Management consulting has developed remarkably in Germany and throughout Europe over the last decades and is now an indispensable business-related service.
Thus the consulting industry is one of the most dynamic economic sectors. Busi- ness reengineering processes, company mergers, deregulation and privatization, the globalization of economic activities at large, as well as the short-lived devel- opments in information and communication technologies provide for always new consulting projects.
Fig. 2.1.Development of the Consulting Industry in Germany
As is also the case in most other countries the job title “management consult- ant” [Unternehmensberater] is not protected in Germany. Anybody may – irre- spective of his/her vocational aptitude, qualifications and experience – call him- self/herself “management consultant”. This means that it is particularly easy for unqualified business consultants to establish themselves on the consulting market, thus damaging the reputation of the whole industry. The Federal Association Bundesverband Deutscher Unternehmensberater, which was founded in 1954, has implemented demanding quality criteria for the industry so as to counter this un- satisfactory situation. BDU members to come have to observe a strict admittance procedure, where they have to prove their ability as well as their job experience and they must submit verifiable customer references and they also undertake to abide by the comprehensive job principles as to which rules have to be observed when working as a management consultant, resp. executive search consultant.
Pursuant to these principles professional management consultants are only offer- ing their services if it is to be expected that their work is beneficial for their cus- tomers. This also means that they must be qualified and have sufficient staff and time to complete the mission within an adequate period. Moreover, it is being ex- pected that they are basically acting as individually accountable persons and do not accept any limitations to their independence by third parties. Their consulting service is always non-partisan and objective. Expert opinions rendered out of complaisance or the will to please are a no-go. Fees must be proportionate to the type and volume of work to be carried out and should be agreed with the customer before the start of the assignment.
Management consultant’s work in many different areas with varying degrees of complexity and the business community is expecting more and more from them.
The challenge is to deals with different projects on the one hand and an enormous range of economic sectors on the other hand. This means that the consultants have to tackle a variety of demands, today they have to be brilliant analysts or cautious strategists, tomorrow they have to be the target-oriented catalysts or trusted coaches. The type of skill and abilities required vary from one assignment to the next, there is no such thing as the business consultant who could be described in a nutshell. The variety of management consulting tasks is better understandable when studying the list of traditional consulting tasks below:
x External trade consulting, x controlling,
x communication consulting, x marketing,
x information management, x outplacement consulting, x human resource management, x management consulting, x project management, x quality management,
x business reengineering and insolvency management consulting, x technology and logistics,
x company management and strategy consulting, x business start-ups.
Management consultants support their customers by drafting and implementing solutions to their problems in all entrepreneurial, business economics and techno- logical areas. One of the consultants' biggest assets is his/her unbiased inside view from the outside. Operations, processes and structures in the company are being subjected to a critical, objective analysis at the beginning of a consulting project.
As a rule this comparison between the present situation and the wishes for the fu- ture is followed by a conceptual stage. Most projects include the implementation of the proposals drafted by the team and the customer's staff members. Today, consultants consider their task as "implementation consulting", where the consult- ant's knowledge is transferred to the customer company by means of the intensive project work and the results of the project which remains available to the company upon conclusion of the project.
The areas of activity of management consultants today probably count among the most interesting and challenging that can be found in the business community and industry. Changing projects and sectors reflect the whole range of economic activity. Traditionally consulting is subdivided into four main consulting areas:
Strategy Consulting helps companies and organizations first and foremost with concepts serving to secure their further growth. This includes the development of new markets and far reaching decisions on company concentrations or mergers and acquisitions.
Fig. 2.2.Consulting 2004 IT-Beratung/-Services
Strategieberatung Organisationsberatung
HR gesamt
Organization Consulting aims at optimizing operational processes and busi- ness process reengineering.For this purpose project and quality management or e.g. the technology, logistics or sales department are put to the test. IT Consulting focuses mainly on individual and standardized solutions of IT driven processes in the companies. These may include technical systems for customer relationship management or materials management, but also data linking in companies and or- ganizations of any size. Projects to expand business activities via the Internet, so- called e-Business, play an increasingly important role. The fourth classic consult- ing area, Human-Resource-Management(HRM), is with a share of 11.5% of the total turnover in this industry in 2004 the smallest consulting area in Germany.
The range of services within HRM included the search for and selection of leading technical experts and senior executives as well as the conception and implementa- tion of human resource development measures and remuneration and outplace- ment consulting, as well as career coaching.