EMERGING TRENDS IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT CONSULTING

Volume 8 / Issue 2/ December 2022 DOI: 10.53486/2537-6179.8-2.03 EMERGING TRENDS IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT CONSULTING Mariana RADOV1 Abstract: The article highlights the importance of business and management consulting field and its current trends, especially in the context of pandemic and worldwide changes. The author highlights the role of consulting in accelerating best practices in collaboration, flexibility, inclusion, and accountability to its clients in order to create a better future for all, and also includes a statistical analysis of the development of consulting on a global and European scale, outlining the most important indicators according to the nature of the services rendered, the locations of the clients, and the types of client’s industries. The author argues that the trends show that consulting is becoming an increasingly important component of the business environment, and that the emergence of new economic sectors and professions will condition the need to develop new capacities and apply new managerial knowledge and tools, which will stimulate the growth of both consulting and related fields. The article provides data on the development of the consulting in the Republic of Moldova, including the difficulties faced by the companies. Author believes there is "room for growth" in the national consulting despite the fact that it is a young market marked by the challenges facing society and influenced by the small size of the national economy. The author believes that the future of it will be profoundly influenced by remote work and digitization, service export, collaboration, and improved quality. Keywords: business, management consulting, trends, collaboration, digitalization, industry regulation. JEL Code: L84, O14, O19, O50, O52, Y10. Introduction Over the past 50-60 years, the field of consulting, and especially business and management consulting, has been a source of fascination and inspiration for managers, businessmen, the media, politicians, and academic society. Its allegedly phenomenal growth and presence within and "around" well-known corporations, and cooperation with governments of highly developed nations have sparked both praise for its management practices and positive effects on the economy, as well as criticism. One thing is certain: consultants have served as change agents in the society and continue to do so. 1. The significance of business and management consulting industry and its evolution. 1.1. The role of the consulting in the economy. There are various definitions of consulting, which are reflected by the global organizations that oversee the industry. For instance, according to the European Federation 1 Mariana Radov, PhD candidate, Academy of Economic , ORCID: 0000-0003-4288-3473 Received: 07.09.2022 | Accepted: 11.11.2022 Studies from Moldova, https://csei.ase.md/journal Email: 30 Volume 8 / Issue 2/ December 2022 DOI: 10.53486/2537-6179.8-2.03 of Management Consultancies Associations (FEACO) the added value is the "raison d'être" of any consulting activity, thus consultancy aims to optimize the resources of public and private sector organizations, to improve process efficiency, train employees, and select and integrate human and technological resources based on the unique needs of the respective businesses (European Federation of Management Consultancies Associations [FEACO], 2005). On the other hand, the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI) defines consulting as the activity of giving advice/ professional support to a certain group of people. Management consultancy, on the other hand, is defined as “a set of multidisciplinary activities of intellectual work, within the field of management, which aims to create value or promote changes, by providing advice and proposing solutions, by taking into account actions or by producing deliverables” (International Organization for Standardization [ISO], 2017, p. 8). Business and management consultancy, in the author's opinion, represents, therefore, qualified support/assistance services provided to the business environment, based on the independent vision and creative intellectual activity in the field of management, which typically includes analysis-diagnostic processes and the development of further recommendations in order to solve problems and improve business efficiency. In this context, consultants are frequently labelled as knowledge carriers (Gammelsaeter, 2002), who give to their clients something they did not previously have information, ideas, knowledge, ways to apply this knowledge in the practice (Legge, 2002), or as "transmitters" of management concepts, techniques, and practices (Glückler & Armbrüster, 2003; Fincham, 2007; Kipping & Wright, 2012). As a result, the significance of this branch in a country's economy is clear: - Support and development of business environment. Consultants assist their clients in achieving high results or in overcoming critical situations and confrontations by selecting optimal and timely strategies, improving organizational structures, processes, and working methods, writing, and implementing projects, exchanging experience and best practices, developing organizational capacities, etc. - Contribution to the development of a collaborative society. Consultancy projects frequently combine expertise and resources from other sectors (for example, technical experts, legal experts, engineers, educational service providers, representatives of the academic environment, civil society, the public sector, etc.), resulting in inter- and intra-industry synergies. A collaborative and integrated approach like this maximizes the benefits of the infrastructure for the economy and the society. - Contribution to the development of innovations and knowledge dissemination. Consultants assist clients in disseminating knowledge and providing access to methodologies and original thinking. Consultants are both innovators (bringing new knowledge) and validators (validating existing knowledge) (Bouwmeester & Werven, 2011). Received: 07.09.2022 | Accepted: 11.11.2022 https://csei.ase.md/journal 31 Volume 8 / Issue 2/ December 2022 DOI: 10.53486/2537-6179.8-2.03 - Catalysing economic and social change. Consultants, in fact, facilitate, but also catalyse changes in organizations, at the industry level, and in the economy through their versatile role (providing information, knowledge, and expertise, developing innovations and offering new perspectives, validating managerial decisions, and providing support for obtaining resources for clients). We also believe that the contribution of consultants to the "new normal" of today's economy, which, according to some world-class consulting firms, will be surprisingly different from what was considered normal not long ago (Sneader & Singhal, 2020), will be expanded and emphasized. They will work with industries in order to accelerate best practices in collaboration, flexibility, (...truncated)