IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhb/hastba/2001_003.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The construction of global management consulting - a study of consultancies’ web presentations

Author

Listed:
  • Bäcklund, Jonas

    (Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University and SCORE)

  • Werr, Andreas

    (Dept. of Business Administration, Stockholm School of Economics)

Abstract

Management consulting increasingly appears as a global endeavour as reflected in the increasing dominance of a few large, global management-consulting firms. However, features of the consulting service (e.g. its immaterial and interactional character) as well as aspects of management (e.g. its cultural anchoredness) highlight the locality of management consulting. In this paper we approach this tension between the global and the local by seeing consulting as involving the creation of generalised myths. More specifically, we ask the question: How do global consulting companies construct the viability and desirability of their services? Based on a view of management consultants as mythmakers, we study the argumentation on corporate web sites of four leading global consultancies in five different countries. Applying a framework based on the sociology of translation, we analyze the translation strategies used in making the service of global consultancies both viable and indispensable. We find that the need for consultants is to a large extent constructed through defining management as an expert activity, thus creating a need for external advisors possessing globally applicable expert knowledge. In this effort, the consultants ally with three widely spread rationalized managerial myths – the rationality myth, the globalization myth and the universality myth. We conclude, that global consulting firms are actively involved in creating and reinforcing the very same institutions, which are the prerequisites for their future success.

Suggested Citation

  • Bäcklund, Jonas & Werr, Andreas, 2001. "The construction of global management consulting - a study of consultancies’ web presentations," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Business Administration 2001:3, Stockholm School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhb:hastba:2001_003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://swoba.hhs.se/hastba/papers/hastba2001_003.pdf
    File Function: Complete Rendering
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Poulfelt, Flemming & Paynee, Adrian, 1994. "Management consultants: Client and consultant perspectives," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 421-436, December.
    2. Timothy Clark & Graeme Salaman, 1998. "Telling Tales: Management Gurus' Narratives and the Construction of Managerial Identity," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 137-161, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stea, Diego & Foss, Nicolai J. & Christensen, Peter Holdt, 2015. "Physical separation in the workplace: Separation cues, separation awareness, and employee motivation," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 462-471.
    2. Sonia Adam-Ledunois & Sébastien Damart, 2016. "Innovation managériale… ou pas ? Design d'une méthodologie d'analyse critique des objets de management," Post-Print hal-01780623, HAL.
    3. Heusinkveld, Stefan & Visscher, Klaasjan, 2012. "Practice what you preach: How consultants frame management concepts as enacted practice," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 285-297.
    4. Werr, Andreas, 2005. "Consultant supported ERP implementation – a learning opportunity?," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Business Administration 2005:3, Stockholm School of Economics.
    5. Françoise Dany, 2003. "Cadres et entrepreneuriat. Mythes et réalités Actes de la journée d'étude du 6 juin 2002," Post-Print hal-03720398, HAL.
    6. Schiele, Holger & Krummaker, Stefan & Hoffmann, Petra & Kowalski, Rita, 2022. "The “research world café” as method of scientific enquiry: Combining rigor with relevance and speed," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 280-296.
    7. Mazlan Maskor & Niklas K Steffens & Kim Peters & S Alexander Haslam, 2022. "Discovering the secrets of leadership success: Comparing commercial and academic preoccupations," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 47(1), pages 79-104, February.
    8. Pemer, Frida & Werr, Andreas, 2005. "Between exploitation and control – Clients’ conceptions of the consultant-client relationship," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Business Administration 2005:4, Stockholm School of Economics.
    9. McKinlay, Alan & Pezet, Eric, 2018. "Foucault, governmentality, strategy: From the ear of the sovereign to the multitude," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 57-68.
    10. Susanne Gretzinger & Holger Hinz & Wenzel Matiaske, 2010. "Cooperation in Innovation Networks: The Case of Danish and German SMEs," management revue. Socio-economic Studies, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 21(2), pages 193-216.
    11. Emilie Canet, 2012. "De l'invention à la diffusion : La poursuite de la construction d'une innovation managériale," Post-Print halshs-00867972, HAL.
    12. Ken Starkey & Armand Hatchuel & Sue Tempest, 2009. "Management Research and the New Logics of Discovery and Engagement," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 547-558, May.
    13. Pippa Carter & Norman Jackson, 2004. "For the Sake of Argument: Towards an Understanding of Rhetoric as Process," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 469-491, May.
    14. J H Klein & N A D Connell & E Meyer, 2007. "Operational research practice as storytelling," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 58(12), pages 1535-1542, December.
    15. Roger Svensson, 2001. "Success Determinants when Tendering for International Consulting Projects," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 101-122.
    16. Dag Madsen & Kåre Slåtten, 2013. "The Role of the Management Fashion Arena in the Cross-National Diffusion of Management Concepts: The Case of the Balanced Scorecard in the Scandinavian Countries," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-33, August.
    17. Nijholt, Jurriaan J. & Heusinkveld, Stefan & Benders, Jos, 2014. "Handling management ideas: Gatekeeping, editors and professional magazines," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 470-484.
    18. repec:vuw:vuwmba:14683 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Emilie Canet, 2013. "La fabrique des outils de gestion : quels régimes de conception ?," Post-Print hal-01068745, HAL.
    20. Przemyslaw Hensel, 2013. "Doradztwo jako temat badan naukowych – przegl¹d wspolczesnej literatury. (Consulting as a subject of study – a review of a recent literature.)," Problemy Zarzadzania, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 11(43), pages 9-24.
    21. Emilie Canet, 2013. "La fabrique des outils de gestion : quels régimes de conception ?," Post-Print halshs-00867973, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hhb:hastba:2001_003. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Helena Lundin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/erhhsse.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.