Selling Consultancy Services: The Portuguese Case in Historical and Comparative Perspective

Reports in the general and specialist press as well as several (semi-)official estimates [e.g. UNCTAD, 1993, EU, 1989-1996], point at a rapid increase in the use of management consultants during the post-war period and especially from the 1960s onwards. The relevant literature suggests several inter-related reasons for this development. A number of authors link the growth in consultancy use with the increasing complexity of markets and technology. Drawing on the resource-based view, they argue that clients employ consultants in order to gain access to external expertise not available within the firm [e.g. Bennett, 1990, p. 35]. Other authors suggest that managers use consultants mainly in order to reduce the high level of uncertainty prevalent in today's economy [Tordoir, 1995]. But there are many motives that extend beyond the realm of economic efficiency. Consultants might be used for legitimisation purposes, for example to transmit the impression of modernity, to signal that "best practices"are being applied, to facilitate the acceptance of "tough decisions" or to break internal deadlock and get things moving [e.g. McLarty and Robinson, 1998].

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