The concept of management consultancy: a perspective analysis related to the research field of strategy-as-practice

Abstract

In a historical retrospective, although the existing literature describes the management consulting industry as a remarkable sector and a unique phenomenon in the business context, in fact these statements are not accompanied by a number of academic studies that highlight the importance of the effective work of management consultants. To combat the lack of studies in this emerging field this article aims to construct a definition of management consultancy that is widely accepted. The results of the empirical analysis in the form of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires with management consultants and SME managers in Portugal, are thereby redefining the paradox of the management consulting concept from the analysis perspective of consultants and customers in Portugal. This redefinition comes at the light of a perspective linked to the search field of strategy-as-practice, focusing on the four paradigms of business management consulting and on the macro and micro perspectives of analysis that constitute the search field of strategy-as-practice.