2024 wrap-up and plans for 2025
CMCE is unique in providing information to the management consulting community from the perspective of both academics and management consultants.
For this reason, our educational events are led by a combination of professionals from the profession and from academia. A great example this year was the series of events on managing risk led by Dr Edmond Smith from Manchester University. The events looked at risk from a wide range of perspectives and involved input from a number of his colleagues at the university as well as a number of practising management consultants.
We also continued to develop our close relationship with the British Academy of Management (BAM) Management Consultancy Network (MCN), a group of academics involved in teaching management consultancy. This included holding joint events on business strategy and on the use of generative AI by management consultants.
2024 also saw CMCE announce the winners of our Research Awards that recognise outstanding academic papers on subjects of interest to management consultants. We made awards in three categories for papers that focused on the skills and ways of working necessary to make effective use of generative AI and the changing role of management consultancies, important issues for management consultants and for our profession. Emphasising the international nature of the management consulting profession, the winning papers included authors from Germany, Denmark, Canada, India and Australia as well as the United Kingdom.
CMCE also published the “Fundamental Questions for Consulting Excellence” report which provided responses to a series of questions posed in 2021 by an advisory panel. The responses were based on content generated by CMCE in the last three years including webinar recordings, research reports and articles. We were delighted that the foreword to the report was provided by the outgoing Lord Mayor of London, Michael Mainelli, who had been a member of the advisory panel.
So, what is in store for 2025? We will continue to publish our monthly newsletter and to provide our programme of educational events although more of them will be held in person to provide a greater opportunity for members of the CMCE community to network with each other. We are also continuing research into how management consultancies should respond to a range of factors that are disrupting the provision of consulting services, the skills needed by management consultants, and the ways that academic courses can meet the needs of the next generation of management consultants.
With best wishes for an enjoyable festive season and new year.
Jim Foster, Director, CMCE
