consulting, The Intelligent Client and Management Conclulting in Practice.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gilbert Toppin
Gilbert Toppin is an independent business consultant who has had a succession of senior roles in the consulting industry, most recently as chief operating officer for European consulting at Deloitte. Born in the Americas and now London-based, he has worked all over the world. His early career focused on structural economic development projects such as the revitalisation of rice production in Indonesia and the reconstruction of the sugar industry in Peru. More recently he worked he worked on Russia's privatisation programme and large-scale consulting projects, such as Vodafone's programme of change. He is a Chartered Management Accountant and a Chartered Engineer, with a BSc from Edinburgh and an MSc from Southampton.
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