Consulting is a comprehensive research and development through the knowledge and experience stored in some people's minds and the comprehensive processing of various information materials. Consulting produces the comprehensive benefits of intellectual labor and plays the role of consultant, staff officer and external brain for decision makers. Latin consultation means consultation, which means discussion and consultation.
In ancient China, "consultation" and "question" were originally two words. Consultation meant discussion, and asking meant asking. Later, they gradually formed a compound word, which means inquiry, planning, discussion and consultation. As a social activity with personnel and services, it has developed in military, political and economic fields, and has become an important means to assist decision-making in social, economic and political activities, and has gradually formed an applied soft science.
The consulting industry can be vertically divided into three levels, namely, information consulting industry, management consulting industry and strategic consulting industry. At each level, it can also be subdivided horizontally. Information consulting industry is the basic layer of consulting industry. Mainly engaged in market information investigation, collection, collation and analysis business, to provide accurate and perfect auxiliary information for enterprise decision-making.
Management consulting industry is the core of consulting industry. Including: investment consulting business, mainly engaged in investment feasibility analysis and project demonstration. Modern famous consulting companies include Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch; Human resource consultation mainly focuses on human resource management of enterprises, such as business process reengineering, salary system design, basic management system construction, human resource development training and so on.
Marketing consulting business mainly designs or evaluates various marketing strategies and marketing organization systems of enterprises, and also organizes marketing training; Financial accounting consulting, mainly providing consulting services for enterprises in accounting, auditing, asset evaluation and taxation; Management information consultation is an all-round systematic reform of enterprise management. The most famous international consulting companies in this field are the management consulting department of AXA and the international "big five" accounting companies.