Management Consulting Today - Strategies for a Challenging Environment

Leading management consultants and academics discuss the development of the consulting industry and of the firms that have decisively shaped the sector. The authors provide in-depth insights into the leadership of top management consultancies, the strategy and structure of consulting firms, the changing dynamics of consultant-client relationships and the development of new consulting approaches.

The Editors

Prof. Dr. Jean-Paul Thommen is Professor of Business Administration, in particular Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, at the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel, Germany. He is also Adjunct Professor at the University of Zurich and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of St Gallen.

Ansgar Richter, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Organisation and Human Resources Management at the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel, Germany.

The Authors

FIONA CZERNIAWSKA, PhD is the Director of the UK Management Consultancies Association’s Think Tank, and Founder and Managing Director of Arkimeda, a firm that specialises in researching and consulting on strategic issues in the consulting industry. Fiona Czerniawska has more than 15 years experience as a management consultant, primarily working in the areas of marketing and strategy, and now speaks and writes extensively on the consulting industry and related issues. Her books include: Management Consultancy: What Next? (2001) and Value-Based Consulting (2002). She is also the author of a variety of commercial reports on the consulting industry, including The European Consulting Market (2002) and Offshore Consulting: Benchmarking Future Success (2003) Her most recent book is The Intelligent Client (2002). Fiona Czerniawska graduated from Oxford and has a PhD from the University of London.

JONATHAN DAY is the Managing Director, Europe, of the Monitor Group’s Human Assets practice. Monitor is an international firm with a range of advisory and merchant banking services, all aimed at helping clients become more competitive. Monitor’s Human Assets practice helps clients on matters of leadership and organisational development. At the time this chapter was written, Jonathan Day was a Partner in the London office of McKinsey & Company, which he joined in 1990. His focus in McKinsey was on organisation, leadership and corporate strategy for global industrial firms. His undergraduate degree is from the Johns Hopkins University, with graduate studies at Johns Hopkins, Stanford University and the University of Chicago. Before joining McKinsey, Jonathan Day was the founder of The Amethyst Corporation, a Chicago-based consulting firm, and an Adjunct Professor at Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh.

Dr. JOACHIM DEINLEIN is a Project Manager at Booz Allen Hamilton, based in the Munich office. He received his degree in 1997 from the Otto-Friedrich-University in Bamberg and his doctorate from the EUROPEAN BUSINESS SCHOOL, Schloss Reichartshausen in 2003. He joined Booz Allen Hamilton in April 1998. After two years of broad exposure to diverse industries, Joachim Deinlein has specialised since 2000 in strategy and operations work in the automotive sector. His dominant focus is on sales and marketing topics such as retail network development, asset lifetime value, campaign effectiveness, aftersales, telematics, and back office efficiency.

Dr. KLAUS-PETER GUSHURST is a Partner with Booz Allen Hamilton, based in the Munich office. He is the Managing Director for Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and a member of the Global Board of Directors of Booz Allen Hamilton. He studied economics, business and political science at the Albert-Ludwigs- University in Freiburg where he received his degree in economics in 1988 and completed his doctorate in business studies in 1990, both with honours. Klaus- Peter Gushurst joined Booz Allen Hamilton in 1990, and in his more than 15 years in consulting has worked in several industries gaining a wealth of experience in strategy and operations work. Klaus-Peter Gushurst has led several assignments for key clients in Europe, the US and Japan. His main interests are in the financial services and the automotive industry with a functional focus on strategy-based transformation programmes and corporate governance, the role of the board of management, CEO/CFO issues, and the organisational set-up of multinational industries. Klaus-Peter Gushurst lives with his family south of Munich.

Dr. DIETER HEUSKEL is a Senior Vice President in the Düsseldorf office of The Boston Consulting Group, a member of BCG's worldwide Executive Committee, and Chair of BCG's Management Team for Germany, Austria, and Greece. He joined BCG in 1980 and is co-founder of the Düsseldorf office. His main areas of expertise include strategy development and portfolio management for diversified companies and change projects. In his many interviews and articles he presents innovative and often controversial concepts on topics such as ‘premium conglomerates’, business migration, and deconstruction. He is the author of the book Wettbewerb jenseits von Industriegrenzen. Aufbruch zu neuen Wachstumsstrategien (1999). He has been a member of the Board of Editors for the Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaftslehre since 1999, and in the same year he initiated BCG's Europe-wide pro bono project business@school. Dieter Heuskel lives with his family near Düsseldorf.

DAVID H. MAISTER is a Consultant specialising in advising professional service firms worldwide. For more than two decades he has advised these firms on the full range of managerial and strategic issues. He is the author of five best-selling books about professional firms, including Managing the Professional Service Firm (1993) and First Among Equals (2002). Prior to launching his consulting practice, he was a Professor at the Harvard Business School. A native of Great Britain, David Maister was educated at the University of Birmingham, the London School of Economics and the Harvard Business School. He lives with his wife in Boston, Massachusetts.

ANSGAR RICHTER, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Management & Consulting at the EUROPEAN BUSINESS SCHOOL (ebs), Schloss Reichartshausen near Frankfurt, Germany. Before joining the ebs in summer 2002, he worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, Inc. He studied philosophy and economics in Frankfurt and Bochum before joining the London School of Economics where he completed an M.Sc. in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management and a PhD in Management. He also spent some time as a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley. Ansgar Richter's special areas of interest include strategic organisation and the internal structure of consulting firms, and he has published extensively on these and other topics. He is married and lives with his wife and two children in Frankfurt.

FRANK RIEMENSPERGER is the Managing Partner of Accenture´s ‘Products’ Business Unit in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Furthermore, he is the Deputy Country Managing Director of Accenture Germany. In this function, he is responsible for, among others, devising business strategy and coordinating new business opportunities across industries. During his career Frank Riemensperger has specialised in defining and delivering large-scale business transformation programmes. He studied in Germany and the United States and holds a degree in business information systems. He is married and lives with his wife and three children in the Rhein-Main Area.

Dr. BURKHARD SCHWENKER is Spokesman of the Executive Committee of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. He studied mathematics and business administration at the University of Bielefeld from 1977 to 1981. He launched his professional career at PWA Papierwerke Waldhof-Aschaffenburg AG, where he last worked as a board assistant. He was awarded a doctoral degree by the University of Flensburg for his dissertation on competition in service companies in 1989. In the same year, he joined the Corporate Strategy and Organization Competence Center of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and started to build up the Hamburg office. He was elected Partner in 1992 and appointed Head of the Competence Center in 1994. Burkhard Schwenker was a key figure in the management buyout negotiations with Deutsche Bank in 1998, the year in which the Partners elected him to the Executive Committee. In this capacity, he was in charge of corporate development, financial planning and analysis, product development and knowledge management. In July 2003 Burkhard Schwenker became Spokesman of the Executive Committee of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, taking over from the company's founder, Roland Berger. He is married, has three children and lives in Hamburg.

Dr. FRANZ-JOSEF SEIDENSTICKER is the Managing Director of Bain & Company Germany, Inc. He has worked extensively in a wide range of industries throughout Europe, including engineering, high-tech, telecommunication and process industry. Franz-Josef Seidensticker specialises in strategy and corporate development, logistics and distribution, organisation and re-engineering. He earned a degree in business administration from the University of Paderborn, an MBA from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the USA, and his doctoral degree from the University of St. Gallen.

Prof. Dr. TOM SOMMERLATTE is Chairman of Arthur D. Little GmbH. He has over thirty years of international consulting experience, mainly in the areas of strategy and innovation consulting for large global corporations in industries with substantial R&D content. As the Managing Director of Arthur D. Little Europe, he led the development of the firm in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, the UK, Scandinavia, the Benelux, Italy, Spain/Portugal, and Eastern Europe. He has also been a spearhead of Arthur D. Little's global Technology and Innovation Management Consulting Practice. He studied physical chemistry and chemical engineering at the Universities of Berlin, Rochester/N.Y. and Paris and obtained his doctoral degree at the latter. He also obtained an MBA at the European Institute of Business Administration, INSEAD. He is the author of over 15 books on management issues. He served as President of the German Association of Management Consultants of which he is now an honorary member. He holds a Professorship at the University of Kassel where he lectures on Systems Research and Design. Tom Sommerlatte is married and has eleven children.

Prof. Dr. JEAN-PAUL THOMMEN is Professor of Business Administration, in particular Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management at the EUROPEAN BUSINESS SCHOOL, Schloss Reichartshausen, Germany. He also holds an Adjunct Professorship at the University of Zurich and is Visiting Lecturer at the University of St. Gallen. Professor Thommen is a member of numerous academic associations and committees, and serves on several boards. His main areas of research are general business administration, business ethics, change management, organisational learning and coaching. He has published extensively in these and other areas. Professor Thommen is married and lives with his wife in Zürich.

MICHAEL TRÄM is Chairman of the Management Board of the globally operating management consultancy A.T. Kearney. He studied economics and law in Saarbrücken and New York. Before joining A.T. Kearney in 1989, he worked for the lawyer’s office Coudert Brothers in the United States and for Banque Populaire in France. As a consultant Michael Träm works with the worldwide leading enterprises, e.g. in banking, telecommunications and high tech, and in the automotive industry. His main consulting focus is on the preparation and implementation of mergers and acquisitions, a subject on which he has published several books and articles.

DR. WOLFGANG ZILLESSEN is Managing Partner with Deloitte, based in Frankfurt. He leads the German Manufacturing Practice and is a member of the European Consulting Leadership Team. Wolfgang Zillessen has 15 years of professional experience in management consulting. His focus is on corporate strategy, restructuring and reorganisation, as well as on mergers and acquisitions and transaction support for private equity firms and corporates. Before joining Deloitte, Wolfgang Zillessen worked for four years for the Dutch electronics group Philips and spent 12 years with Arthur D. Little, prior to his departure as Managing Director for their German operations. He studied economics at the RWTH Aachen and the University of Cologne and obtained a doctoral degree in business administration and computer science.