Management Consultancy

As an aspiring management consultant you will require finely tuned critical skills and thorough understanding of the industry in order to succeed. Management Consultancy brings together a number of different perspectives on the industry with insights and examples to enable you to develop the most up-to-date skills and understanding.

Providing a balance between critical analysis and practical skills, Management Consultancy provides insights into industry trends, client engagements and consultancy careers, to ensure you have all the information and guidance you require to become a successful management consultant.

1. Introduction
• Chapter Objectives
• The Management Consultancy Phenomen
• The Backlash
• Perspectives on Consulting
• This Book
• Part 1: The Descriptive Perspective
• Part 2: The Practitioner Perspective
• Part 3: The Critical Perspective
• Part 4: The Career Perspective
• A Note on Sources
• Chapter Summary
• Practioner Insight: A Positive Force for the Economy (Alan Leaman)
• Part 1: The Desciptive Perspective
2. The Consulting Industry
• Chapter Objectives
• The Basics of Consultancy
• What is Management Consultancy?
• The History of Consulting
• Consultancy 1990-2010
• The New Face of Consultancy?
• The Institutions of Consultancy
• Professional Institutes
• Trade Associations
• Procurement Institutions
• Why Do Consultancies Exist?
• Because They Do Things Clients Can't …
• Transaction Cost Economics
• Economic Development and Specialisation
• National Culture
• Political and Economic Ideologies
• Government Legislative Institutions
• Labour Markets
• Legitimisation and Identity
• International Perspectives on Consulting
• International Markets for Consultancy
• Chapter Summary
• Practioner Insight: Consultancy — Is Behaving Professionally Enough? The Long Journey to Becoming a Profession (Lynda Purser)
3. Types of Management Consultancy
• Chapter Objectives
• Introduction
• Different Business Models
• Hybrid vs.s Pure Consultancies
• Niche vs. Generalist
• Small vs. Large Consultancies
• Body-Shopping
• Internal Consultancy
• Contractors
• Interim Managers
• Consulting by Service
• Problems of Classification
• Strategy
• IT Consulting
• Outsourcing Advice
• Generalist/Change Management Consultancy
• Consulting Specialisms
• Consulting by Sector
• Finance and Banking
• Telecoms/Entertainment
• The Public Sector
• Health
• Utilities, Energy, Mining, and Infrastructure
• FMCG, Retail, and Consumer Business
• Manufacturing
• Not for Profit/Social Sector
• Environmental
• Chapter Summary
• Practioner Insight: Internal Consulting (Alan Warr)
• Part 2: The Practitioner Perspective
4. Clients
• Chapter Objectives
• Introduction
• Client-Consultant Relationships
• The Relationship
• Consultancy Roles
• From Personal Engagement to Procurement
• The Personal Engagement Model
• The Rise of Procurement
• Recruiting Consultants
• The Procurement Process
• Defining Projects
• Finding Consultants
• Selecting Consultants
• Negotiating
• Putting the Pieces Together
• Does Procurement Work?
• Managing Consultants
• Preparing the Organsation
• Reporting and Managing
• Building the Relationship
• Handover and Exit
• Evaluating Consultancy
• Chapter Summary
• Practioner Insight: Procurement's Role in Buying Consultancy (Alan Gotto)
5. The Consulting Life-Cycle
• Chapter Objectives
• The Consulting Life-Cycle
• Sales
• A Sales Overview
• On Developing a Sales Stragey
• Targeting Clients
• Making Contact
• Managing the Proposal
• Moving to Contract
• Types of Payment
• Research
• Introducing Research
• Planning Research
• Research Methods/Data Collection
• Data Analysis
• Delivery
• Building a Project Partnership
• Planning Delivery
• Exit
• Project Handover
• Withdrawal
• Project Review
• Follow-Up
• A Final Note
• Chapter Summary
• Practioner Insight: Client Interventions (Beverly Brookes)
6. Consulting Tools, Skills, and Techniques
• Chapter Objectives
• Introduction: The Art of Consultancy
• Frameworks for Business Analysis
• Introducing Methods and Tools
• The Basic Tools of Business
• What Should our Strategy Be?
• How Can We Improve our Operations?
• How Can We Maximise Profits?
• How Should We Price Our Products?
• What Markets Should We Enter?
• Bespoke Frameworks
• Soft Skills
• Personal Skills
• Communication and Presentation Skills
• Team Skills
• Chapter Summary
• Practioner Insight: Buying Consultancy Services (Peter Wlmsley)
7. Running a Consultancy
• Chapter Objectives
• Introduction
• Key Metrics
• Calculating Profit Per Partner
• The Importance of Leverage
• Strategy
• The Difficulty of Strategising
• The Influence of Partnerships
• Stragegic Directions
• Finance
• A Question of Balance
• A Closer Look: Clever Consultancy Company
• People
• Valuing the Key Assets
• Planning
• Culture Management
• Training
• Knowledge Management
• Internationalisation
• Managing the International
• Chapter Summary
• Practioner Insight: The Story of a Chameleon (Deborah Fleming)
• Part 3: The Critical Perspective
8. Critical Themes in Consulting
• Chapter Objectives
• Introduction
• Knowledge and Innovation in the Consulting World
• The Growth of Information and the Specialisation of Work
• Consultancies as Innovators
• Knowledge Managers
• Professions
• What is a Profession?
• Why Are Professions Interesting?
• Is Consultancy a Profession?
• Trust, Risk, and Ambiguity
• Conditions of Modernity
• Sources of Uncertainty
• Dealing with Ambiguity
• Consulting Identities
• From Rationality to (Post)Modernism
• Consulting Identities
• The Global Perspective: Colonisation and Capitalism
• The Neo-Liberal Agenda
• Missionaries for Capitalism
• Aiding and Abetting the New Public Sector Management
• Chapter Summary
• Practioner Insight: Studying Consulting Critally (Andrew Sturdy)
9. The Ethics of Consultancy
• Chapter Objectives
• The Growth of Ethics?
• Institutional Relationships 1950-2000
• Audit Companies
• The Government
• IT Companies
• The Failure of Institutional Reform?
• Audit
• Government
• IT
• The Individualisation of Ethical Responsibility
• Understanding Individualisation
• Ethical Codes of Practice
• Segmentation of Ethical Behaviour
• Professionalisation
• Considering the Changes
• Change 1: Consulting Advice Isn't Value for Money and Doesn't Work
• Change 2: Consulting Solutions Are Fads or 'Boiler-Plated" Templates
• Change 3: Consultants Can't Be Trusted
• Change 4: Consultants Prey on the Insecurities of Client Managers
• Chapter Summary
• Practioner Insight: Do Consultants Get Results (David Craig)
• Part 4: The Career Perspective
10. The Consultancy Career
• Chapter Objectives
• An overview of the Consultancy Career
• The Consulting Career
• The Dominance of Consultancy
• More Business — Less Professional?
• Reasons for Joining
• Career Structure
• Salaries
• Points of Entry
• Degree
• MBA
• Experienced Hires
• Internship
• Associates
• The Recruitment Process
• Covering Letter and CVs
• Competency-Based Interviews
• Assessment Centres
• Dealing with Rejection
• Getting On
• Setting your Career Strategy
• The Formal and Informal
• Mentoring
• Planning a Promotion
• Getting Out
• Why Consultants Leave
• The Personal Cost of Consulting
• Where Consultants Go
• Key Career Questions
• What Degree Should I Do?
• Why Should I Choose Consultancy as a Career?
• Should I Do a Postgraduate Degree?
• Where Should I Apply for a Consultancy Job?
• How Should I Choose Between Job Offers?
• I Plan to Get Out of Consultancy after Making Some Money
• Chapter Summary
• Pactitioner Insight: Recruitment (Don Leslie)
11. Case Interviews
• Chapter Objectives
• Introducing the Case Interview
• What Is a Case Interview?
• How Is a Case Interview Marked?
• Managing the Case Interview
• Listening and Clarifying the Case
• Structure the Problem
• Requesting Specific Information
• Analysing the Problem
• Presenting Findings
• Questions/Recommendations
• Hints and Tricks
• A Good Answer
• Walk Through Cases
• Chapter Summary

This book reminds me of the Biggs book, but with a lot more critical view and deeper understanding of the management consultancy industry. Interestingly enough, the author seems from time to time to describe the same concepts as Biggs but disagrees with the contents… It is still not the "ultimate" book on consulting but close enough to be worth the time and money to read.

Recommended reading.