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The Economics and Sociology of Management Consulting
管理咨询经济学与社会学英文版
Management consultancy is a key sector in the economic change
toward a service and knowledge economy. This book explains the
mechanisms of the management consulting market and the manage-
ment of consulting firms from both economic and sociological
perspectives. It also examines the strategies, marketing approaches,
knowledge management, and human resource management techniques
of consulting firms. After outlining the relationships between transac-
tion cost economics, signaling theory, embeddedness theory, and
sociological neoinstitutionalism, Thomas Armbruster applies these
¨
theories to some central questions. Why does the consulting sector
exist and grow? Which institutions connect supply and demand? And
which factors influence the relationship between clients and consul-
tants? By applying both economic and sociological approaches, the
book explains the general economic changes of the past thirty years
and sharpens the relationship between the academic disciplines.
Thomas Armbruster is Professor of Business Administration in the
¨
Department of Management and Economics at Witten/Herdecke
University, Germany.
List of figures page vii
List of tables viii
Preface and acknowledgments ix
1 Management consultancy viewed from economic and
sociological perspectives 1
Part I: The mechanisms of the consulting market 39
2 Why do consulting firms exist and grow? The economics
and sociology of knowledge 41
3 How do supply and demand meet? Competition and the
role of social institutions 68
4 Who is more powerful? Consulting influence and client
authority 86
5 Substitutes or supplements? Internal versus external
consulting 101
Part II: The drivers of managing a consulting firm 117
6 Diversified services or niche focus? Strategies of
consulting firms 119
7 Fostering reputation and growth? Marketing consulting
services 140
8 The economics and sociology of knowledge
distribution: organizational structure and governance 152
9 Gaining talent and signaling quality: human resource
management 178
Part III: Conclusions 203
10 The knowledge economy, management consultancy,
and the multitheoretical approach 205
References 223
Index 247
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