In the last three decades of the 20th century the management consultancy industry grew at a cracking pace but increased scepticism about the value that consultants genuinely add, combined with the economic slowdown, has made life much tougher for the consulting industry. As firms have cut back on consulting services and begun to review the way they use consultants, consulting firms themselves are looking at how they need to change. People are now talking about business consulting rather than management consulting.

Using real examples from a range of private sector firms, public sector organisations and from the consultants themselves, this book explores the new business consulting world and looks at every element of it with the aim of both helping firms make better use of consultants and showing consultants how they need to adapt and provide their clients a better service.

在20世纪的最后30年里，管理咨询行业以惊人的速度发展，但对咨询公司真正增加的价值的怀疑与日俱增，再加上经济放缓，使得咨询行业的日子变得更加艰难。随着公司削减咨询服务，并开始审查他们使用顾问的方式，咨询公司自己也在考虑如何改变。人们现在谈论的是商业咨询而不是管理咨询。
利用一系列私营企业、公共部门组织和咨询公司自身的实际例子，这本书探讨了新的商业咨询世界，并着眼于它的每一个元素，目的是既帮助公司更好地利用顾问和显示顾问，他们需要如何适应，并为客户提供更好的服务。