What Management Consultants Want from Academics

Abstract The Centre for Management Consulting Excellence (CMCE) carried out some exploratory research into how consultants access and use outputs of academic research in their work. We investigated: • The extent to which consultants used outputs of academic research in their work; • The sources used by consultants to access the outputs of academic research; • The benefits and disadvantages for consultants of the outputs of academic research; • Consultants’ experiences in working with academics; • How consultants used academic outputs in ther continuing professional development (CPD) activities. The research found that academic work contributes to the knowledge base that consultants draw on in three main ways: It is a source of ideas underlying major types of consulting interventions and of widely used consulting tools; Outputs of academic work provide information that can be used on specific projects; Academic outputs can contribute to consultants’ CPD.