RESEARCH AND

CONSULTING INDUSTRY
WHAT CONSULTING FIRMS DO?

Consultants, as its name suggests, are those who “consult” or advise others on certain
subject matters. They answer their clients’ concerns, from the most basic questions (“how
to grow sales?”) to the most advanced, complex, cross-functional ones, like “how to
restructure the company?”.
Another term to refer to when talking about consultants in the business context is
“problem solver”, who are paid and obliged to become the entity’s doctor, identifying and
curing any problem clients may encounter in their day-to-day operations.
HISTORY AND SIZE OF THE INDUSTRY
• The roots of modern consulting began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the
first consulting businesses established in the United States studied manufacturing in an
attempt to improve workplace productivity.
• Many companies began hiring consulting firms to help improve production efficiency.
• Since then, the need for services has grown with the population and the expansion of
business on an international scale.
• Companies in this industry provide management, scientific, and technical consulting
services, including specialized services such as IT, logistics, and marketing consulting.
• Employment in management, scientific, and technical consulting services is expected to
increase by 24 percent from 2014 to 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Labor
(DOL).
• Approximately 329,300 new jobs to be added during this time span.
• According to an estimate, there are now over 10,000 big and small consulting firms in India,
6,000 of them in the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata.
• According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Indian consulting
industry is expected to record revenues of Rs. 27,000 crore by 2020.
CATEGORIES OF CONSULTING
. FIRMS

1. The industry elite

• The industry elite counsel the top management of mega corporations on business strategy, and include Arthur
D. Little, A. T. Kearney; Bain and Co, Booz-Allen and Hamilton, the Boston Consulting Group, Mercer
Management Consulting, and Monitor and Co.

2. The Big Four

• The Big Four provide strategy advice too, but they also focus on implementation, particularly in the case of
their IT clients. This group consists of Deloitte Consulting, Ernst and Young, KPMG, and Pricewaterhouse
Coopers.

3. Boutique firms
• Boutique firms specialize in particular fields of consultancy. Examples are Oliver Wyman (financial services),
Gartner (research), Market Bridge (sales), and APM (healthcare).
4. IT specialists
• IT specialists provide planning and implement projects related to computer systems, telecommunications,
and the Internet. They include IBM, Accenture, and the Big Four.

5. Human resource advisers

• HR advisers offer solutions for employee management, compensation, and pension programmes. Hewitt
Associates, Mercer, the Hay Group, and Towers Perrin are among the top firms.

6. Independents
• Independents are experienced business management experts who are hired for their special functional
talent. Instead of hanging up their boots, they hang up their own shingles, very profitably.