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Analyses the state of the management consultancy industry in Britain, from both a supply and a demand perspective. Aims to help potential clients evaluate and select consultants; to keep academics in business‐related subjects abreast of developments in the field; and to identify growth areas into which consultants might elect to move. Outlines available consulting specialisms, identifies key players in each, and profiles a typical management consultant.

Presents the results of a first research survey of consulting firms within the United Kingdom. Examines the usefulness of knowledge typology as a way of categorizing firms and the differences, if any, between the firms. Explores the firms′ sources of knowledge, knowledge networks, transfer of knowledge or expertise, and consultant knowledge and skills. Discusses the implications of the survey and presents an agenda for action which comprises of future research into the usefulness of the typologies. Concludes by saying that a more precise instrument is needed to classify parts of organizations as well as the whole and there is a need to examine the particular problems of managing a consultancy firm.

In the UK, management consultancy is a £2 billion per annum business sector. Major consultancy firms are global or European enterprises which match and perhaps lead the emerging global or regional nature of markets. Yet little is known about these agencies of change, these intelligence networks which have come to play such a significant, perhaps pivotal role in organizational and management development. Part I of this two‐part article presents the role of management consultancy in the context of a knowledge typology – and reports on some of the findings of a preliminary research project.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the main obstacles for innovation in Dutch consultancy firms by focusing on the strength of informal knowledge sharing as an avenue for innovation.

This paper is the result of an empirical study based on in‐depth interviews with 29 consultants in the Netherlands.

The process of innovation can be problematic in consultancy firms. Consultants do simply not find the time to innovate, since they are mainly rewarded for client related work (billable hours). In order to innovate consultants need to share knowledge with clients, colleague consultants and their experienced superiors. The knowledge sharing routes the consultant can use, as described in this paper, are: codified, formal knowledge and informal knowledge sharing. This paper claims that the most fruitful route to innovation is informal knowledge sharing.

The importance of informal knowledge is supported by Hofstede's description of the Dutch business culture as being feminine, cultivating low power distance (low degree of inequality) and being highly individualistic. However, despite the support of the Dutch cultural setting, which supports informal knowledge sharing, this research describes the lack of management support in the innovation process as one of the main barriers to innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light upon the reasons why knowledge workers are offered considerable autonomy, and the extent to which they are given the freedom to determine how and when they work.

In order to examine the level of flexibility available to knowledge workers, a large consultancy firm was investigated using a case‐study approach.

The results obtained from the case‐study firm demonstrate the reasons why consultants are afforded temporal and locational flexibility and the degree of flexibility available to them. Contrary to the claims of “futurists”, many knowledge workers are not able to exercise greater control over their working arrangements than traditional employees, as their temporal/locational flexibility is restricted by the needs of their employer(s), client demands and expectations, “professionalism”, network relations and personal career ambitions.

The role played by knowledge workers in the new knowledge economy and the extent to which they are able to extract concessions from their employers have become key areas of interest for organisations, academics and policy makers. Consultancy characterises many of the changes that are being elicited with the emergence of a knowledge‐based economy, and an analysis of the working arrangements available to consultants provides an insight into the degree to which they are given freedom to determine how and when they work and the extent to which they may be defined as “free workers”.

The environmental consultancy market is, by any measure, expanding. Yet, what does the future hold for those entering the market? In essence the market will be split between three types of organizations: large environmental consultancies; niche players; and low‐cost providers of environmental services. Initial advantage will go to those firms offering services relating to energy efficiency and waste minimization. In the long term, however, advantage will go to those consultancies which are willing to use an active and involved approach with their customers, and at a lower margin than they may take now.

The aim of the article is to explore the dynamics of the management consulting process for small firms as an outcome of interactive processes.

The explorative study is based on a summary sketch of an interactive research project (LOS) in which small firms and their interactions with management consultants were studied in a three‐year perspective. The theoretical framework employed is based on the industrial network theory.

The study suggests that clients are co‐producers of the consulting process. Therefore, management consulting in a interactive perspective has important elements of trailing, i.e. changing the frames of reference of the consulting process and creating room for consulting in which the consultant, as well as the client, allow themselves to experiment with their professional foundations. However, it is also suggested that innovative learning processes are difficult to foster in management consulting processes.

The empirical foundation of this explorative study is limited and thus invites to further interactive studies along the paradigm of action research.

Based on the findings, it seems important that both clients and consultants accept the consulting process as a co‐productive process, and that they find a way to work out the expectation gap at the beginning of the process.

The study adopts an industrial network perspective on the consulting process. In this perspective social exchange and adaptation processes among actors, i.e. consultant and client are in focus.

The paper is an exploratory attempt to examine the practice of management consultancy and the cultural components of rituals, symbolism and magic in Botswana. Management consultants as catalytic agents of change remain relevant in organisational life and this study aims to investigate how they are perceived and how they perform their tasks in the African context.

In‐depth unstructured interviews were conducted with seven top management consultancy firms in Botswana, who agreed to participate in the study, focusing on six key research questions.

Findings revealed that the role of cultural values, while relevant, does not affect actual consultancy practice. It also establishes that consultation process is limited to mainly big organisations and government departments. The activities of consultants may be ritualistic to the extent of repetitiveness; there are also symbolic practices, there is, however, no evidence of superstitious or magical acts.

Qualitative data generally struggles with the accusation of researchers bias, while a sample size of seven consultants, certainly limits the generalisability of the findings, how much can we possibly learn from such a small size?

The need to reposition the consultation process for long‐term survival in the non‐Western context by inculcating indigenous values and mores was discussed as well as other policy implications.

The paper demonstrates the need for a re‐conceptualisation of what should constitute an effective management consultancy practice in non‐Western settings. Since managers are not divorced from their socio‐cultural environment their mental images reflect axioms that are deeply located in the uniqueness of their cultural settings.

A previous article on management training described some of the shortcomings in the national provision of management courses specifically for small firms and methods of overcoming some of the problems. Many of the findings were based on a detailed survey of 80 small and medium sized manufacturing firms in the Sheffield area carried out by the Small Firms Management Service at Sheffield Polytechnic. The use of management techniques in small and medium sized firms was also extensively investigated during this survey and this report describes some of the findings. It is now well known that small firms with less than 200 employees represent an essential and substantial sector of our national manufacturing capability and are frequently responsible for high financial performance and the introduction of new products and ideas. It is becoming clear, however, that so far as national resources are concerned, such as grants for new buildings and equipment, investment allowances, factory moving grants and management training and consultancy, the bigger firms are getting a disproportionately large share of the money and facilities available. This is mainly due to the fact that the small business has little management time available for information seeking and form filling and also providers of management training and consultancy tend to favour those firms who are most willing and able to pay high fees for extended services. Research at Sheffield has already pointed the way to the creation of better training facilities for small firms, but has also provided data on the extent to which modern management methods are applied in different industries and sizes of firm and related this to return on capital. Small firms are well known for their resistance both to training facilities offered, which they rightly say are inappropriate, and to management help available which is thought to be too costly and disruptive.

Reviews the available evidence on the use of human resource management consultants, and examines the findings from a study of their use in manufacturing in the North‐East of England. Also considers the following questions: What types of consultants are used and in what areas? How is the HRM consultant sourced, selected, managed and evaluated? What is their relationship with in‐house personnel departments? Concludes by considering the implications of the findings for the future role and status of the personnel function and identifies an agenda for further research. Suggests that the use of HRM consultants does not necessarily undermine the in‐house personnel function and under certain conditions may enhance its reputation.