basictraining
Bain, have opted to take equity positions and manage corporate operations. Still others, like Boston Consulting
Group, have stayed focused on strategy and related topics.
Several entities opted to concentrate on performance
standards, productivity, and cost reduction. Alexander
Proudfoot was a pioneer and the model for much of the
productivity consulting segment. The practice survives
today as a unit of Management Consulting Group PLC.
The business model for these companies is often based
on the engagement of contractors, who are off the payroll
as soon as their assignment is complete.
may follow the hierarchical organization model or they
may be flatter partnerships, with more hands-on consulting involvement from senior partners.
The supply chain field has spawned quite a few of these
operations, and many of them deliver cost-effective and
sustainable results. Some are highly specialized, while others offer a broad range of supply chain strategy, planning,
and execution services.
(More disclosure: One of the authors is a partner in a
small/midsized supply chain consultancy.)
Small and midsized houses
The small and midsized consultancies tend to be built upon
limited, but deep, functional experience. They come and
go, and wax and wane while they are here, but some have
demonstrated remarkable staying power. These players,
which are too numerous to name here, can be local, national, or global in coverage. They may be franchises, or they
may be real companies. They may affiliate with “stringers”
in several locations, handing out business cards to anyone
with a suit and a laptop, or they may grow more organically. Some achieve greater functional breadth through working partnerships with other consultancies or broaden their
geographic coverage with multinational alliances. They
Hanging out a shingle
Next come the sole practitioners. The solos run the gamut
from internationally renowned specialists to prematurely
retired managers to those who set up shop after being
shown the door by their previous employer. The subcate-gories are not mutually exclusive.
There are many excellent one-man (and one-woman)
shops. For the right kind of problem, they can often offer
an on-target solution at the right price. The best of them
recognize their limitations and are brilliant at enlisting
other specialists to work on solving the fundamental problems. The worst of them believe their own press clippings
and hesitate to bring in people smarter than themselves to
help deliver the right answers.
(Still more disclosure: One of the authors is a sole practitioner, and the other not only has been but will be again.)
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Tales out of school
There is one other important category of consultants to
consider. Many respected academics practice consulting, on
either an institutional or a private basis.
Often, their consulting contains a research component
directed at a technical solution to a specific, knotty problem.
Sometimes, they are able to assemble teams of students to
observe and assess operational problems and practices. Other
times, they might conduct and analyze industry surveys.
There are times when the right approach to a problem is to
build a team with academic and consulting components, to
develop an effective blend of esoteric and practical solutions.
One other category deserves mention—and caution.
Many service providers—3PLs, motor carriers, parcel companies, real estate firms, and the like—offer consulting
services. It is possible for a service provider to dispense
honest, independent advice. The test—often difficult to
evaluate in advance—is whether the “consultant” describes,
and offers up, competitive alternatives to his own service.
Editor’s note: Next month, we’ll look at why companies use
consultants, what services they can provide, and how to find
and select a consultant.
Art Van Bodegraven, partner at The Progress Group, may be reached at (614) 336-0346
or avan@theprogressgroup.com. Kenneth B. Ackerman, president of The Ackerman
Company, can be reached at (614) 488-3165 or ken@warehousing-forum.com.
