Strategic Positioning in the Consulting Industry

This book provides an in-depth analysis of strategic positioning efforts of firms in the German consulting market. In his work, the author applies strategic group theory to the German management consulting industry, and provides an empirical test of the performance effects of alternative positioning strategies of management consulting firms. At the core is its empirical research, specifically the analysis of the "service expositions", through which consulting firms communicate the nature of their services to clients. In order to ascertain these service expositions, the author conducts content analysis of 233 consulting firms active in the German market. He then uses the findings in order to cluster the firms into distinct strategic groups and tests for associations between the positioning of firms within their respective group and their performance. Overall, the author finds evidence of three distinct strategic groups of consulting firms that operate in the German market, which he describes as "Standardized Solution Providers", "Functional Specialists" and "Functional Generalists".

"Practitioners and industry observers are going to find this book uniquely helpful as it provides clarity on both the macro- and the micro-strategies of consulting firms active in Germany i. e., the overall service portfolio choices they make (which types of services to offer at all), and the specific communicative positioning of these service offerings vis--vis their clients. Strategy scholars will benefit from the in-depth discussion of the strengths and limitations of strategic group theory in general, and of strategic balance theory in particular."

Prof. Ansgar Richter, PhD