This study defines an aspect of consultant knowledge that provides credibility without claiming unrealistic status for a field like consulting. Our focus is the ‘sector knowledge’ that consultants accumulate which derives from repeated assignments in the industrial sector in which the client...

This study defines an aspect of consultant knowledge that provides credibility without claiming unrealistic status for a field like consulting. Our focus is the "sector knowledge" that consultants accumulate which derives from repeated assignments in the industrial sector in which the client...

Management consultancy is seen by many as a key agent in the adoption of new management ideas and practices in organizations. Two contrasting views are dominant-consultants as innovators, bringing new knowledge to their clients or as legitimating client knowledge. Those few studies which examine...

The status of management and managers has fluctuated over the years, arguably reaching its high point in the mid-20th century but since declining. This article explores how managers respond to this decline in status. It presents and discusses the findings of a study of managers (who are also...

This paper is aimed at providing a framework for the analysis of organizational structures and processes in the global management consulting industry. Our basic question is why do global consulting firms exist? What distinctive advantages (if any) are they able to bring to their clients and the...

Organizational scholars increasingly view institutionalization as a process through which actors adapt or translate seemingly successful practices in a field to create variations that are specific to their own organization. Yet little is known about how outsiders who seek to diffuse ‘best...