Business consulting firms provide tailored solutions to increase efficiency and profits. Arthur D. Little is recognized as the first firm. European businesses began seeking help after WWII, while American businesses have long recognized the benefits. Harvard Business School and Boston Consulting Group established common strategies. Firms offer a range of services, from diversification to specialization. Critics argue that each organization requires unique solutions.
A business consulting firm, also known as a management consulting firm, tailors different types of business solutions for companies and other organizations to increase their efficiency and/or profits. More specifically, professional business consultants provide expert analysis of an organization’s problems and goals and come up with strategies to address each of them. Arthur D. Little, formed in the United States in 1886, is generally recognized as the first business consulting firm.
European business and industry did not begin to look to these organizations for help until after the Second World War, when international trade was beginning to expand. European executives and managers were expected to be fully responsible themselves for ensuring the smooth running of their companies. Conversely, since the time of Arthur D. Little, American business people have generally recognized that they may not be up to the task of solving all the problems that arise in running their companies, so they often enlist the help of a business consulting firm. .
Beginning in the early 1960s, Harvard Business School, in conjunction with the Boston Consulting Group, developed and established the strategies that management or business consulting firms often use to help businesses, industry, and occasionally governments and organizations without to profit. In general, this type of company takes an expert or directive approach, or a facilitative approach, more focused on the consultation process with business managers. In the latter case, the consulting firm focuses less on specific technical knowledge, as opposed to one employing a specialized approach, and more on the process of coming up with strategies to solve a firm’s problems.
Companies may seek the services of a management or business consulting firm when they want to create a new, salable product and/or marketing and pricing strategies to increase profits. Governments sometimes employ this type of consulting firm to help formulate policy. Businesses can also help a business or non-profit organization optimize the information technology best suited to their needs.
A large business consulting firm often offers diversified strategies for a wide variety of organizations and businesses. A boutique company focuses on the problems and promotion of specific industries or technologies. One type of business consulting firm known as a sourcing consulting firm deals with sourcing, outsourcing and contract issues for suppliers and companies. Supply consulting firms are sometimes thought of as a type of boutique firm.
A business consulting firm sometimes employs the interventions it has successfully used in one business or organization with another that may be in a similar situation. Many business experts have criticized this strategy because of the temptation to employ designer-style plans. These critics believe that each organization’s business problems tend to be unique situations, requiring unique solutions.
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