Introduction:
Competitiveness in the current market have put forth an excellent opportunity for the consulting firms, and it is vital for the latter to offer accurate and unique products to stay in the market (Bronnenmayer, Wirtz and G?ttel 2016). The paper put forth the example of three consulting firms and have assessed them to determine their critical success factor (CSF). The paper also offers an insight of the selected firm and reflects on the reason for selecting the same. In conclusion, the paper has sum upped CSF of all the firms to offer a general CSF for consulting firms.
Organisations:
The paper has considered the following consulting firms as the subjects of the paper and their critical success factors (CSF) will be discussed in the following section:
Ernst & Young:
Headquartered in London, Ernst & Young (EY) is a multinational consulting firm. Established in 1989 from the merger of two firms namely Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young & Co (Ey.com, 2018). The considered organisation has made a name for itself in a short period and is still taking progressive steps. Along with consulting services the firm also offers tax advisory, assurance, financial and legal advisory. EY employees over 250000 employees worldwide and earned a revenue of US $31.4 billion in the year 2017 (Ey.com, 2018).
McKinsey & Company:
McKinsey & Company (M&C) is almost a decade old management consulting firm. The considered organisation was established in the year 1926 by James O. McKinsey and Marvin Bower (McKinsey & Company, 2018). The firm has seen many ups and downs in the 90+ years of the company’s history. The firm employees over 20000 employees and have 120 offices globally and generates average revenue of US $8.8 billion every year. M&C has been appreciated for its work however the work environment of the firm is the most appreciated part of the firm.
Tata Consultancy Services
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is an Indian multinational firm offering IT services, consulting and business solutions. Established in 1968 TCS is headquartered in Mumbai, India and operates in over 46 countries (Tcs.com, 2018). The Forbes magazine has ranked TCS as the 64th most innovative firm in the world. The firm employees over 387223 people in all of its operational services and generated revenue of US $17.57 billion in 2017(Tcs.com, 2018).
Selection
EY, M&C and TCS are the considered firm for the paper. The reason for selecting the above mentioned firm is because of the variations that they have in their market experience and working pattern. M&C holds 92 years of experience in the field of consulting while EY holds only 29 years of experience and TCS have an average 50 years of the same. TCS has been appraised for the innovative working pattern, on the other hand, EY has been praised for their accuracy, and M&C has been known for their detailed working pattern. The firms are also headquartered at different continental location hence the geographical factors can also be considered in the paper for evaluation (Bhausiri et al. 2012).
Critical success factors
Critical success factor of a firm is defined as the ingredient that is mandatory for the success of a project or an organisation (Manville et al. 2012). Alternatively, it is also known as the KRA (Key result areas) or KSF (Key success factors) (Manab, Othman and Kassim 2012). Ensuring the wellbeing of the following factors can help in determining the health of an organisation.
Ernst & Young
The CSF for the success of EY lies in various factors involved the first of them being the skill that they hire. They hire the most suitable skill for the consulting firm from some of the most respected firms (Lees et al. 2012). The level of professionalism offered by them is also a factor that attracts the client. The firm offers an accurate consultancy to their clients which is one of the most desirable options for the clients. The awards received by the considered firm represents their level of professionalism and accuracy. The final factor for their success is the strategy by which they approach their clients.
McKinsey & Company
M&C is in the competitive market since 1926 and have adopted nearly all the factors that can make an organisation successful (McKinsey & Company, 2018). Hence, some people consider it to be the founder of all the consultant firms. Similar to the EY it also adopts the most potential skillset for employment. Surviving in the market for such long indicates the level of professionalism and the relationship it had maintained with its clients. The detailed working pattern of the considered firm is also a CSF for the latter. The firm has also maintained its efficiency level as a critical factor for success.
Tata Consultancy Services
TCS, as mentioned earlier, is considered as one of the most innovative firms in the world, and hence one of the CSF for the former is its innovative working pattern (Tcs.com, 2018). The agile firm in the recent days have proved to be the most capitalised stock of the Indian market, and the population of the Indian market also offers the firm, various levels of skills. The work environment of TCS along with their marketing strategy are also critical factors for the success. TCS has also proved its efficiency with the years of experience it holds.
The evaluation of the CSF of different firms has resulted in some common factors for the consultancy firms. The CSF’s that are common for consulting firms are professionalism, efficiency, skills and the marketing strategy of the firm.
Conclusion
The discussions above can be emphasised to state the importance of the consulting firms in developing the businesses in the competing firms. The report has assessed three consulting firms that vary in various factors to derive on the determining factors that are common in every consulting firms. Hence the report can be concluded with the importance of the consulting firm and common factors for the same.
References
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Bronnenmayer, M., Wirtz, B.W. and Göttel, V., 2016. Success factors of management consulting. Review of Managerial Science, 10(1), pp.1-34.
Ey.com. (2018). EY purpose: committed to building a better working world. [online] Available at: https://www.ey.com/gl/en/about-us [Accessed 26 Jan. 2018].
Lees, J.P., Poireau, V., Tisserand, V., Tico, J.G., Grauges, E., Palano, A., Eigen, G., Stugu, B., Brown, D.N., Kerth, L.T. and Kolomensky, Y.G., 2012. Branching fraction and form-factor shape measurements of exclusive charmless semileptonic B decays, and determination of| V u b|. Physical Review D, 86(9), p.092004.
Manab, N.A., Othman, S.N. and Kassim, I., 2012. Enterprise-wide risk management best practices: The critical success factors.
Manville, G., Greatbanks, R., Krishnasamy, R. and Parker, D.W., 2012. Critical success factors for Lean Six Sigma programmes: a view from middle management. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 29(1), pp.7-20.
McKinsey & Company. (2018). About Us. [online] Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/overview [Accessed 27 Jan. 2018].
Tcs.com. (2018). About Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). [online] Available at: https://www.tcs.com/about-us [Accessed 26 Jan. 2018].
