Almost all of the world's top 500 companies have strategic consulting companies behind them. Some people say that a strategic consulting company is a doctor, some people say that it is a doctor and a teacher, some people say it is a strategist, and the question is, what exactly is a strategic consulting company?What does a strategy consulting firm do?What is the role of a strategy consulting firm for a business?What is the position of a strategy consulting firm in the business world?
In a serious sense, strategic consulting is the product of the combination of modern management science and enterprise practice, which germinated in the Western economic market at the end of the 19th century, and as the first generation of strategic consulting, it plays a major role in helping enterprises improve productivity and efficiency.
From the beginning of the 20th century until the Second World War, the economy developed further and was the initial period of strategic consultingThe decades after the Second World War saw an unprecedented economic boom and a period of strategic consulting developmentAfter the 90s of the 20th century, the global economy has undergone profound changes, and the transnational economy has developed rapidly, which is a period of strategic consulting growth.
The era we are living in is a period of growth in strategic consulting, and it is gradually entering a period of prosperity in strategic consulting. Nowadays, enterprises, both in terms of ideology and mechanism, have incorporated strategic consulting into the scope of business operation. From sustainable growth to the upgrading of old brands, from weak brands to strong brands to from 0 to 1 branding, strategic consulting runs through the whole life cycle of enterprises.
In a broad sense, strategic consulting originated in the Spring and Autumn Period of China and the Warring States Period, and its representative figures are: Sun Wu, Guiguzi, Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Shang Ying, Guan Zhong, Sun Wu, Fan Li, Li Si, Zhang Liang, and Zhuge Liang. Guan Zhong was the mastermind of the first hegemony of Qi in the Spring and Autumn Period. Shang Ying came to Qin from Wei and offered advice to the Qin king, valuing commerce and agriculture, and making Qin rich and strong. Fan Li is known as the saint of business, known for "conspiring to become a hegemon, business to become a huge rich", and is known as the originator of Chinese Confucian businessmen.
Sun Wu, the author of the world's first ancient military book "The Art of War", originally held a position in the state of Wu similar to that of a modern strategic planning consultant. Guiguzi, a native of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, is known as the originator of the Zongheng family. He was known for his mastery of a hundred schools of knowledge and extraordinary strategic wisdom, and was revered as a "saint of strategy" by later generations. Sun Wu and Guiguzi can be regarded as the ancient founders of strategic consulting.
In a nutshell, a strategy consulting firm is a company whose core business is "strategy consulting". The core product is to provide strategic consulting solutions to enterprises. If we correspond to the consulting profession engaged in strategic consulting, it is closer to the ancient strategists, except that strategic consultants do not sell strategies to the emperor's family, but sell them to enterprises that hope to achieve commercial development.
The focus of the commercial invasion of advanced countries is to establish themselves as industry standards, and spare no effort to establish a brand with strong influence, and in the process of product manufacturing and commodity circulation and distribution, it is basically to give away small profits to local enterprises.
Therefore, the top business competition is not a simple competition between enterprises, but a battle for the right to speak between interest groups. This kind of business competition cannot rely on technological innovation or enterprises to win alone, but depends on a complete business competition system, which includes a series of key capabilities such as technology, academic, speech, public relations and so on.
There is such a sentence in the business circle: "first-class enterprises do standards, second-rate enterprises do brands, third-rate enterprises do products, and fourth-rate enterprises do circulation", which basically corresponds to Sun Wu's "go to the army to fight and plan, then to fight the enemy, then to attack the army, and then to attack the city".
Therefore, the task and significance of the strategic consulting company is to act as the behind-the-scenes military advisor and the think tank behind the enterprise, through making suggestions for the enterprise, calculating first and then fighting, so that the enterprise can stay away from the "first-class war", "vicious competition" and "Red Sea competition" and other business battles, so as to realize the "military strategy, followed by the war, then the army, and the next siege", and finally help the enterprise to achieve "first victory and then war" and "total victory".
That's why, as a strategy consulting firm, Zhuo Pu prefers to use the term "strategist" rather than "woodpecker doctor" or "corporate doctor" to describe strategic consulting work. Because strategic consulting is not only the right medicine after the onset of the disease, he intervenes earlier, from 0 to 1, to let the enterprise win at the top of the strategy, from 1 to n, to let the enterprise grow rapidly.
Reflected in specific business operations, the work of strategic consulting companies mainly includes market analysis, competitive analysis, strategic planning, organizational design, marketing blasting, etc. Non-full-case strategy consulting companies, only provide corporate strategy or limited services, how to land, the landing is good or bad is the company's own business;The full-case strategy consulting company, taking Zhuopu as an example, provides full-case consulting from market analysis to strategy formulation to creative realization to marketing blasting, with a feeling of "helping people to their homes and sending Buddha to the West".