Comments on: Management Consulting for Small Businesses – Justifies Existence?

By: Management Consulting for Small Businesses – Justifies Existence? » Life XP

Management Consulting for Small Businesses – Justifies Existence? » Life XP — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 20:00:06 +0000

[...] Though Indian businesses are not as consulting conscious as their western counterparts, the trends to employ management consultants has begun to improve. Management consultants still get brick bats while moving in industry circles… Especially when it comes to SMEs management consultants are look at like the famous quote “don’t employ a consultant to tell you time from your watch”. Whenever I come across these people, I so pity them for the lack of knowledge and understanding of the benefits of employing management consultants. (more…) [...]

By: John

John — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:44:34 +0000

such a great article, and was very helpful

By: John

John — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:16:32 +0000

This is a very helpful article

By: Sashank

Sashank — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:15:34 +0000

Thanks to pluggdin for publishing my post. Thanks to one and all for reading the post.

Special thanks for those sending in valuable comments. An interesting thread is also on the same post at Ravi’s blog. Please visit that too for another perspective.

I understand Management Consultants have a very bad “brand” and the post was just about that. But all feedback is welcome. Hope to write more often on the same forum on similar subjects if the readers of this blog are interested (and i’m allowed to write!).

By: Sameer

Sameer — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:09:36 +0000

Value add vs cost : first establish the need for the role, the costs for hiring a full timer, the costs of a consultant, and then the positives/downsides of an “employee” vs an expert who can prove to be unbiased. If it makes sense then, go ahead. If not, give up. But not before you understand this aspect of getting skills on board.

By: Pravin

Pravin — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:50:33 +0000

One of the most prohibitive factor for having consultants is cost. Value add vs cost does not make it better proposition for start ups. One should be very clear about his expectations from these MCs.
I do not think MCs can add much value in boot strapping stages but definitely they can add value in expansion phase with their domain expertise. Definitely it shouldn’t be core domain of the company. Also if you need those skills on continous basis then it make sense to hire skills than on contract.

By: Kaushik

Kaushik — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:11:20 +0000

Cool, plan to write a couple so was checking…

By: Ashish

Ashish — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:25:49 +0000

The contest was definitely about products, but it’s relaxed when entrepreneurs share insights (which was of course mentioned in a subtle way).
And the quality of discussion in this post is a reflection of that.

By: Kaushik

Kaushik — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:03:02 +0000

Ashish,

Wasn’t the contest about ‘product’ related articles or is this condition relaxed now ?

By: Ravi M

Ravi M — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:02:39 +0000

A very thought provoking post! I started typing out a response and realized that it was turning into a blog post by itself, so I made it one Please find it on our blog.

Do realize that I don’t have a whole lot of knowledge on the details of how management consulting works, beyond knowing a few consultants personally, and beyond what a layperson knows.

Hope it makes sense. I realize that my thoughts above must reflect my very rudimentary knowledge of management consulting, and I will happy to learn where I am wrong and right.

Best regards
Ravi

By: Sameer

Sameer — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:09:39 +0000

True. Consultants operating at a purely ‘advice’ level (the 30k feet you mention) are not something startups should go for. (There are a few exceptions where people have made good use of such insights from key, detached mentors, but thats in a very few cases.)

For most startups, such ‘consulting’ help can, however, come in roles which actually help execute while playing a strategic role – it gets tougher and tougher for people with operational responsibilities to play that role – which is the 2nd point made in the post.

The sharecropper, after all, does directly or indirectly depend on soil experts, seed experts, pest control experts, legal/community help, etc etc to get a better yield, and a fair deal! Not everything can or should be done inhouse – both for reasons of cost as well as unbiased thinking.

Essentially : establish real value, and don’t be either impressed merely by the consulting brand/tag nor be cynical/dismissive because its that! If you see how it can help – or even just free up some of your (team’s) effort and let you execute better – use it! Its dangerous to assume the consultant will replace thinking or execution, and equally dangerous to assume you’ll never need to utilize others’ expertise. Its just a skillset you’re hiring, really. Using it judiciously is the trick.

- Sameer

By: Vaidhy

Vaidhy — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:40:04 +0000

While the title says about management consultants (MCs) for small business, the article is about just MCs. Let us look at them from the perspective of a startup.

For a small company focussed on a particular niche domain, domain expertise is within the company. If there is no domain expertise and the only way to get that expertise is through a consultant, you have bigger problems.

As a startup founder, I am not looking for people to give me advice, but hands on the ground. Almost all MCs give advice, but have no responsibility beyond that in either implementing that advice or in its outcomes. It is the founder/CEO call to figure out how to use that advice.

Further, advice from 30,000 feet is almost useless. Thinking you can identify the curve, while in reality you are trying to figure out the market and financial model is at best a fantasy.

The best analogy I can think of is that of a small sharecropper hiring a property management guy. My current problems are on figuring out how I can survive on my tiny bit of land, what I should plant and where my next profit is going to come from. I am worried that someone will encroach and take it away when I am sleeping at night. I do not need someone to tell me what I should do when I have 10000 acres. The best person to give me advice is the neighbouring sharecropper who has gone through the grind and made it big.

Which is why I will never hire a MC for my startups.

PS: When you are a large company, the problems are different and MCs do add value. I am not saying all MCs are bad.. but about 1% of MCs understand startups and 99% of them will kill the company and there is no way to identify that 1% easily.