Management consulting

By the term management consulting or strategy consulting, it means to analyze the Existing problems of a particular business and to suggest ways and means to get rid of the same, so that the business is brought back to a healthy and profitable
Level or is elevated to further levels of flourishment and prosperity. The process of management consulting involves the process of primary identification of the Practices which contribute in the negative to a business and to cross-fertilize it with the result oriented and proven successful concepts. It also studies the styles and stigma of an existing management and recommend changes so as to make it More dynamic and which encourages continuous creative skill development. Management consultants always insist on the implementation of state of the art technology and develops a strategy which always keep an outsiders perspective in mind about your business. It suggests methodologies of troubleshooting or early identification of problems, which will make a business, perform most efficiently.

Management consultancy is not at all confined to business alone and is equally prevalent and applicable to non-business related areas as well. With a growth in the economy, the need for professional and specialized consultancy also grows and organizations under the government, quasi-government or non-profitable agencies are depending on it, just as the private
sector is doing since years along.

The various principles of business management consultancy may Be applicable to any other form of consultancy, the dividing line is relatively unclear for eg.information technology consulting.

History

Management consulting grew with the rise of management as a unique field of study. The first management consulting firm was Arthur D. Little, founded in 1886 by the MIT professor of the same name. Though Arthur D. Little later became a general management consultancy, it originally specialized in technical research. Booz Allen Hamilton was founded by Edwin G. Booz, a graduate of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, in 1914 as a management consultancy and the first to serve both industry and government clients. The first pure management and strategy consulting company was McKinsey & Company. McKinsey was founded in Chicago during 1926 by James O. McKinsey, a professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, but the modern McKinsey was shaped by Marvin Bower, who believed that management consultancies should adhere to the same high professional standards as lawyers and doctors. McKinsey is credited with being the first to hire newly minted MBAs from top schools to staff its projects vs. hiring older industry personnel. Andrew T. Kearney, an original McKinsey partner broke off and started A.T. Kearney in 1937. During Britain's war effort, Personnel Administration (PA) was founded in 1943 by three Englishmen: Ernest E. Butten, Tom H. Kirkham and Dr David Seymour.

The current trend in the market is a clear segmentation of management consulting firms. McKinsey, Bain, and BCG retain their strong strategy focus, while many other generalist management consultancies such as Accenture and Capgemini are broadening their offering increasing into high volume, lower margin work such as system integration.