DISRUPTING THE MANAGEMENT CONSULTING MARKET: FORCES IN ACTION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A NEW PLAYER ​

Consulting companies have been shaping economies since James O. McKinsey founded the first pure strategic management consulting firm back in 1926. With their leading methods and cutting-edge organisation, they have been teaching and supporting their clients in boosting growth, sustaining innovation, and managing disruptions. The research objective is to analyse and provide a list of disrupting forces in action in shaping the consulting industry. Then, the research question which this dissertation aims to answer is: "Is it now these consulting firms that are prone to disruption?" The question is directly related also to the type of consulting that these companies are currently performing for the client, strictly associated with disrupting forces threatening clients' businesses. New business models are spreading at an incredible pace, traditional organisational structures are collapsing, and automation and intelligent technologies are disrupting human tasks. The objective of this dissertation is to analyse the current status of the consulting environment and assess how these firms are currently managing disruptions. Through interviews, surveys, and further analysis, the ambition is to provide a detailed overview of the industry to a new entrant in this market as it is today and a list of recommendations in order to develop robust initiatives and successfully manage industry disruption. ​