The change from mere product supply to customer solutions, integrated and customized offerings (including e.g. products, software and services), has been argued to be a route to success in the 21st century. However, current literature offers little support for leaders who must manage the customer solutions business’ need for bridging the diverging business logics of products and consulting. The thesis addresses this organizational challenge and aims for an understanding of the phenomenon corporate consulting, consulting businesses in product-based organizations. More specifically, the author investigates whether, and if so how, corporate consulting can be a general way of providing customer solutions. The author was formerly a marketing director of just such a corporate consultancy, and has remained a part-time employee throughout the research project. An in-depth study from within the organization enabled the collection of a rich set of longitudinal empirical data through self-ethnography and insider action research. It also led to a marked emphasis on aspects relevant to both academy and industry. A subsequent broader study into other corporate consultancies helped to generalize the findings further. The thesis investigates corporate consulting using two levels of analysis. The subsequent findings indicate firstly that, within the consulting unit, the simultaneous existence of consulting logic and product logic can lead to dual organizational identities (a consultant- and a staff identity) in corporate consultancies. The importance of managing these identities through conscious rhetoric is emphasized. Secondly, on an overall company level, the relation between the product business and the consulting business is in focus. The main conclusion here is that, despite a consulting unit’s responsibility for customized offerings, customer-orientation cannot be delegated to corporate consultancies in order to enable the traditional product business to carry on with “business as usual.” In a customer solutions business, top management must, instead, infuse a general customer-orientation into the whole organization, and the corporate consultancy must be handled as an integral part, rather than a mere extension for customization. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2003</p>

Bakgrund: Sedan introduktionen i början av 1990-talet har utvecklingen av volymen nyemitterade aktieindexobligationerna totalt sett varit positiv vilket tyder på att produkten blivit en populär sparform hos svenskar. Detta tillsammans med det faktum att det finns få studier gjorda kring aktieindexobligationer som sparform där ett större perspektiv tas i beaktande gör ämnet intressant att studera. Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att kartlägga och analysera för vilka privata investerare aktieindexobligationer passar som sparform ur ett livscykelperspektiv med utgångspunkt i (i) bransch- och rådgivningspraxis, (ii) finansiell riskhanteringsteori med fokus på portföljvalsteori och (iii) historisk data avseende risk och avkastning. Genomförande: Studien har genomförts med hjälp av att intervjua privatrådgivare, kapitalrådgivare och personer som arbetar med strukturerade produkter på storbanker och hos mindre finansiella aktörer. Fem stereotyper har använts som diskussionsunderlag vid intervjuerna. För att kunna föra en djupare analys kring produkten som sparform för privata investerare har en portföljoptimering genomförts för att ta historisk data gällande risk och avkastning i beaktande. Slutsats: Studien fastställer att produkten passar privata investerare som befinner sig i den senare delen av konsolideringsfasen och inte är de mest riskbenägna. Studien visar att det främst är kredit- och marknadsrisken som är kopplade till aktieindexobligationer samtidigt som risken i produkten bedöms som låg. Studien visar även på att egenskaper som tillförs investerares portföljer är låg risk samt en potentialaspekt. / Background: Since the introduction in the early 1990s, the volume of newly issued equity index bonds overall had a positive development. This increase indicates that the product has become a popular form of savings among Swedes. Together with the fact that there are few studies done on equity index bonds as a savings product. A wider perspective has been taken into account which makes the subject interesting to study. Aim: Purpose of this study is to identify and analyze for who private investors equity index bonds fit as a savings product on lifecycle thought based on (i) professional and consulting practices, (ii) financial risk management theory, focusing on portfolio theory, and (iii) historical data on risk and return. Completion: The study was completed using interviews with private consultants, capital advisors and people working with structured products at major banks and of small players. In addition, five stereotypes were used as a basis for discussion during the interviews. In order to conduct a deeper analysis of the product as a form of saving for private investors, a portfolio optimization carried out taking the historical data on risk and return into account. Conclusion: The study determines that the product is suitable for private investors who are in the latter part of the consolidation phase and mainly not prone to risk. The study suggests that equity index bonds primarily are associated with credit- and market risk, while the risk of the product is assessed as low. The study also indicates that the properties that are added to investors’ portfolios are low risk and a potential aspect.

The aim of this study is to investigate how employees in consulting companies develop their competence in order to perform their daily work. The focus is on informal competence development. The theoretical framework consists of theories concerning learning and competence development in working life, theories on organizational change and evaluation, a well as professional reflection. The methods applied are narrative research and interviews based on the assumption that knowledge about reality is only obtainable through language and communication. The main results show that competence is developed through experience, social interaction, communication and dialog with co-workers and customers. The post-modern conceptions of the rapid (technical) development and need to be up-to-date has a strong hold on the informants apprehension of working life, as does the notion of not having enough time for all the competence development they would like. Time also work in favour of competence as experience is developed over time. The results lead to the conclusion that both the motive for and the aim of competence development is the creation of a meaningful and manageable reality. / Undersökningens syfte är att studera hur anställda i kunskapsföretag utvecklar kompetens för att klara det dagliga arbetet Fokus ligger på den informella kompetensutvecklingen. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna innefattar teorier om lärande och kompetensutveckling, organisationsförändring och utvärdering samt professionell reflektion. I undersökningen används narrativ analys och intervjuer vilket baseras på uppfattningen att kunskap om verkligheten bara kan nås genom språk och kommunikation. De huvudsakliga resultaten visar att kompetens utvecklas genom erfarenhet, social interaktion, kommunikation och dialog med medarbetare och kunder. De postmoderna uppfattningarna om den snabba (tekniska) utvecklingen och kravet på att vara uppdaterad påverkar starkt informanternas syn på arbetslivet, liksom känslan av att inte ha tillräckligt med tid för all den kompetensutveckling som önskas. Men tiden arbetar också för kompetensen eftersom erfarenhet är något som utvecklas över tid. Resultaten leder fram till slutsatsen att både drivkrafterna till och målet för kompetensutveckling är att skapa en begriplig och hanterbar verklighet.

AbstractPurposeTo study which and how project management methodologies are applied in consulting firmsApproachThe study begins by reviewing literature on Traditional Project Management (TPM) andAgile Project Management (APM) methodologies ending with characteristics of the twomethodologies that identify a project as applying one methodology or another. The literaturethen reviews the nature of consulting firms emphasising on elements such as the professional,professional services and professional service firms before reviewing how projects areimplemented in consulting firms. A case study design is adopted and semi-structuredinterviews were conducted with PricewaterhouseCoopers-Ghana staff. Patterns from theinterviews are identified and compared with the characteristics of both Traditional and Agileproject management before drawing conclusions on which methodologies are applied andhow they are applied. Since APM is presumed to deal with problems of TPM in complexenvironments, challenges in applying TPM in consulting firms are assessed and the extent towhich APM responds to those challenges are also discussed.FindingsThe findings indicate that TPM is applied in consulting firms mainly for structured projects,whilst APM methods are also applied for some structured projects but very much forunstructured and ‘executory’ projects. APM also deals with some challenges of TPM butthose which are organisation related are not solved by applying APM methods.Research limitationThe limited number of people interviewed for this research is one key issue that limitsgeneralization to all consulting firms. However, it is hoped that this work serves as a basis forfurther research in this field.Practical implicationsThe study shows that whilst TPM will continuously be applied in consulting firms due to thenature of some projects, APM can also be applied to the benefit of consulting projects that areunstructured and ‘executory’. Therefore consulting firms do not need to ‘force’ structure intoall projects.Paper typeMasters Thesis – Research paperKeywordsTraditional project management, agile project management, consulting firms, professional,professional service, professional service firms

External knowledge is an important knowledge source for organizations. No matter how good external knowledge is, however, the contribution of external knowledge for organization would decrease if organizations can¡¦t absorb the knowledge effectively. Unlike previous studies, this study applies the ¡¥communication chain¡¦ perspective to investigate the process of organization¡¦s acquisition and absorption of external knowledge. Consulting knowledge is chosen as the study subject of external knowledge. This study argues that consultant and internal lecturer constitute the communication chain of consulting knowledge. Consultants and internal lecturers¡¦ capability of knowledge training and the capability link of knowledge training between consultants and internal lecturers will affect the effectiveness of organization¡¦s absorption of consulting knowledge. This study used triangulation approach to collect empirical data about how organizations acquire quality management knowledge through knowledge trainings provided by quality management (QM) consultants in Taiwan. First, this study did in-depth interviews with 10 QM consultants and 13 QM internal lecturers to collect qualitative data. Based on the data analysis of in-depth interviews and related literature, a questionnaire was developed and used to survey QM consultants and internal lecturers. A total number of 282 valid questionnaires, 47 QM consultants and 235 QM internal lecturers, were finally used to do statistical analysis. We combined and compared the findings of in-depth interviews and statistical analysis to answer research questions of this study. The results showed that QM internal lecturers did ¡¥dual-knowledge learning¡¦ in the communication chain of consulting knowledge and the capability of knowledge training was a combination of various sub-capabilities. QM internal lecturers¡¦ capability of knowledge training, in general, was inferior to QM consultants¡¦ capability of knowledge training. The main reasons resulting in the capability gap could be induced into three dimensions, including lecturer, trainee, and organization. The communication chain perspective provides an innovative and dynamic view to study organization¡¦s acquisition and absorption of consulting knowledge. The findings of this study can make up theoretical or knowledge gaps existed in past studies of knowledge acquisition, absorptive capacity, organizational boundary spanner, consulting industry, and expert-novice study. In addition, the findings also provide some valuable management implications for organizations to absorb the consulting knowledge more effectively as well as for consultants or consulting firms to enhance the quality of their knowledge service.

<p>Organizational Loyalty is a concept which is becoming increasingly important to discuss in today‘s society; employment agencies and consulting companies are losing staff by the hour however if that is a consequence of not being loyal to the employer, implies that people know what the term Organizational Loyalty actually means. Or not. This thesis‘s purpose was to investigate what Organizational Loyalty is within the consulting trade, to sensitize for the consulting business‘s the different factors that seem to influence loyalty and to give recommendations as to what might be done in order to make employees who work as consultants within the consulting trade experience more loyal to the organization which they are employed at. The analyzed material managed to reveal that loyalty is more than just a word within the consulting trade; it is an important mean of delivering high quality services to a company‘s customers and the only way for employers to attempt making employees more loyal to the organization is by respecting different factors that seem to influence loyalty to the organization and reinforcing these when they are in contact with the employees. By and large, the results suggest that there is a significance of defining Organizational Loyalty as something more than just a term within the consulting business; it is the underlying dimensions that together create the actual meaning of what it is and by knowing what the significance of Organizational Loyalty is, employers might be able to work better for reinforcing loyalty among their employees.</p>

La littérature en sciences de gestion montre que les pratiques transgressives sont présentes dans toutes les organisations. Un type d'écart à la règle a été insuffisamment traité toutefois : les transgressions quotidiennes, connues de tous et accomplies par tous, qui sont d'une gravité limitée mais jouent un rôle à part entière dans le fonctionnement de l'organisation.<br />Notre enquête de terrain cherche à mettre en évidence l'existence de cette transgression que nous nommons « ordinaire » à travers le cas des métiers du conseil en management.<br />Nous constatons qu'il existe dans ces métiers une forme de transgression qui se présente comme une sorte de mise en scène convenue de la réalité qui permet aux consultants de concilier les exigences contradictoires imposées par leur environnement. Ce décalage présente les caractéristiques de la transgression ordinaire : une pratique permanente, quotidienne et répandue, d'une gravité limitée, qui joue un rôle dans le fonctionnement de l'organisation.

This paper is about the re-establishment of a professional, that is, a neutral perspective on terror; most research on terrorism is partisan in terms of biased culturalist studies on the ‘index patients’ of an international conflict. At the same time, there is very little research on the forms and functions of so called anti-terror measures which are commonly treated as acts of self-defence. In contrast to this, from a sociological point of view we find that it takes two to make the terror: an act of violence, and an act of labelling this violence as terror, too. Thus, we argue that Western societies should take full responsibility for their own perceptions, attributions, and actions within an international conflict system, instead of continuing to externalize these. Finally, we state that sociology has a demand for research on the applicability of the concepts of systemic therapy on the field of the intervention into stable inter-cultural conflict systems.

Bakgrund och problem: Konsultbranschen kännetecknas av en hög omsättning av aktörer. En anledning till att det ständigt alstras nya mindre aktörer till branschen är att den kan vara lukrativ med låga inträdesbarriärer. Men varför försvinner många aktörer lika fort som de kommer upp? Är det en brist på strategi och styrverktyg som ligger till grund för problemet? Kan det bero på svårigheten för småföretag att skapa sig en solid varumärkeslegitimitet, och finns det en möjligt att med hjälp av styrverktyg stärka företagets varumärkeslegitimitet? Fallföretaget som använts i den här studien är ett litet konsultföretag som vill stärka varumärkeslegitimiteten med hjälp av differentieringsstrategi på marknaden. Syfte: Syftet med den här studien är att med hjälp av en egenarbetad utvärderingsmodell utvärdera olika långsiktiga styrverktyg inriktade mot små konsult- och tjänsteföretags. Genom att utvärdera för- och nackdelar för tre utvalda styrverktyg och sedan applicera de på ett litet konsultföretag är förhoppningen att studien kan leda fram till rekommendationer gällande styrverktygens nytta och möjlighet till anpassning. Metod: I metodavsnittet förklaras vilka metodiska val som har använts i studien. En presentation av vilken forskningsansats som författarna har utgått efter förklaras också. Vidare så tydliggörs kritiken mot de källor som har använts i studien samt urvalet av data. Slutsats: Efter att styrverktygen utvärderats med hjälp av en egenarbetad utvärderingsmodell konstaterades det att det inte fanns ett optimalt styrverktyg men att alla innehöll värdefulla funktioner. Emellertid visade analysen att det styrverktyg som var mest användbart utifrån fallföretagets förutsättningar var det balanserade styrkortet på grund av dess multipla användbara funktioner och möjlighet till styrning enligt utvald strategi och mål. / Background and Problem: The consulting branch can be recognized by having a high turnover of operators. One reason for this is that the market can be lucrative with its low entry barriers. But why do many operators disappear as soon as they enter the market? Is it because of a lack of strategy and management tools? Could it be due to the difficulty for small businesses to create solid brand legitimacy, and is there a possibility to strengthen it by using management tools? The company used in this study is a small consulting company that desires to strengthen their brand legitimacy with the aid of differentiation strategy in the market. Purpose: With the help of a self-made evaluation model, the purpose of this study is to evaluate different long-term management tools geared towards small consulting and service companies. By evaluating the pros and cons of the three selected management tools and then apply those at a small consulting company, an expectation is that the study could lead to recommendations regarding the management tools benefits and possibilities for adaption. Method: In the methodology section the methodological choices of the study are explained. There is also a presentation of the research approach that has been used. Furthermore, the selection of data and the criticism of the sources used in the study are discussed. Results and conclusion: After that the management tools had been evaluated using the evaluation tool, it was found that there was no optimal management tool but that they all contained valuable features. However, the analysis showed that the management tool that was most advantageous based on the company’s prospects was the balanced scorecard because of its multiple useful features and its ability to control according to the company’s strategy and goal.

Organizational Loyalty is a concept which is becoming increasingly important to discuss in today‘s society; employment agencies and consulting companies are losing staff by the hour however if that is a consequence of not being loyal to the employer, implies that people know what the term Organizational Loyalty actually means. Or not. This thesis‘s purpose was to investigate what Organizational Loyalty is within the consulting trade, to sensitize for the consulting business‘s the different factors that seem to influence loyalty and to give recommendations as to what might be done in order to make employees who work as consultants within the consulting trade experience more loyal to the organization which they are employed at. The analyzed material managed to reveal that loyalty is more than just a word within the consulting trade; it is an important mean of delivering high quality services to a company‘s customers and the only way for employers to attempt making employees more loyal to the organization is by respecting different factors that seem to influence loyalty to the organization and reinforcing these when they are in contact with the employees. By and large, the results suggest that there is a significance of defining Organizational Loyalty as something more than just a term within the consulting business; it is the underlying dimensions that together create the actual meaning of what it is and by knowing what the significance of Organizational Loyalty is, employers might be able to work better for reinforcing loyalty among their employees.