So What Makes a Successful Consulting Project?

Abstract

What constitutes a successful consulting project is a question that has attracted interest from practitioners and researchers alike. Aside from getting the invoices paid, successful projects provide consulting firms with additional benefits and value. Marc Baaij, in his Introduction to Management Consultancy (2014) suggests the evaluation of the success of a consulting project potentially helps a consulting firm in four ways: 1) it offers a reference point by which the quality of the project’s deliverables can be judged in relation to the fee charged; 2) it enables the scrutiny of the degree to which it contributed to the value created by the project, compared to, for example serendipitous circumstances; 3) it can provide the data to help the appraisal and development of consultants; and 4) it leads to the creation of learning and credentials for the firm’s future work, in the form of reputational collateral, references, and knowledge.