Consultants as strategic practitioners: an analysis in the sociological field research of strategy-as-practice

Abstract

Although management consulting activities have obtained a considerable growth in terms of economic significance in recent years, these results have not been duly followed by a greater number of conceptual and empirical researches in this area. In order to fight the lack of studies on the actual work of management consultants, this article aims at answer to one question that remains open. Are consultants the real experts and the true practitioners of strategy as practice? The results of the empirical analysis in the form of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires given to management consultants and SME managers in Portugal shows that management consulting is founded on a knowledge-intensive base, although consultants cannot be called strategy practitioners as many authors call them. This is illustrated in the model presented in this article, which means this proposition is a new direction in strategic thinking in what the field’s research strategy-as-practice concerns.