Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Management consulting'

Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att jämföra två olika

managementkonsulters upplägg, genomförande samt syn på

framgångsfaktorer i ett av deras vardera konsultuppdrag gällande

strategiska tjänster och organisationsförändring. Vidare redogöra för

deras uppdragsgivares åsikter kring uppdragen de utfört.

Metod: Genom två fallstudier där två managementkonsulter samt deras

respektive uppdragsgivare intervjuats har vi undersökt hur

managementkonsulterna arbetar i respektive fall, vilken metodik de

använder och vilka faktorer de anser vara viktigast för att arbetet ska

lyckas. Vidare, för att bredda undersökningen har uppdragsgivarna

intervjuats i syfte att ta reda på hur arbetet gått, vilka resultat som nåtts

samt hur de utvärderat konsulterna.

Resultat: Genom fallstudierna har vi kommit fram till att de undersökta

konsulterna skiljer sig avsevärt i många aspekter. Framförallt har de

olika syn på konsultation i allmänhet, då ena konsultfirman använder

ett beteendevetenskapligt synsätt, medan andra konsultfirman mer

andas företagsekonomi. Dessutom används olika metoder i både

upplägg och genomförande av konsultation.

The purpose of this study was to determine the key factors involved in operating a successful independent management consulting business. For those working in the independent management consulting industry or looking to begin, this study aimed to provide information to help define what success means and identify the most important contributors to achieving that success. The study gathered data via online survey and semi-structured interviews from people who have owned an independent management consulting business. Trends in the data were identified and compared with current research to determine the key factors in operating a successful independent management consulting business.

Indirect Management Consulting (IMC) is a new concept within organizational change management consulting. The basic principle is to make the client more active in the change effort compared to conventional management consulting where the consultant actively drives the change. With IMC, the client is provided with a tailored set of skills and methods that makes him able to lead a change project and to make sure that the new organization is sustained. The IMC-model is a combination of management consulting and e-learning, where the consultant has an indirect role in supporting the client.

This study has shown that the IMC-model increases the chance for successful change implementation by increasing knowledge and involvement of the managers in the client organization. A common problem with conventional consulting is that the new organization fails to persist some time after the change project has ended and when the consultants have left the organization. This is overcome by the IMC-model since it transfers necessary knowledge and tools to the client’s managers who then can drive the change as well as ensure sustainability long after the project itself is completed.

The IMC-model is more cost-efficient than conventional consulting since less involvement is required by the consultant and since the customization of the e-learning systems can be made efficient by modularization. The lower costs make it possible to compete with a lower overall price and the combination of high quality of the organizational change with low prices makes the IMC-model an attractive complement to conventional management consulting.

This study is a part of an evaluation of the potential of a new business concept within the field of management consulting. The study is written to give insight of the functionality of the concept as well as the market barriers that a new company can expect to encounter if it decides to start up a business based on the concept.

Indirect Management Consulting (IMC) is a new and unproven concept within change management consultancy and can in a simplified manner be described as a mix between e-learning and traditional management consultancy. The basic principle is that the client is given instructions and tools to be able to lead the change project by following a model similar to an e-learning program. The contents of the program are custom-built by a management consultant according to the needs of the change project. The consultant monitors the progress of the organizational change and adapts the model and gives feedback to the client as the project progresses. By following the IMC model, the client does the majority of the work while he does not require initial knowledge of change management since he is continuously provided with the information, tools and templates needed to analyze the organizational performance and implement the change successfully.

The functionality of the IMC concept was evaluated in two ways: First by comparing the contents of the IMC-model with existing change management theories in order to find out if the model covers the most critical aspects of the theories. Secondly, the market for the IMC model was analyzed mainly by using Porter’s five-force theory.

This study has shown that IMC can be an efficient method for implementing organizational change. Its efficiency comes from a number of sources, mainly related to the fact that the organization’s own managers have, compared to conventional management consulting, a high degree of involvement in the analysis of the organization and the implementation of the change. This in turn leads to better communication of the change plan and makes it easier to motivate employees to accept to the organizational change and make them feel a ‘sense of urgency’ for participating to successfully implement the project. The model was also found to make it easy for the manager to formulate a change strategy and to implement the change in a structured manner.

For the consulting company, IMC means that costs (and consequently prices) can be kept much lower than for conventional consultant services. One main reason is that the model does not have to be built from scratch for each client. The contents of the model are relatively easily adjusted to suit most types of organizational changes. A second reason for the lower cost is that time the consultant spends at the client’s offices is minimized or eliminated. This gives an advantage compared to conventional management consulting.

While the management consulting industry have relatively low entry barriers, that is however not equivalent that it is easy for a company to enter the market based on the IMC-model. A high quality of the services is crucial and, if that cannot be proven, the advantage of having a low price is diminished. It is therefore important for a new starter in this industry to have a portfolio of successfully implemented projects. For the IMC concept, this is problematic since the model is new and unproven. It can therefore be difficult to find the first clients and alternative entry strategies such as partnering or simply advocating a “non-profit” strategy for the first clients might be necessary.

The healthcare industry is going through many changes. As we progress with technology, medicine, strategies, the current healthcare facilities will also need to be updated. In 1946, the first year of the baby boomer generation, it was noted that the time would come when they would retire and look for ways to have their healthcare needs met. With the recent recession, it made building new nursing homes very difficult. Aurora aims to provide services for the renovation and development of healthcare facilities that need to create or acquire space to meet the industry demand.

The management consultancy, a 14 billion EUR industry in Europe, has become an attractive market in the last couple of years. The Swedish market is blooming with an economic growth of a staggering 20 % according to analysts at Konsultguiden. The attractiveness of the market has brought many foreign players into the field such as Celerant. Celerant is a UK-based company earning a total of $145 million in 2006 with about 650 employees around Europe and the USA. Their focus is mainly within operational management. A few years ago, Celerant decided to expand in to the Nordic region consisting of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and has just recently started to focus a bit extra on the Swedish market. Using Porter’s model of Five Forces we look at the Swedish management consulting industry to see what factors to consider focusing on when entering the market. Through an analysis of the current management consulting market, we compare it to Celerant’s strategy for entering the Swedish market to see if our analysis differs or is similar to the consultancy’s actual strategy. This gives us a picture of how the management consultancies perceive the market and how they act accordingly. The results show similarities with two factors: the consultants and the clients. These seem to be the main factors to focus on as a management consultancy entering the Swedish market. There seems to be a current shortage of competent consultants on the Swedish market and therefore a necessity to focus on recruitment. Clients are what make business for consultancies and business connections need to be established before entering the market. However, we found that more precaution should be taken for factors such as substitutes and new entrants as well. There is a constant change of trends in the management consultancy industry and needs to be considered in order to stay competitive on the market, since a management consultancy needs to be able to offer what the clients demand.

The multi-vendor consulting model is a transorganizational development topic that has gained importance as more organizations strategically source professional services, such as management consulting. Multi-vendor consulting models often require competitors to collaborate on service delivery, fostering coopetitive relationships. This research study acknowledged the paradoxical nature of coopetition and aimed to understand more fully the frequency of coopetition in the management consulting industry, the perceived benefits and risks of coopetition, and the key factors that motivate management consulting leaders to collaborate with their competitors on client engagements. The study revealed that there is a deeper level of motivation for management consulting leaders who chose to collaborate with competitors: the fear of missing out on current and future opportunities and the desire to develop stronger relationships in both their vertical and horizontal networks.

As healthcare consulting continues to grow, the improvement in healthcare companies’ finances, information technology, marketing, and management continues to increase as well. Despite this increase, one form of healthcare consulting is lacking. This is where HC³ (Healthcare Corporate Culture Consulting) steps in. HC³ will act as a consulting firm that will focus on the improvement of a healthcare company’s culture and operations. It will work with different types of healthcare companies to improve their strategy, marketing, culture, training, and talent development. The following business proposal aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of how HC³ or Healthcare Corporate Culture Consulting aspires to change the way healthcare is operated today. The business proposal has been organized in four chapters: market analysis, feasibility analysis, legal and regulatory analysis, and financial analysis, so as to detail exactly how these changes will be carried out.