Consultoria de gestão das "Big Four"

: estratégia de abordagem às PMEs

Abstract

The management consulting industry, known among other things, for its impressive pace of growth and expansion, is starting to give the first signs of stagnation, which may greatly impact the "Big Four" firms that largely depend on revenue from these services to grow, given the increasingly higher share of revenue from management consulting in the total turnover of these companies. Given the importance that the "Big Four" firms represent in the Portuguese socio-economic panorama, not so much by their total turnover but more for their services and levels of recruitment and training, it is important to develop strategies to ensure their growth. Since these companies are focused almost exclusively on providing services to large companies, it is presumed that the solution to the growth of the "Big Four" firms can be in the active search for opportunities within SMEs. However some studies point to the resilience of the managers of SMEs to hire these services, not only because of cultural issues, but also because of the poor quality of the consultants. But the reality in Portugal seems to contradict these findings. Taking into account the market share of the "Big Four" firms and the high number of consulting companies registered in Portugal, is reasonable to assume that SMEs hire consulting services to small consultancy offices, despite the studies that indicate that the large consulting firms have better skills to deal with the unique problems of SMEs and not small offices, experts in a particular field. Thus, the aim of this work is to identify and analyze the factors that SMEs value on a management consulting services, offering a guideline to the "Big Four" firms in their approach strategy to SMEs, while studying at the same time the reasons why SMEs do not resort to the bigger consulting offices. Finally we will assess new ways of providing consulting services, namely the consulting services provided through a monthly retainer. Therefore and taking into account the conclusions drawn from the studies presented, we will initially assess the quality of management consulting services in Portugal and, secondly, identify the factors that are most valued in a consulting service from the perspective of SMEs client. Because of the ease of language and to leverage the knowledge acquired by the author's work on corporate culture, the study focuses exclusively on SMEs registered in Portugal addressing their relationship with management consulting firms, namely the "Big Four" firms. These consulting firms were included in the scope of the study not only because of its significant economic and social role in the country but also because it’s a group clearly defined and widely recognized in the business. Additionally, as an employee in a Big Four company, in addition to ease of access to important resources for the development of this work, is the author expectation that his study may help develop directly his consulting firm and indirectly all SMEs with which it might establish relationships. In order to achieve the objectives of the work, a methodology supported in 3 distinct stages was developed: (1) literature, (2) exploratory interviews and (3) business survey. The results obtained by applying the different methodologies had shown that there is a mutual disinterest between "Big Four" firms and SMEs. On one hand, and according to the interviews, the "Big Four" firms focus almost exclusively on large companies due to (1) economic power, (2) complexity of operations which increases the likelihood of needing the services of consultants and (3) greater prestige and visibility not only to the consulting firm but also to the consultant. On the other hand the results of the surveys showed that SMEs are very satisfied with the management consulting services that are provided to them by small consulting offices, differentiating them from large firms not only because of the quality/price ratio of the services, but also by the perception that the consultants knowledge of the business reality is more relevant than that of a consultant of a "Big Four" firm and also because of the relationship that can be established with him not only personally but also professionally. Thus according to the obtained data, the approach strategy of the "Big Four" firms should focus on the development of a service offering around three critical factors: (1) increase the quality/price ratio primarily by reducing the cost services, (2) improve the knowledge levels of consultants or find ways to better share that knowledge and (3) invest in closer relationship with the client company. This can be achieved through a management consulting service in the form of monthly retainer, a form of service that according to the consultants interviewed presents considerable challenges, but that other professions have managed to circumvent and successfully implement. It is a method of providing consulting services that no "Big Four" developed so far but that would be widely accepted by the SME

Date of Award	3 Jul 2015
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Luís Marques (Supervisor)