Projects
The Centre undertakes research projects into issues relating to consulting.
Management consultant value
How can you make sure that management consultants deliver the value expected?
Whether you are a buyer, user or provider of management consulting services, CMCE’s latest report on measuring consultant value is a "must read".
This report follows up our 2021 report “Consultant Value Add: Maximising Value from your Management Consultant” by looking at the impact of factors including commercial arrangements, measures of value and the frequency of reviews, and provides a set of guidelines for ensuring that the value expected from the consultants is delivered.
To obtain a copy of the report, please complete and submit the form at the foot of this page.
A summary of the findings of our 2021 report is available here and the full report is available here.
Measuring management consultancy performance
This report, the latest output from our Excellence in Consulting programme, is based on a roundtable discussion led by a panel representing buyers and providers of management consulting services.
We consider it a "must read" for users, buyers and providers of management consulting services, with advice on the best measures of consultancy performance, how often to conduct performance reviews and hot to link consultancy fees to performance.
The report is available here.
What management consultants want from academics
In 2021 CMCE carried out some exploratory research into how consultants access and use outputs of academic research in their work.
We found that academic work contributes to the knowledge base that consultants draw on in three main ways:
1. It is a source of ideas underlying major types of consulting interventions and of widely used consulting tools;
2. Outputs of academic work provide information for use on a specific project;
3. Academic outputs can contribute to consultants' continuing professional development.
In our report we draw conclusions about how consultants can make better use of the findings of academic research and how academics can increase the impact of their research by disseminating it more effectively to consultants, and through consultants to their clients.
We presented the findings of the research at the first seminar hosted by the British Academy of Management (BAM) Management Consultancy Network on 21 February 2022.
The report is available here.
Consulting skills for the future
In 2018 the Centre ran a research project to determine what the main technological and consequent social changes would be by the year 2030, and the implications for the skills needed by management consultants.
The preliminary results were announced at the Centre's Global Symposium in November 2018 and the report covering the findings was launched in March 2019. A write up of launch and the key findings in the report can be found here.
You can access the full report here.