Consultancy And Innovation

Consultancy and Innovation links two important aspects of European economic development in the past thirty years: the pace of technical and management innovation, and the growing significance of technical and business consultancy. This book includes detailed studies of consultancy activities or 'knowledge intensive services' (KIS) in eight EU countries, written by national experts in the field.

This book provides a new perspective on innovation in consultancy firms. Focusing on how consultancy firms can innovate in the modern era, it exposes and discusses key drivers for innovation in the industry. These are broken down into 5 dimensions - or 'Poles' - relating to forms of capital (human capital, social capital, and three types of organizational capital) that consultancy firms can use in order to innovate, both for themselves and for their clients. Readers of this book will not only gain insight into the "innovative consultancy" from the perspective of each of these Poles. They will also discover how consultancy firms need to find the right way of connecting these Poles together in order to produce the desired innovation. Readers will learn about the dangers of misaligning the Poles, as well as implications of innovative consultancy for ethics, academic research in the field of consultancy, and for careers. In addition to the academic literature, the book draws from real-world examples, cases and practice insights from various parts of the world. This book will be of great use to those interested in pursuing a career in the consultancy industry, whether they are undergraduate and postgraduate Business & Management students, students not necessarily studying in Business Schools, or others seeking a career move into consultancy. It will also be valuable to seasoned consultants and managers of consultancy firms seeking new ideas on how to develop innovative capabilities in an increasingly competitive industry.

This book provides a new perspective on innovation in consultancy firms. Focusing on how consultancy firms can innovate in the modern era, it exposes and discusses key drivers for innovation in the industry. These are broken down into 5 dimensions - or ‘Poles’ - relating to forms of capital (human capital, social capital, and three types of organizational capital) that consultancy firms can use in order to innovate, both for themselves and for their clients. Readers of this book will not only gain insight into the "innovative consultancy" from the perspective of each of these Poles. They will also discover how consultancy firms need to find the right way of connecting these Poles together in order to produce the desired innovation. Readers will learn about the dangers of misaligning the Poles, as well as implications of innovative consultancy for ethics, academic research in the field of consultancy, and for careers. In addition to the academic literature, the book draws from real-world examples, cases and practice insights from various parts of the world. This book will be of great use to those interested in pursuing a career in the consultancy industry, whether they are undergraduate and postgraduate Business & Management students, students not necessarily studying in Business Schools, or others seeking a career move into consultancy. It will also be valuable to seasoned consultants and managers of consultancy firms seeking new ideas on how to develop innovative capabilities in an increasingly competitive industry.

Consultancy and Innovation links two important aspects of European economic development in the past thirty years: the pace of technical and management innovation, and the growing significance of technical and business consultancy. This book includes detailed studies of consultancy activities or 'knowledge intensive services' (KIS) in eight EU countries, written by national experts in the field.

'Management Consultancy' provides a comprehensive introduction to the consulting industry. The text begins with the presentation of a theoretical underpinning, before outlining how to carry out management consultancy and providing guidance on entering the industry.

Why do some innovation projects succeed where others fail? The book reveals the business implications of Jobs Theory and explains how to put Jobs Theory into practice using Outcome-Driven Innovation.

Although there has traditionally been considerable field-level attention on how consultants market their ideas and practices, there is still a lack of research that discusses the earlier intra-organizational phases in the development process. While the present literature provides important insights that enhance our understanding of consulting, the consultancy industry, and the way that consultants present their ideas and services on the market for management solutions, we know relatively little about the way knowledge-based innovations develop within consultancy firms and the mechanisms that shape the intra-organizational evolution of these ideas and practices. This book seeks to address this gap by revealing how the development of new ideas and practices takes shape in consultancies. The work addresses questions such as: In which way do consultancies sense the contemporary market needs? How do new ideas and practices become established within a consultancy? How do consultancies seek to maintain their repertoire? And what role do these new ideas and practices play in their assignments? To provide more insight into these different aspects of knowledge-based innovation in consultancies, the book draws on and integrates literature from diverse relevant fields such as product innovation and market orientation, but also uses institutional and practice-based perspectives. The research presented in this book can be seen in the light of emerging research into ‘knowledge-based innovation’ and ‘new concept development’ that concentrate on empirically studying how knowledge entrepreneurs seek to develop commercially viable ideas and practices that have the potential to have a significant impact on management and organizational praxis.

Organizations are complex social systems that are not easy to understand, yet they must be managed if a company is to succeed. This book explains networks and how managers and organizations can navigate them to produce successful strategic innovation outcomes. Although managers are increasingly aware of the importance of social relations for the inner-workings of the organization, they often lack insights and tools to analyze, influence or even create these networks. This book draws on insights from social network theory; insights sharpened by research in a number of different empirical settings including production, engineering, financial services, consulting, food processing, and R&D/hi-tech organizations and alternates between offering critical real business examples and more rigorous analysis. This concise book is vital reading for students of business and management as well as managers and executives.