Abby Chang

Are all teams in a consulting firm project-based? Is there any difference between internal consultant and external consultants?

I think clarify the nature of the task is the first step for the leader. And the leader should also clearly understand every employees' strengths on working and their hobbies. What the leader do then is considering if this employee can be qualified or not, if the answer is yes they can, then allocating task. After allocating task, the duty of leader is to make sure this task can be accomplished guarantee both quality and quantity, so make people who is in the team communicate positive and give feedback on time are also very important.

Nowadays, China is developing rapidly especially in financial. The degree of dependence on the consulting industry becomes higher than before, But why does the consulting industry not have as high profit as before? Is the industry facing a downturn?

Is analyzing information the most important skill for a consultant?

There are many mature models and methodologies, many old consultants are used to deal with customers’ problems by using those models directly without analyzing the program deeply. If things continue this way, it will rigidify the way consultants think. How to avoid this ossification?

In a consulting project, a typical consulting firm will start by coming up with a hypothesis about the problem facing the client. It will then gather information from various sources including market research and data provided by the client. The firm will analyse this information using statistics, consulting methodologies, and industry experience. The firm will then provide recommendations to the client supported by its analysis.

A consulting firm's analysis will often be reliable. But it has its limitations, such as the consulting firm may have limited data on which to base its conclusions, or the consulting firm may hide the limitations of its analysis in order to justify the high fees it charges to the client. 

However, even if the analysis undertaken and recommendations made are sound, this does not guarantee that they will lead to positive financial results for the client.  For example:

1. A client may fail to implement the advice which it has received.
2. Market conditions may change which invalidate previous advice. For example, the CEO resigns, a major competitor enters the market, or a new technology is invented. 
3. The economy may enter a recession.
4. The earth might get hit by an asteroid.
5. Etc.

External consultants set foot in many industries, so they may have more knowledge than internal consultants and have the ability to control the overall situation. But the internal consultants just need to face the situation in one company (one industry), so they won't have as much knowledge. In my opinion, hiring an external consultant is necessary because they can deal with many problems that internal consultants can't deal with. Some problems involve several industries, external consultants will give their customers a proposal timely and accurately to solve the problems.

If a consulting firm gives one of its clients a proposal that they think can solve the client's problems efficiently and effectively, but the client has its own counter-proposal (which the consulting firm believes is not as good), what should the consulting firm do if the client insists on the consulting firm implementing it?

We all know that the Big Four have financial advisory and management consulting departments. Is there any difference between Big Four’s management consulting and other consulting firms (like MBB)?