Master thesis deals with analysis of sales practices of Independent Beauty Consultants in a selected company. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the sales practices of Independent Beauty Consultants at Mary Kay company and to propose optimization recommendations. The thesis is divided into free parts: theoretical, methodological and practical. The theoretical part is based on literature and describes the qualities of a professional salesperson and an effective process of personal selling. The methodological part defines the target group and explains the application of the chosen methods such as: personal interview, questionnaire survey and mystery shopping. The practical part focuses on Independent Beauty Consultants and analyzes their sales practices. Optimization recommendations are proposed on the basis of the findings of research.

Aim: This study aims to explore the knowledge hiding phenomenon among project teammembers in the consulting industry. This study investigated why, when, how and what type ofknowledge team members hide.Methodology: This research applied a qualitative research with inductive approach. Semistructuredinterviews with eleven participants from EY in Kazakhstan were conducted.Secondary data was obtained from existing scientific articles and books.Findings: Findings of the study provided that (i) variables affecting knowledge hiding atindividual level also influence at team level; (ii) the technological and organizational barriershad a minor influence on knowledge hiding at team level; (ii) tacit/explicit and key/commonknowledge are subject to hiding among team members; (iv) three additional variables arediscovered at team level, i.e. laziness, fear of being seen silly and self-study. Theoretical contributions: This study contributes to the counterproductive knowledgebehaviour by exploring patterns of knowledge hiding among team members. Additionalknowledge sharing barriers of why and when team members hide knowledge were found. Teammembers hide knowledge when they feel ownership over knowledge and territoriality servesas a mediating tool. Nevertheless, collective knowledge psychological ownership weakensknowledge hiding, because team’s success is more important than individual’s goals.Managerial implications: Organizations are encouraged to nurture team environment, becauseteam members might feel that they are obliged to share their knowledge. Also, managementshould consider to lower territoriality perspectives (e.g. by team buildings, etc.). Limitations and future research: Future research should increase the number of respondentsfrom different companies, industries and geographical areas. To validate the three newly foundknowledge hiding variables at team level, they can be tested at individual level. On top of thatfuture research can focus on the effects of interpersonal injustice on knowledge hiding on eachmember, motivational process on knowledge concealing/sharing and cross-cultural differencesof how knowledge concealing is interpreted can be researched.

The engineering consulting industry in South Africa witnessed an overwhelming growth before the 2010 Fifa World Cup. The country had a lot of infrastructural development that needed the services of consulting engineers. A lot of people saw the challenge as a business opportunity and started their own consulting engineering companies. The demand for consulting engineering services was high before the 2010 Fifa World Cup; this changed after the completion of projects that were due for the world cup and some had to close or retrench staff due to scarcity of projects. The completion of 2010 Fifa World Cup projects is not the only challenge faced by the engineering consulting sector; government policies such tendering and procurement procedures that do not acknowledge performance, lack of funding etc. It is therefore important that companies look for better ways of gaining competitiveness in order to get more projects. These companies must not only rely on government projects but do marketing on the private sector as well. The purpose of the research is to assess and develop a marketing strategy for Company X Consulting engineers. A literature study on most successful marketing strategies employed by other service oriented companies was conducted. The literature study also comprised of the perception of marketing amongst consulting engineering companies. From the literature study mentioned above; questionnaires were drawn towards the development of a marketing strategy for Company X consulting engineers. The findings of the questionnaires were analysed and recommendation were made for the development of a marketing strategy for Company X.

This work is covering the area of Data Governance (DG) with the main focus on roles in DG. First part is capturing the DG field from a basic perspective. This chapter introduces main principles of DG and is considered as a guideline for better understanding of the second chapter. The second chapter contains different approaches on DG and on roles in DG. The approaches are from world leaders in the field of DG like IBM, Teradata, KIK Consulting and The Data Governance Institute. In the summary of second chapter you can find a comparison of these different approaches to organization structure and roles in DG. The third and final chapter contains my own approach to organization structures and roles in DG. You can find there a wide variety of roles divided by different factors. This will give you a very good and unique perspective on roles and it might be also helpful as a guideline for necessary roles in the implementation process of DG program.

The aim of my thesis is an analysis of workers´ care and team-building activities of two previously chosen financial-consulting companies. The theoretical part focuses on the definition of the fundamental concepts of workers´ care and teambuilding. Next two chapters deal with characteristics of each company in terms of defined monitored aspects, it means in terms of workers´ care and team-building activities. The outcome of the practical part is an analysis of the research among workers of both companies in terms of workers´ care and team-building activities. Finally, I evaluate both aspects in those companies and suggest recommendations to improve these areas.

In the theoretical part of the thesis focuses on the general definition of the recruitment and selection, mainly the methods, which are used. Furthermore, it defines the area work in public administration with a focus on employment and workers. Also, try to determine the difference between the acquisition employees in the public and private sectors. The work is then engaged in recruitment agencies and HR consulting companies, their history, the legislative definition and the question whether it is advantageous to work with recruitment agencies. Afterwards, the method of work is engaged in executive search, its history, use, and especially how it is itself the recruitment method. The practical part contains specific case of HR consulting company that deals with executive search method. Here is then analyzed in the procedure of recruitment executive search method and success by getting employees the company achieved in 2011. This part of the thesis is based on long-term observations of the author, who was an employee of the staffing and consulting company so he could observe the whole process of executive search methods in practice. Using a questionnaire survey, this work investigates how executive search method is used in the private and public sectors and what are the respondents as the main advantages and disadvantages of the method. At the end of this section for recommendations on how to use executive search method in the public sector, and problems are defined here, why not in the sector executive search method does not use too much.

The main topic of Master's Thesis is the analysis of recruitment in the company KPMG Czech Republic, regarding to specifically experienced employees in the department Management Consulting. The thesis consists of two integrated parts; the theoretical part covers basic terms and pieces of knowledge in area of recruiting employees and the practical part introduces at first the company KPMG Czech Republic and the department Management Consulting. The analysis is focused on identifying external and internal conditions of recruiting experienced employees in the department of company and on assessing process as well as current methods of recruitment. On the base of findings and in consideration of the latest trends, there are set out suggestions on how is possible to optimize recruiting experienced professionals from external sources in the department Management Consulting.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur språkanvändningen på en särskild kommunikationskanal, nämligen webbsidor, ser ut hos olika företag inom branschen för managementkonsulting. Studien gjordes på uppdrag av Madicon Communication AB vilket är grunden till att ett vidare syfte även var att undersöka hur Madicon med hjälp av språket och de likheter samt skillnader som framkommit kan positionera sig annorlunda i förhållande till andra företag i samma bransch. I denna undersökning studerades komposition samt frekvens av engelska uttryck, facktermer, upprepningar, pronomen och tilltal, informella och formella ordval och användning av versaler samt språkhandlingar. Resultatet visade bland annat att alla fyra företagen till stor del använder samma delar i kompositionen, men att det finns skillnader beroende på företagens inriktningar. Vidare använder de två tekniskt inriktade företagen engelska mest. Facktermer visade sig tydligt ha en väsentlig roll inom managementspråket då stor mängd påträffats i texterna. När det kommer till upprepningar och hur företagen valde att synas i sina texter kunde vi återigen se skillnad utefter företagens inriktning. Utifrån studiens resultat är endast Madicon det företag som följer riktlinjerna om att företag vinner på att låta både ett ’vi’ och ett ’du’ synas i texter på webben. Resultatet visade även att företagen håller olika grad av formalitet vilket möjligt gör att företagen uppfattas olika. Madicon använder i jämförelse med de andra företagen versaler mer frekvent. Utifrån att alla fyra företagen använde språkhandlingarna ’erbjudande’ och ’löfte’ i båda sina texter kan dessa tolkas som centrala.

Este proyecto fue elaborado con el fin de atender las empresas que necesitan tener una mejor tasa de conversión entre los prospectos comerciales y los cierres de ventas de sus ejecutivos comerciales, así como conocer el seguimiento de cada uno de ellos. Nuestro negocio consiste en brindar asesoría comercial especializada en el rubro inmobiliario iniciando a través de un estudio comercial “Cliente Oculto” para conocer las herramientas de ventas que los ejecutivos están utilizando, así como los seguimientos que hacen a cada uno de los prospectos que llegan por todos los canales de venta como son; presenciales, vía web, vía correo, a través de los diferentes portales inmobiliarios y redes sociales. La idea surgió porque dos de los integrantes del grupo trabajan hace más de 10 años en portales inmobiliarios y en muchas oportunidades han tenido la oportunidad de medir el seguimiento de los prospectos que generan sus portales y han encontrado una gran deficiencia en seguimiento de los ejecutivos comerciales de las empresas que contratan con ellas. El canal que usaremos es la venta presencial, adecuando los servicios a las necesidades de cada uno de los clientes, dentro de nuestros servicios ofreceremos también servicios de coaching y mentoring, así como asesorías creadas para las necesidades de cada uno de los clientes. / This project was prepared in order to serve the companies that need to have a better conversion rate between the commercial prospects and the sales closings of their commercial executives, as well as to know the monitoring of each one of them. Our business consists of providing specialized commercial advice in the real estate sector, starting through a “Hidden Client” commercial study to learn about the sales tools that executives are using, as well as the follow-up they do to each of the prospects who arrive by all sales channels as they are; In person, via web, via mail, through the different real estate portals and social networks. The idea arose because two of the members of the group have been working for more than 10 years in real estate portals and on many occasions have had the opportunity to measure the follow-up of the prospects that their portals generate and have found a great deficiency in following up on commercial executives. of the companies that contract with them. The channel we will use is face-to-face sales, adapting the services to the needs of each of the clients, within our services we will also offer coaching and mentoring services, as well as consultancies created for the needs of each of the clients. / Trabajo de investigación

Professional services are one of the fastest growing industries, accounting for over US$330 billion in revenue, globally. The industry is also characterised by stiff competition among professional consulting firms. Thus, in order to survive and grow sustainably, consulting companies need to, not only deliver high quality services which surpass their clients’ expectations but, also nurture strong relationships with them.This study sought to understand the relationship between project delivery success and the strength of client-consultant relationships. It used the engineering consulting industry, focusing on public sector clients and consulting firms in South Africa. The methodology used focused on first establishing as to whether clients and consultants measure project delivery success and relationships using the same factors. It then tested the relationship between project delivery success and client-consultant relationships using the identified set of factors.Through a detailed literature review, project delivery factors were categorised into project success and project management success factors. In order to capture the different dimensions involved in project delivery and client-consultant relationships, frameworks were developed to adequately classify these factors. These frameworks were used in the design of the data collection instrument.The findings from the study indicated that clients and consultants measure project delivery success using fairly similar factors, which they also rated in a fairly similar way. However, the study established that clients and consultants neither evaluate relationships using the same factors, nor rate the factors in a similar way. It was also found that project delivery success does not necessarily result in strong client-consultant relationships.On the basis of these findings, the study established that product delivery success is results from the interaction of many factors within and beyond project boundaries. It also involves a variety of stakeholders with different expectations. Project success is more difficult to measure than project management success. Client-consultant relationships depend on the types of clients and consultants involved as well as the model of engagement used. These factors also influence the choice and priority given to different measurement factors.Thus, the study recommended the importance of active client-consultant engagement for clients and consultants to and understand these complex context-specific environments in structuring and defining problems and design relevant solutions. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted