deloitte consulting megatrend report

November 2016 | Deloitte Consulting LLP |

Unbundling Deloitte’s consulting service package Foreword

Contents

Foreword Pg.

From Accounting to Consulting 2-3

Evolution of Deloitte Consulting’s

competitive strategy 4

Rules of the game 4-5

Individual Highlights Pg.

Data vendors increase

accessibility of information 6

Clients are increasingly armed

with talent and tech capabilities 7-8

Clients are becoming

cost-conscious 8

Key recommendations Pg.

Identify which process to

routinize or isolate as package 9-10

Increase focus on trust-driven

client relationship 10

Alliancing to create opportunities

for blue ocean strategies 10-11

At its core, the management consulting model has remained the same

over the past 50 years. Smart outsiders are sent to firms for a finite

duration, asked to identify the next growth opportunity or recommend

solutions for the most complex problems faced by their clients. Brand

names act as proxies for quality, consultants are amply paid for their

‘trusted’ advice, and the client’s board is satisfied. Everyone is happy.

This is no longer the case in the North American management consulting

industry. Today’s clients have increased access to knowledge the

consultant previously considered ‘proprietary’. In addition, clients are

increasingly armed with technological and talent capabilities as the

consultant’s. Moreover, clients are becoming cost-conscious and

more concerned with implementation, instead of mere advice giving.

The bad news: Deloitte Consulting should expect its integrated

consulting package, which is designed to conduct all aspects of

client engagement, to be progressively unbundled in the long-run.

The good news: Deloitte Consulting has the capabilities to mitigate this

trend. First, it should identify select stages of its consulting service to be

routinized and potentially sold as self-service packages. Moreover, it

should increase focus on trust-driven relationships in client engagement.

Lastly, Deloitte Consulting should continue its current alliancing efforts to

encourage innovation and convert noncustomers to customers.

William Suhenda

Disclaimer: This report is meant to be a work sample. The author bears no legal responsibility for any action taken pursuant to the written content. Please seek author permission before sharing.

$0.0

$2.0

$4.0

$6.0

$8.0

$10.0

$12.0

$14.0

2012 2013 2014 2015

Exhibit 1. Revenue by business area (in US$ billion)

Consulting Audit & Enterprise Risk Svcs

Tax & Legal Financial Advisory

2

Since 2012, Deloitte has increasingly

turned its focus onto growing its

consulting arm1. Exhibit 1 shows that

in contrast to flat revenue growth in

its audit, tax and financial advisory

business areas, Deloitte Consulting

has grown by 26%.

Rated as one of America’s Best

Management Consulting Firms2, #4

globally as a consulting firm to work

for3, and a 2014 recipient of the

Excellence in Social and Community

Investment award4, Deloitte

Consulting has established itself as a

global leader in the management

consulting industry.

With its expertise in service lines such as human capital, strategy and operations, and

technology, Deloitte Consulting provides trusted specialist advice, integrated service from

idea generation to implementation, and innovation programs

With its expertise in service lines such as human capital, strategy and operations, and technology, the company

provides trusted specialist advice, integrated service from idea generation to implementation, and innovation

programs (see Appendix 1) to clients across industries, such as healthcare, energy, technology, financial services,

consumer products and services, manufacturing, and government agencies5.

To obtain niche market research data, Deloitte Consulting partners with research advisory firms, such as Gartner, Forrester

Research, and Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory. In addition, Deloitte consultants have access to skills and

knowledge of other member firms within the Deloitte network6,7. Deloitte Consulting also maintains memberships with

organizations such as the UK Management Consultancies Association8 and the NZ Private Equity and Venture Capital

Association9. To maintain or increase their competitive edge in specialized industries such as IT and healthcare, Deloitte

has also acquired existing firms within those industries. Exhibit 2 shows that Deloitte is only 2nd to KPMG in its appetite for

acquiring specialist firms and efforts to provide specialist advice.

Source: Deloitte Global Reports 2012-2015.

From Accounting to Consulting

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

AccentureThe Boston Consulting Group

DeloitteEY

IBMKPMG

McKinseyPwC

# of firms

Exhibit 2. Breakdown of acquisition type of major firms in USA (2013-2015, Q1)

Advisory & consulting Engineering Consulting general Non-consulting firms

HR Strategy Technology

Source: SFC database; industry sources; SFC Analysis. Retrieved from: http://www.sourceforconsulting.com/files/file/M&A%20Briefing%20-%20USA%202015(3).pdf. Accessed on 10/25/16.


3 Deloitte is no stranger to the consulting industry. After the enactment of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which banned firms from providing consulting services for companies they audited10, Deloitte is the only Big 4 firm that retained its advisory capabilities11. In the aftermath, Andersen Consulting had become Accenture, Ernst & Young (EY) Consulting was bought by Capgemini, and Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) Consulting was bought by IBM12. Coupled with its successful history of global inorganic growth, such as acquisition of information consultancy firm ReportSource in the United Kingdom, global strategy firm Monitor in North America, and leading marketing insights boutique Pathfinder Solutions in Australia13, Deloitte Consulting enjoys the advantage of a head start and dominance in its consultancy services compared to the remaining Big 3 firms14. Other consulting firms have imitated this acquisition strategy. PwC has acquired Booz & Company15, a strategy consulting firm, to bolster its consulting service offering. Oliver Wyman acquired TeamSAI, an aviation and operational management consulting firm, to strengthen its footprint in the global aviation maintenance industry16. However, it remains to be seen if Deloitte’s competitors are able to expand their consulting capabilities, in both breadth and depth, as Deloitte Consulting’s.

Deloitte is no stranger to the consulting industry. As the only Big 4 firm that retained its

advisory capabilities since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, it has acquired specialist firms and reaped

economies of scale to increase breadth & depth of its consulting portfolio.

Moreover, Deloitte’s acquisition and

integration of its former competitors to the

Deloitte network enable it to establish

significant presence in specialist practice

areas within the North American

management consulting industry17, 18. Its

initial investment in technology and human

resources (HR) consulting practices

resulted in traditional strategy consulting

firms, such as McKinsey & Company, losing

market share19.

While established names, such as The

Boston Consulting Group (BCG), still retain

strong brand perception as a leading

provider of conceptual and strategic

thinking, they currently lack scale and

access to financial and other resources,

compared to Deloitte Consulting20. Large

scale enables Deloitte to leverage on its

facilities and human capital to achieve

higher operating efficiency. This leads to

higher chances for Deloitte Consulting to

win in bidding for consulting contracts,

especially from increasingly cost-conscious

clients.


Evolution of Deloitte Consulting’s competitive strategy

Rules of the game

4

Traditionally, Deloitte consultants were seen as operations consultants: detail-driven advisors who study a business’s internal processes, refine, repair or alter them, and then present the now-streamlined process to their client. This value-added process business model typically involves a fee-for-outcome revenue model, with prices quoted in advance, and involves problems of defined scope21. As Deloitte Consulting builds industry expertise and technological capabilities however, it is moving away from its operations background. Instead, Deloitte Consulting has increasingly styled itself as a ‘solution shop’22, whose resources

3 preconditions for hiring

the consultant

1. The underlying problem must

justify external contracting

costs.

2. The potential consultant had

experience with similar

problems, either by his

functional specialty or

because he had performed a

similar analysis for a

competitor.

3. The potential consultant’s

specialized knowledge is not

easily accessible or available.

2 ‘rules’ that benefit the

consultant

1. As a knowledge broker, the

consultant can sell advice

without taking part in

implementing it.

2. Absence of implementation

signifies negligible cost.

Moreover, sale of knowledge

can morph into industry ‘best

practices’ in the long-run.

For Deloitte Consulting, value is increasingly delivered primarily through the consultant’s

judgment, not repeatable processes. The question is how long it can maintain so.

Historically, management consultants were traditionally seen as a sounding board for untested ideas and a ‘trusted advisor’23. Executives view them as expert external specialists who are able to master, manipulate and extend into their pool of complex knowledge. The management consultant can extend the range and abilities of CEOs who cannot keep up with new organizational theories, business technologies, and marketing knowledge. Moreover, by offering specialized knowledge into firms that faced problems that internal staff could not easily resolve, management consultants acted as conduits for new ideas. Hence when deciding to hire a consultant, the client firm has three preconditions24:

1. The underlying problem must be nonrecurring and unique to justify

external contracting costs.

2. The potential consultant had experience with similar problems through

previous work assignments in the industry, either by his functional

specialty or because he had performed a similar analysis for a competitor.

3. The potential consultant’s specialized knowledge is not easily accessible

or available.

The consultant also benefits from the above conditions because of the following two economic ‘rules’:

1. As a knowledge broker, the consultant can ‘sell advice or knowledge’

without ‘actively taking part in production’25.

2. Absence of involvement in ‘production’ means negligible cost. Moreover,

sale of knowledge is not subject to diminishing returns26. In fact, increased

sale of knowledge can increase its competitive value as repeated

transmission of knowledge can morph into industry ‘best practices’ in the

long-run.

and processes are structured to diagnose, solve problems whose scope is undefined and make high-level recommendations. As each client perceives the work solution shops do to be unique, and problem complexity to be high, value is delivered primarily through the consultant’s judgment, not repeatable processes. Hence, this leads to the fee-for-service revenue model, which generally has higher profit margins that is less affected by desired client outcome. For Deloitte Consulting to successfully shift from ‘value-added process’ to ‘solution shop’ model however, certain underlying preconditions and ‘rules’ of the North American management consulting industry must be in place.


5 As consultants give managers access to crucial organizational knowledge

through their previous work assignments, hiring a management consultant

offers the client firm an alternative legal method to transfer knowledge between

rival organizations without incurring regulatory sanctions or lawsuits.

This unique knowledge is also necessary for firms to gain a competitive

advantage and differentiate themselves from their competitors in the market. In

return, the consultant legitimizes his consulting practice and plays a significant

role in shaping an industry’s ‘best practices’27.

This quid-pro-quo relationship however is under threat given the following

findings:

Data vendors diminish the consultant’s ‘proprietary’ knowledge. Clients are increasingly

capable of tackling business problems without need for external help. Clients are also becoming

more cost-conscious.

1. Data vendors increase accessibility of industry-specific information, diminishing

need for the consultant’s ‘proprietary’ knowledge.

2. As clients are increasingly armed with technological and talent capabilities, what

was once considered a ‘unique’ problem that required external help, can be mostly

tackled by internal staff.

3. Clients are increasingly becoming cost-conscious and seek cheaper alternatives to

traditional strategy consulting firms.

Already, there are signs that the North American management consulting industry is experiencing such phenomena as

traditional consulting firms increasingly experience threat of unbundling of their consulting services.


1. Data vendors increase accessibility of industry-specific information, diminishing need for the consultant’s ‘proprietary’ knowledge

6

In the past, exclusive access to data and industry knowledge was a key point

of difference between traditional management consulting firms. The consulting

firm’s well-stocked research libraries and heavily-staffed research departments

gave consultants a competitive edge28. In other words, opacity and

information exclusivity contributed to the consultant’s specialized

knowledge. The rise of traditional ‘research-only’ organizations like Gartner,

Forrester Research, and IDC, in collecting and providing market research data

and statistical surveys however broke this precondition.

While management consulting firms now increasingly rely on such data

vendors for information, there is no stopping the consultant’s client from

also turning to these data vendors. These data vendors collect customer

data from statistical surveys and interviews, structure their findings by industry,

revenue or business category, and then sell their reports as information

packages to their clients. Companies can buy online salary surveys and

employee development insights from HR data vendors such as Mercer and

Willis Towers Watson29. Retail and food processing companies purchase

consumer behavior research reports from marketing research firms such as

Nielsen Holdings and Kantar30. Digitizing processes and commoditization of

specialized knowledge mean that clients can collect basic internal data for

themselves, rather than hiring consultants for the ‘million-dollar slide’ deck31.

Data vendors as potential

competitors

In fact, data vendors have tried to expand beyond data collection and towards providing advisory services. Boutique consulting companies are a result of this development. Willis Group Holdings, an insurance advisory company, merged with Towers Watson and Company, a firm providing employee salary and benefits survey reports, to expand both data collection and advisory competencies32. BTI Consulting collects legal research data and publishes insight on current legal practices for law firm clients33. Ince & Co, an international commercial law firm specializing in maritime law and trade, launched a consultancy arm to provide advisory services to aviation and shipping industries34. By offering advice based on the research they specialize in gathering without the hefty price tag associated with traditional consulting firms, boutique consulting companies establish both legitimacy and popularity- posing potential threat to Deloitte Consulting’s future dominance in niche industries.


2. Clients are increasingly armed with

technological and talent capabilities.

What was once considered a ‘unique’

problem that required external help, can

be mostly tackled by internal staff.

7

Inside Story

“I may not know the answer

to my problem, but I usually

roughly know the 20 or so

analyses that need to be

done. When I’m less

confident about the question

and the work needed, I’m

more tempted to use a big

brand.” – CEO & former Big

Three consultant.

As former consultants leave to form their own companies or join their client

firms, they also bring with them industry expertise, business problem-solving

frameworks, and critical thinking skillsets35. In 2011, more than 150 McKinsey

alumni ran companies that exceed US$1 billion in annual sales36. Today, there

are more than 30,000 McKinsey alumni working in virtually every business

sector across 120 countries37.

As more former consultants join non-consulting industries, firms benefit from

increased project management skills, gain access to latest organization

management theories, and increasingly adopt ‘best business practices’. In

other words, increased client recruitment of former consultants and

adoption of ‘best business practices’ reduces the need to hire external

consultants to gain rival firm knowledge.

As clients increase their talent pool, they are also becoming more

cautious about using external support and willing to decompose

problems into separate work packages. According to Kennedy Consulting

Research, the share of classic strategy work undertaken by traditional

strategy-consulting firms has been steadily decreasing from 60-70% thirty

years ago, to 20% today38.


3. Clients are increasingly cost-conscious

8

Key takeaways

1. Data vendors have removed

information opacity and

increased client access to

industry knowledge

2. With increased technological

and talent capabilities, there is

lesser need for complete

external help

3. Client firms are more likely to

conduct in-house consulting

groups to reduce costs and

suggest implementation-

focused advice

Clients are even happier to use different people and systems, rather than

relying on single suppliers. OpenIDEO provides a crowdsourcing platform for

users, not traditional consultants, to post suggestions and strategic

recommendations towards solving social issues. Wikistrat maintains a global

online network of academics, consultants, journalists, and retired military

personnel to participate in geopolitical scenario simulations and crowdsource

solutions39. As such, clients increasingly assess tasks that need to be fulfilled,

and then funnel individual work assignment to the consulting firm most

appropriate for the job.

Clients have also been increasing their technological capabilities that

threaten the need for a consultant. Instead of hiring the consultant as a

sounding board for untested ideas, IBM’s Watson can be recalibrated to scan

strategy documents, listen and analyze conversations during board meetings,

and provide investment advice based on its insights40. These technological

efforts are also often paired with cross-border partnerships. UCLA Health

collaborated with Chinese healthcare partners to streamline hospital training

and patient tracking systems, as part of its efforts to increase medical tourism

revenue41.

Cost pressures increasingly force clients to abandon the easy assumption that price is a proxy for quality. In fact, as clients get increased access to specialized knowledge, build technological and talent capabilities, they are able to perform in-house consulting. High-profile companies such as Siemens, Samsung, IBM and Shell, contain such consulting groups to help solve critical strategy and operations problem throughout the business42. In other words, the client’s ability to do in-house consulting cuts need for external contracting costs and gives more client control over implementation. Unlike the traditional consultant’s fee-for-service or fee-for-outcome revenue model, the in-house consulting group can be self-funded, saving costs. Prior to starting any engagement, a statement of work and commitment to ‘fees’ for the internal consulting team out of the client’s department budget are set. This statement strictly defines the client’s desired outcome, constraints, a projected deliverable that can be implemented within a specified timeframe after the project is concluded, and project scope that is not covered in the consulting assignment. In return, the in-house consulting group remains neutral in its business and strategic assessment of the company’s operations. Unlike traditional consulting firms which can rely on extensive alumni network support, the in-house consulting group do not have such support and is trained to develop an entrepreneurial mindset in balancing research, presentation production and training43. By setting clear objectives and conducting activities within the firm, the client is able to tighten control over consulting budgets and more importantly minimize replication of firm practice by rival firms.


A. Identify which processes of its

consulting service package can be routinized or isolated as a self-service package.

9 Instead of resisting the potential trend of unbundling of its consulting service package, Deloitte should embrace said trend and consider the following key recommendations:

A. Identify which processes of its consulting service package can be routinized or isolated as a self-service package.

B. Play to its strength: increase focus on trust-driven relationships and leadership in client engagements.

C. Continue alliancing with external partners to encourage open innovation and create opportunities for blue ocean strategies.

‘Jobs-to-be-done’

approach

1. Where does the client see non-

consumption?

2. What workarounds have the

client made?

3. What tasks does the client or

intended target customers

avoid?

4. What surprising uses have

customers invented for existing

products or services?

As clients become more technologically competent and sophisticated in its talent capabilities, there will be a decreasing perception of problem complexity and need for high-level assessment to be done by senior consultants.

The perceptual map in Exhibit 3 shows how ‘brains’ work (lucrative projects requiring high complexity, high professional utilization) can slowly devolve into ‘procedural’ tasks (low margin projects requiring low complexity, low professional utilization). If ignored, Deloitte Consulting will face problems in staffing leverage and profit making in the medium run; it will either have too many partners doing ‘procedural’ tasks or too few partners doing ‘brains’ work. To resolve this potential issue, Deloitte Consulting can first adopt a ‘jobs-to-be-done’ approach towards its integrated consulting package44. Instead of delivering the idea generation to implementation package, Deloitte consultants should first focus on what the customer hopes to accomplish in the given circumstance45. When considering expansion of its consulting practice into China, McKinsey identified their potential clients’ lack of enthusiasm for advisory services, but realized they had difficulties gathering reliable public consumer data- which McKinsey had.

0

20

40

60

80

0 20 40 60 80

Per

ceiv

ed p

rob

lem

co

mp

lexi

ty &

nee

d

for

no

vel

solu

tio

ns

Ratio of junior analyts to middle managers & partners

High

Low High

Brains

Grey Hair

Procedural

Exhibit 3. Project complexity vs. staffing leverage model

Source: Maister DH (2003). Managing the Professional Service Firm. London: Simon & Schuster.


To satisfy this lack of supply, McKinsey isolated its insights and research capabilities from their advice offering, forming the self-service consumer data package McKinsey Solutions46. By asking similar questions, Deloitte consultants can identify what exact customer experience and outcome are desired, and which elements are unnecessary.

10

B. Play to its strength: increase focus on trust-driven relationships and leadership in client engagements

All consultants are expected to be professional, creative, and capable. But not all of them can successfully add a human element into their service offering. Deloitte Consulting’s current focus on coaching and deep client understanding should be further enforced among its consultants49. Coaching enhances the Deloitte consultant’s leadership skills while deep client understanding enables the consultant to listen properly. Client appreciation events, such as Deloitte New Zealand’s Deloitte Top 200 Awards, also help to foster a long-term client relationship and build goodwill50. To build leadership, Deloitte consultants must always remember that they are ultimately trusted knowledge brokers tasked with proving feasible, novel solutions, not sellers of management fads51. As clients increasingly seek control over consulting costs and scope of work, Deloitte Consulting should seek to accommodate, not refuse. Due to Deloitte’s presence in multiple industries, it should expect to see a variety of client pre-conceptions, attitudes towards consultant-client relationships and use of consultants. Learning to identify and empathize with each client’s psychological profile (see Appendix 2) is key towards creating customer retention and trust52.

C. Continue alliancing with external partners to encourage innovation and create opportunities for blue ocean strategies.

As Deloitte’s clients increasingly possess technological and talent capabilities, Deloitte Consulting should continue its alliancing efforts with external partners to stay relevant and improve its service offering. By partnering with external niche firms, Deloitte Consulting is able to leverage its partner’s specific capabilities into their consulting service practice and legitimize their advisory expertise in the selected niche industry53. For example, Deloitte Consulting partnered with Apple to streamline its business enterprise software with Apple laptops and iPads54. To increase its dominance in the technology consulting field and encourage internal disruption in its technology consulting practice, Deloitte Consulting partnered with IPsoft to understand how artificial intelligence can help customers open new bank accounts and process insurance claims55. Partnerships can also lead to creation of new demand. Deloitte Australia’s 2003 partnership with digital marketing firms enabled it to identify scarcity of data visualization across all industries. Deloitte Australia then identified factors to reduce (expensive billable hours and contact hours) and factors to raise (market commentary and range of services) for its visualization tools. Through this set of blue ocean strategy analyses and correct target costing, Deloitte Australia was able to create new demand, gaining price-sensitive client marketing and HR departments, who were previously noncustomers56.

The usage of analytics software to create reusable business software, known as ‘asset-based consulting’, has caused techniques such as activity-based costing, value-based management, zero-based budgeting, and pricing strategy for a portfolio of products, to be increasingly routinized47, 48. KPMG consultants use their 3D Journey Map tool to analyze and redesign customer interactions. Similarly, Deloitte consultants have sets of reusable detailed marketing business models that are modified to accommodate for differences in product categories and geographies.


As Deloitte Consulting chooses to specialize in select areas, such as life sciences and public sector consulting (see Exhibit 4), it needs to consider hiring more specialists to grow niche consulting industries. In fact, Deloitte already has access to a ready pool of potential specialists via the Deloitte Foundation, which provides grants for research that may impact its revenue stream58, and Deloitte RightStep which encourages social innovation in education59.

-1.0%

-0.5%

0.0%

0.5%

1.0%

1.5%

Financial Services ConsumerBusiness

Public Sector Manufacturing Technology,Media & Telecom

Life Sciences &Health Care

Energy &Resources

Exhibit 4. Change in revenue growth by industry

2012-2013 Growth 2013-2014 Growth 2014-2015 Growth

Source: Deloitte Global Reports 2012-2015.

Deloitte Consulting should also consider recruiting specialists, not graduates, for specialized consulting services. McKinsey used a selective recruitment process to build legitimacy and capabilities in healthcare consulting services in the United Kingdom, targeting

healthcare providers and former health legislators who had related National Health Service (NHS) policy experience57.

12


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Appendix 1. The Business Model Canvas

Key Partners

Management consulting

data vendors such as

Forrester Research, and

Gartner

Consulting and other

business associations such

as the UK Management

Consultancies Association

Legislative bodies (state

to federal level)

External IT partners such

as Apple for project

implementation on

business devices

Acquired partners such as

Monitor (strategy), Casey

Quirk (asset

management), Bersin

(talent management)

Key Activities

Predominantly ‘value-

added process business’-

address problems of

defined scope with

standard processes

Moving towards ‘solution

shops’- diagnose and

recommend solutions for

complex business

problems

Value Proposition

Trusted advisor &

expertise: specialist and

industry services

As a conduit for new

ideas: innovation

programs

Integrated service from

idea generation to

implementation

Customer Relationships

Client references

Deloitte Client Spotlight

Deloitte Top 200 Awards

Deloitte Foundation

Customer Segments

Fortune 500-1000 firms

Executive-level from

CEOs to SVPs and senior

managers

Diverse industries include

financial services,

consumer business,

manufacturing, life

sciences & healthcare,

energy, technology &

media, government

agencies Key Resources

Staffing leverage (ratio of

junior analysts to middle

managers and senior

partners)

Diverse staff national and

industry backgrounds

Deloitte University

Digital infrastructure

(computers, Deloitte

Analytics)

Channels

Community-oriented

programs such as

Deloitte RightStep

Program (education

innovation)

Webpage

Cost Structure

Utilization & staffing leverage mix, dependent on project scale & perceived

complexity

Billable hours per person per year

Overhead costs. Assumed to be fixed per professional

Revenue Streams

Fee for outcome model (for repeatable processes)

Fee for revenue model (Deloitte Consulting is moving into this model)

Source: www.businessmodelgeneration.com


http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/

Appendix I1.

Table 3: Summary of the four different conceptions

The conception’s view on…

Controlling client

Instrumental client

Trustful client

Ambivalent client

Consultants “Parasites” “Tools” “Colleagues” “Saviors”

Disloyal, inexperienced, too dependent on theoretical models, not taking responsibility for their ideas or work

Competent in their area of expertise but acting for their own good

Very competent and experienced, loyal and taking responsibility for their ideas and work

More competent and experienced than the client and the client organization. Good at handling complex problems

The client organization

Skilled, knows more than the consultants but relies sometimes too much on them

Skilled, but sometimes in need of extra resources or competence

Not very skilled, needs help with complex issues. Does not always understand the importance of the consulting projects

Not very skilled, knows less than the consultants In need of extra help and expertise when difficult and complex situations arise

The client manager Strong, controlling, dominating

“Natural” leader Identifies with the consultants

Low self-esteem

Appropriate use of consultants

Limited tasks, analysis, data mining, secretaries

Any kind of task as long as it is well defined

Strategic issues, change projects

Complex problems, important projects

Consultant-client relationship

Unequal and distrustful. The client must monitor and control the consultants to stop them from stealing information or expanding their projects.

Equal but distrustful. As long as clear divisions of labor and responsibilities are in place, the relationship can be friendly.

Equal and trusting. Friendly relationship Close consultant-client collaboration needed to learn from the consultants.

Unequal and trusting. The client looks up to the consultants and expects them to solve the problem for him/her.

Source: Pemer, F., & Werr, A. (2013). The Uncertain Management

Consulting Services Client. International Studies Of Management &

Organization, 43(3), 22-40. doi:10.2753/IMO0020-8825430302
