Publications

April 2010
Case

George Martin at The Boston Consulting Group (A)

By: Leslie A. Perlow and Kerry Herman

George Martin, managing partner at The Boston Consulting Group, is worried as some of his best performers have recently pulled him aside to discuss the challenges they face managing the demands of their work lives with their desire for more predictable time with their... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Work-Life Balance; Management Teams; Interpersonal Communication; Jobs and Positions; Employees; Consulting Industry; Boston

March 2013 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Sydney Ribot and Mary Saunders

Describes Terrapin Bright Green, an environmental consulting and strategic planning firm, and its approach for creating integrative, systematic solutions to green-building conundrums through consulting, research, and policy-related activities. Emphasis is placed on the... View Details

Keywords: Integrated Design; Entrepreneurs; Creative Industries; CONSULTING Firms; Energy; Design; Governance; Growth and Development; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge; Labor; Organizations; Problems and Challenges; Research; Strategy; Value; Consulting Industry; New York (city, NY)

January 2003 (Revised September 2004)
Case

Consulting by Auditors (B): The Compromise and its Fallout

By: Ashish Nanda

This case tracks the evolution from October 2000 to July 2001 of public debate, regulatory decisions, and firm perspectives on the subject of consulting by accounting firms. View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Service Delivery; Consulting Industry; Consulting Industry

29 Jul 2019
News

Compensation Consultants and the Level, Composition and Complexity of CEO Pay

2025
Working Paper

Management and Firm Dynamism

By: Nicholas Bloom, Jonathan S. Hartley, Raffaella Sadun, Rachel Schuh and John Van Reenen

We show better-managed firms are more dynamic in plant acquisitions, disposals, openings and closings in U.S. Census and international data. Better-managed firms also birth better-managed plants, and improve the performance of the plants they acquire. To explain these... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices; Productivity; Management Practices and Processes; Mergers and Acquisitions; Competition; Business or Company Management; Performance Productivity

Read Now

January 2003 (Revised March 2005)
Case

Planning in Professional Service Firms

By: Ashish Nanda

In this case, four consultants discuss business planning issues that they are each having within their respective consulting firms. The case addresses how professional compensation, project staffing, hours worked, overhead costs, and billing rates impact profitability. View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Strategic Planning; Profit; Consulting Industry

02 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Leading Professional Service Firms

firms. The faculty are drawn from Harvard Business School's Organizational Behavior and Service Management groups and have expertise researching professional service industries, providing consulting services to major firms, and in some... View Details

Keywords: Re: Jay W. Lorsch; Consulting; Consulting; Consulting

July 2010 (Revised March 2013)
Case

One Firm One Future at Davis Langdon (A)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Kaitlyn A. Simpson

Senior Partner Rob Smith just led construction consultancy firm Davis Langdon through a major organizational change in Europe and the Middle East. In the past, compensation arrangements had not incentivized partners to collaborate across the firm to serve clients'... View Details

Keywords: Profit Sharing; Global Strategy; Compensation and Benefits; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Partners and Partnerships; Cooperation; Expansion; Consulting Industry; Europe; Middle East

August 2018
Case

Performance Improvement Consulting and Hi-R-Me: Making Sales Calls

By: Frank V. Cespedes and David Mattson

This case study focuses on a professional services firm (“Performance Improvement Consulting”) and its sales calls on Hi-R-Me, a potential client. The case is supplemented by videos showing the initial contact call, a follow-up discovery call, and a face-to-face... View Details

Keywords: Sales Calls; Sales; Competency and Skills

Web

Mastering Consulting and Advisory Skills - Course Catalog

mindsets, MCAS aims to differentiate students from the pack and prime them for impact from Day 1. This course addresses a growing demand within both HBS and the consulting firms many HBS students join after... View Details

19 Sep 2013
News

Schumpeter: The future of the Firm

23 Sep 2021
News

Confronting Sustainability in Business; Pro-Bono Consulting for Black-Owned Companies

volunteers. They have also participated in HBS Social Enterprise Initiative events and invited several management consulting firms to participate in the program beginning in 2022. While both Rogers and... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

March 2015
Teaching Note

McKinsey & Co.—Protecting its Reputation (A) and (B)

By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague

McKinsey & Co—Protecting its Reputation (A&B) is a field case written from the perspective of the Firm's Managing Director Dominic Barton. The two cases describe the actions McKinsey & Co took to protect the firm's reputation after the Rajat Gupta matter.
The... View Details

Keywords: Consulting Firms; Leadership & Corporate Accountability; Leadership And Change Management; Leadership And Managing People; Leading A Global Business; Corporate Culture; Professional Service Firms; Professional Service Firm; Leadership; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Consulting Industry; United States

May 2022
Case

What to Propose?

By: David G. Fubini

Two audit and financial services firms, one of which your consulting firm has supported extensively, have merged to create one of the largest audit firms in the world. The audit firm's Executive Team has requested proposals aimed at re-evaluating their internal... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Professional Services; Governance; Presentations; Organizational Structure; Transition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Consulting Industry

13 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

3 Ways Firms Can Profit From Environmental Investments

In the course of her work, Rebecca Henderson meets business executives who don't address the threat of climate change because they don't believe that it exists. Her recommendation: They should consider investments in environmental sustainability anyway, assuming that... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities

July 2014 (Revised October 2014)
Case

McKinsey & Co. - Protecting its Reputation (A)

By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague

On Tuesday March 15, 2011, all 1,200 global Partners of McKinsey & Co. gathered at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center near Washington, DC for their annual Partners' conference. The atmosphere was tense as Partners, in addition to their normal agenda,... View Details

Keywords: Board; McKinsey; Consulting Firms; Risk; Risk Assessment; Partnerships; Insider Trading; Confidentiality; Personal Investing; Reputation; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Management Practices and Processes; Risk Management; Consulting Industry; United States; California

May 2022 (Revised June 2022)
Case

Proposing to Redesign a Global Investment Bank

By: David G. Fubini

A major, NYC-based, global investment bank is looking to rethink its Systems strategy amid a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Your firm has served the client across most of its major geographies on a range of substantial Systems and IT efforts, but is facing... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Professional Services; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Digital Strategy; Presentations; Competitive Strategy; Consulting Industry; New York (city, NY)

November 2008
Article

Chartering New Territory: Diversification, Legitimacy and Practice Area Creation in Professional Service Firms

By: Heidi Gardner, N. Anand and Timothy Morris

Diversification into innovative domains through new practice area creation is a critical imperative for professional services firms. Using theories of organizational territoriality and corporate charters, we conceptualize professional firms as federations of distinct... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Lawfulness; Code Law; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Innovation and Invention; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques