The practice of consultancy and a professional development strategy

There is a paucity of information on the development and practice of consultancy. This paper seeks to fill in some of the gaps in knowledge particularly in relation to the nature of consultancy, market opportunities management and practice development. The paper commences with a discussion on the role of the consultant and moves on to examine why organisations use consultants. Thereafter attention is devoted to the market opportunities and discusses how business is developed. Reference is made to a number of writers and their views are integrated into the discussions, particularly where they cite reasons as to how business was obtained. A model which originated in the USA is developed in relation to the management of assignments and a claim is made as to essential “task processes”. In conclusion, recommendations are made as to practice development strategy and a five‐stage model, developed by the authors, is suggested.