Management consulting industry in India: Strategic analysis of its future based on a Delphi study approach

Abstract

Management consulting is the practices of assisting organizations improve their performance by analysing the existing business problems and developing a roadmap for improvement. Organizations often take the services of management consultants for gaining external advice on the existing business problem and access to the consultants' specialized expertise which can help them coming out of problem. Many times they also want to know the future of industry or the expected trends in the industry so as to align themselves to the future easily. When the organizations don’t have clarity on their future actions or when they feel incapable of resolving an issue or are looking at better expert advice on an issue, they usually look forward for management consults. Consulting firms usually come up with the set of "best practices" for an industry and help the organizations in the implementation of these, although some of the practices need to be realigned depending upon the client’s ambition or strategy. Consultancies may also provide organizational change management assistance, development of coaching skills, technology implementation, strategy development, or operational improvement services. Management consultants generally bring their own, proprietary methodologies or frameworks to guide the identification of problems, and to serve as the basis for recommendations for more effective or efficient ways of performing business tasks.