During the 1990s and into the 2000s, management consultancy widened the scope of its services to include helping firms to develop strategy and as such, sustain their operations both in the short- and long-run. As Biggs (2010) observe, there are emerged two critical fields in management consultancy as this sector developed, namely, performance improvement and strategy development and implementation. In addition, Collins (2004) point out that management consultancy services are no longer associated with the private sector alone but also governmental authorities and agencies contribute significant revenue to this sector. Despite its consistent growth in the 20th century and early 21st century, there is a need to note that this sector has is witnessing a significant rise in opposition, who cast doubt on whether it has any value in the modern world. According to Hwang and Tan (2012), there are emerging arguments that the cost of management consultancy is significantly higher and yet fail to reflect the value that such experts offer to firms. Furthermore, O'Mahoney and Markham (2013) reiterate that in most cases, management consultants offer generic advice that is of no value to firms. Such arguments are inclined towards suggesting that firms are high likely to waste their financial resource when they hire management consultants. Despite this negative attention, the global management consultancy industry continues to grow and is currently valued at $250 billion (Kaplan, 2018). Furthermore, there are emerging fields that are ripe for consulting including the healthcare industry, Fintech and financial services sector, and the information technology industry in fields such as cyber security, and the Internet of Things (IoT) (Greentarget, 2017).
20世纪90年代至21世纪初，管理咨询公司扩大了其服务范围，包括帮助企业制定战略，从而在短期和长期维持其运营。正如Biggs（2010）所观察到的，随着管理咨询行业的发展，出现了两个关键领域，即绩效改进和战略制定与实施。此外，Collins（2004）指出，管理咨询服务不再仅仅与私营部门有关，政府当局和机构也为私营部门提供了大量收入。尽管该行业在20世纪和21世纪初持续增长，但需要注意的是，该行业的反对声音正在显著上升，这让人怀疑它在现代世界是否有任何价值。根据Hwang和Tan（2012）的观点，有新的观点认为管理咨询的成本明显较高，但未能反映出这些专家为企业提供的价值。此外，O'Mahoney和Markham（2013）重申，在大多数情况下，管理顾问提供的一般建议对公司没有价值。这些论点倾向于表明，企业在聘用管理顾问时，很可能浪费他们的财务资源。尽管受到负面关注，全球管理咨询行业仍在持续增长，目前价值2500亿美元（Kaplan，2018）。此外，还有一些新兴领域的咨询时机已经成熟，包括医疗保健行业、金融技术和金融服务行业，以及网络安全和物联网（IoT）等领域的信息技术行业（Greentarget，2017）。
Why consultants are hired 为何聘用顾问
There are different reasons why firms hire consultants. To begin with, one of the critical reasons why firms consider the services of consultants is to complement their insufficient in-house expertise. In reference to Simon and Kumar (2001), whenever a firm feels that it is insufficient in a certain skill, rather than recruiting talent to fill the gap on a permanent payroll, the firm in question may seek the services of a consultant to providing this expertise. This is affirmed by Ko (2010) who argues that consultants are expected to be experts and more experienced in a certain field and as such, firms hire them with the aim of tapping into the knowledge on their areas of expertise. In addition to this, researchers and scholars note that in some cases, firms hire consultants with the aim of addressing the problem of insufficient in-house manpower. According to Sverke, Gallagher and Hellgren (2002), rather than hiring temporary workers who might need further training in order to meet the standards of the required skillset, most firms opt to hire consultants who already possess the required skillset. Therefore, hiring consultants could act as a platform for alternative work arrangement where consultants fill in the skills gap within the said firms.
公司聘请顾问的原因各不相同。首先，企业咨询顾问服务的一个重要原因是补充他们的内部专业知识不足。参考Simon和Kumar（2001），当一家公司认为某项技能不够时，而不是招募人才填补长期工资的空缺，该公司可能会寻求顾问的服务来提供这种专业知识。Ko（2010）证实了这一点，他认为咨询顾问应该是某个领域的专家和更有经验的人，因此，公司雇用他们的目的是利用他们专业领域的知识。除此之外，研究人员和学者指出，在某些情况下，公司雇佣顾问的目的是解决内部人力不足的问题。根据Sverke、Gallagher和Hellgren（2002年）的说法，大多数公司选择雇佣已经具备所需技能的顾问，而不是雇佣可能需要进一步培训以达到所需技能标准的临时工人。因此，聘请顾问可以作为替代工作安排的平台，顾问可以填补上述公司的技能缺口。
Similarly, firms often hire consultants with the aim of gaining insights from independent experts, who have no vested interest in the organisation. In reference to O'Mahoney and Markham (2013), whereas a firm’s employees may possess the same knowledge as consultants, such employees are often incapable of providing objective advice because of their vested interest in the firm, thus prompting it to seek for the advice of consultants. In other words, consultants are able to provide firms with objective or rather unbiased advice since they have no vested interest on the firm in question. O'Mahoney and Markham (2013) further point out that firms hire consultants to legitimise the decisions of their independent board members, thus protecting them from corporate liability. In this case, after the management board has made certain decisions concern their respective firms, they might hire a consultant to ratify these decisions and as such, protect them from any form of corporate liability in future.
类似地，公司通常雇佣顾问，目的是从独立专家那里获得见解，而独立专家在公司中没有既得利益。参考O'Mahoney和Markham（2013），虽然公司的员工可能拥有与顾问相同的知识，但这些员工往往无法提供客观的建议，因为他们在公司中的既得利益，从而促使公司寻求顾问的建议。换句话说，顾问能够为公司提供客观或公正的建议，因为他们对相关公司没有既得利益。O'Mahoney和Markham（2013）进一步指出，公司聘请顾问是为了使其独立董事会成员的决策合法化，从而保护他们免于承担公司责任。在这种情况下，在管理委员会做出与各自公司有关的某些决定后，他们可能会聘请一名顾问来批准这些决定，从而保护他们在未来免于承担任何形式的公司责任。