Business model

I wrote at the end of last week about how Dutch consulting firms are in the forefront of pioneering new consulting organisational models and that we expect to see firms in other countries follow suit. Although conventional thinking about how consulting firms are structured has focused on the continuum from generalist to specialist, a more complex picture is emerging in which mode of delivery matters as much as skills base.

I’ve written a lot in this blog about specialisation, particularly clients’ relentless quest for expertise in a world that has become increasingly flat from a skills point of view. But a recent article in the Harvard Business Review had made me wonder how far it will all go, or – less positively – where it might all end.

A previous post, about the impact consultant-managers could have on the consulting industry, has had me thinking about what clients lack.