Publications

01 Jun 2004
News

Consultant on the Go

Most business travelers breathe a sigh of relief when they return home, happy to unpack their suitcase and sleep in their own bed. Ram Charan (MBA ’65, DBA ’67) is not your typical business traveler. One of the “world’s most renowned View Details

Keywords: Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services

September 2009 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Eden McCallum: A Network-Based Consulting Firm (A)

By: Heidi K. Gardner and Robert G. Eccles

Eden McCallum pioneered the network-based ("virtual") consulting firm model in the U.K. Contracting freelance consultants on a per-project basis keeps overheads lean so that Eden McCallum's fees are a fraction of the big firms' rates. Their flexible, low-cost model has... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Consulting Industry; United Kingdom

November 2012
Article

Does Management Really Work?

By: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

HBR's 90th anniversary is a sensible time to revisit a basic question: Are organizations more likely to succeed if they adopt good management practices? The answer may seem obvious to most HBR readers, but these three economists cast their net much wider than that. In... View Details

Keywords: Best Practices; Consulting Firms; Corporations; Cost Control; Employee Training; Executive Ability (Management); Executives—training Of; Hospitals—administration; Industrial Management—research; Productivity Incentives; School Management Teams; Work Environment; Management; Research

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February 2024
Case

Continuity & Change at Boston Consulting Group

By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and David Lane

As the new CEO of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) since autumn 2021, Christoph Schweizer had big shoes to fill—his predecessor, Rich Lesser, had tripled the partnership’s total revenues and created digital initiatives that contributed 40+% of 2021 revenues, more than... View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; Change Management; Talent and Talent Management; Governance; AI and Machine Learning; Environmental Sustainability; Leading Change; Risk Management; Organizational Culture; Partners and Partnerships; Revenue; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Succession; Consulting Industry

August 2016 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Accenture Human Capital Strategy

By: Paula A. Price, V.G. Narayanan and James Weber

Accenture is a leading global consulting, technology, and outsourcing company. It has clients and its own operations throughout the world. This case describes the human resources and related activities necessary to deliver its services to clients. It allows students to... View Details

Keywords: Management Consulting; Technology Consulting; Outsourcing; Human Resources; Activity Based Costing and Management; Management Practices and Processes

August 2023
Case

Stay or Go? Sarah Reynolds at Kensington Partners

By: David G. Fubini, Amr Seifeldin and Patrick Sanguineti

Sarah Reynolds, a Partner at the global Kensington Partners strategy consulting firm, has headed the firm's Telecommunications Group for a few years. Thanks to her stellar track record with clients, she has brought the group, and herself, a range of accolades and... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Consulting Firms; Client Service; Career Management; Success; Time Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Development and Career

07 May 2015
Blog Post

Career Change: From the Military to Consulting

you planning to do after HBS? After HBS I will work as a management consultant at Bain & Company in New York. I knew I wanted to move into the private sector, and View Details

May 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Stay or Go? Sarah Reynolds Kensington Partners

By: David G. Fubini, Amr Seifeldin and Patrick Sanguineti

Sarah Reynolds, a relatively new Partner at the global Kensington Partners strategy consulting firm, has headed the firm's Telecommunications Group for a few years. Thanks to her stellar track record with clients, she has brought the group a range of accolades and... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Consulting Firms; Client Service; Career Management

Research Summary

Multi-Channel Management

Extensive research on mutli channel management use at consumer goods producing companies like Procter&Gamble. Research cooperation with CMC (Compentence Center multi channel Management) of the University of Essen anf University of Muenster. Consulting of major... View Details

Web

Mastering Consulting and Advisory Skills - Course Catalog

HBS Course Catalog Mastering Consulting and Advisory Skills Course Number 2043 Senior Lecturer David G. Fubini Spring; Q3; 1.5 credits Paper Each year, hundreds of HBS students walk across the Commencement stage anticipating a near-term... View Details

10 Apr 2014
Blog Post

HBS FIELD 2 - A good sneak-peek into consulting

because I had worked for Airbus as a project manager before coming to HBS and was familiar with the industry. However, I must confess that I was skeptical of the whole FIELD 2 concept: How much work can really get done in 10 days in the... View Details

Keywords: Consulting

March 2001 (Revised May 2001)
Case

&Samhoud Service Management

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda and Monica Mullick

&Samhoud, a small service management consulting firm in the Netherlands, grapples with the dilemma of firing its largest client while introducing Heskett's theory of the service profit chain. View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Management Practices and Processes; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Relationship Management; Consulting Industry; Netherlands

August 1996
Supplement

Andersen Consulting - EMEAI: Bill Barnard on Organization Change

By: Ashish Nanda and Michael Y. Yoshino

Remarks by William (Bill) Barnard, partner-in-charge for Strategic Services in the subregion of Western Europe, in a conversation he had with Professors Ashish Nanda and Michael Yoshino of the Harvard Business School on November 1, 1995. View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Consulting Industry; Europe

Web

Clubs & Consulting | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

bono activities, alumni consulting teams in several cities offer nonprofit organizations business management expertise. Student Clubs The Social Impact Club , the Social Enterprise Conference , and a number... View Details

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

20 Nov 2013
News

How Our Team of Always-on Consultants Learned to Unplug

Keywords: Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

10 Feb 2016
News

Why Hiring the Right Compensation Consulting Firm Can Make a Difference

June 1996 (Revised January 2000)
Case

McKinsey & Co.: Managing Knowledge and Learning

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes the development of McKinsey & Co. as a worldwide management consulting firm from 1926 to 1996. In particular, it focuses on the way in which McKinsey has developed structures, systems, processes, and practices to help it develop, transfer, and disseminate... View Details

Keywords: Management; Managerial Roles; Management Practices and Processes; Competitive Advantage; Global Range; Knowledge Dissemination; Business Processes; Consulting Industry