Introduction

Abstract

Management consulting is a professional service that is concerned with “the rendering of independent advice and assistance about the process of management” (ICMCI, 2002).¹ It comprises consulting in various management areas including finance, human resources, information technology, marketing, operations, organization, and strategy (e.g., Alpha Publications, 2002: 6–7; FEACO, 2004: 8; Kennedy, 2003a: 13–14; Kubr, 2002: 261–604). Like for other professional services such as auditing, commercial law, executive search, investment banking, and tax advisory, the economic good exchanged is a highly customized service — not a physical product — and is provided by trained professionals (Greiner & Metzger, 1983: 7; Haywood-Farmer & Stuart, 1990: 337; Lowendahl, 2000: 18–23; Morgan & Quack, 2004: 1). With the rise of the service economy at the outgoing industrial age, the industry that provides consulting services has developed into a sizeable economic sector and employment market (Ringlstetter et al., 2004a: 9–10; Thommen & Richter, 2004: 5).

The terms ‘consulting’ and ‘consultant’ have been used with a variety of meanings (Biswas & Twitchell, 2002: 6; Day, 2004: 27; von Keller & Lorentz, 1999: 349–351; Ziegler, 1995). There are also numerous notions of ‘management consulting’ that vary, for example, with culture and language (Hofmann et al., 1991: 3; Kipping & Armbrüster, 1999: 3; Kubr, 2002: 3–10; Wohlgemuth, 1995: 17). ‘Management consulting’ and ‘consulting’ are used interchangeably in this thesis to refer to the professional service mostly provided for a fee to managers of different types of organizations as defined by the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI).