Product details

This case is part of the PRISM case study portfolio of 15 cases on the intangible economy, funded by the European Commission. Management consulting firms trade on the knowledge of their human capital to help develop and deliver solutions to client problems. Such firms generate value in two ways: by providing value to their clients and by providing value to owners and other firm members. Clients gain value through increased efficiency in exploiting their resources or through gains in market efficiency. Consultancy firms gain value through delivering their services/products with cost efficiency and profitability, which help strengthen the financial success of their firm. Additionally, they gain value from firm knowledge/professional developments. The way consultancy firms create and deploy existing knowledge, support learning and the generation of new knowledge, has implications for recruitment and training, for current and future service/product definition and delivery and sustainability of their competitive performance. Hence, issues relating to the identification, management and measurement of intangibles pervade client-consulting interactions in the production of outputs and the effects of these on client firm performance. This case is focused on a small management consultancy which promotes itself as a 'virtual consultancy and training organisation'. It provides services through a membership of directors, and associates who are sub-contractors of the nominal organisation and are not exclusively contracted to it. The firm, Messrs Consultancy Skills Training Ltd, is mainly UK based with several associates based abroad, in France, the Netherlands, and the USA. Clients are located across Europe and in subsidiaries outside Europe. The firm's stated mission is to develop the performance of knowledge based organisations through consultancy and training. Clients include professional practices (such as consultants, accountants and actuaries) and internal consultants and organisational functions (such as training, IT and HRM) in the telecom, banking and IT industry that provide specialists know-how to others. The case is set at a time when the managing director is facing the issue of how to foster the future growth of this knowledge intensive firm.