1. The lack of communication between consulting companies and enterprises is very important in the management system of modern enterprises, especially in enterprise management consulting projects. However, at present, some domestic enterprises do not pay enough attention to effective communication before choosing consulting companies, and their methods and procedures are not scientific and rigorous enough.
Case: A company has selected 6-8 consulting companies for its management consulting project "bidding". From bidding-tendering-bid opening, the contact between consulting companies and the middle and senior managers of the other side is basically "zero", and even they are warned that they must abide by the principle of "avoiding contact". Finally, I don't even know the names and positions of the relevant personnel of the other party, let alone other information. This kind of "bidding" is like a patient inviting a doctor, but not letting the doctor have any contact with the patient. On the surface, this bidding process is "rigorous", but in fact it obviously lacks rigor and scientificity.
2. The "concept contradiction" between consulting companies and enterprises
In the management reform of modern enterprises, the most important thing is often not to take any action first, but to establish and unify ideas and concepts. The introduction of a scientific and effective management consulting project often takes considerable time and energy in this respect. In China, due to the complexity of enterprise types, there are state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, collective enterprises, joint-stock enterprises and so on. Different enterprises often have great differences in management development planning and value orientation. Therefore, on the issue of management consulting, it is very important for consulting companies and enterprises to unify the above-mentioned principled issues. Without sufficient knowledge, it is impossible to promote management reform.
3. Enterprises have a condescending "buying mentality"
The procurement method of "bidding" is often applicable to the situation where the "buyer's market" is dominant. Therefore, enterprises that adopt the form of bidding often have a very obvious "purchasing mentality", which will lead to the obvious inequality between the tenderee and the bidder. Because the status of the two partners is not equal, such consultation or bidding is likely to lead to a "lose-lose" situation, which will hurt both consulting companies and enterprises.
4. The "weight imbalance" between consulting quality and price.
In any market buying behavior, "quality" and "price" are the elements that customers are very concerned about, but what do customers really need? Not quality, not price, but "beneficial" to yourself! The same is true when enterprises decide on import and procurement consulting projects. They must ask themselves soberly: "Why should I introduce consultation? What do I expect from it? " Once an enterprise adopts "bidding", it is easy to lose its theme, and the focus of its work is to review the quality of bidding documents and the price of tenders produced by consulting companies.
Case: In the same case mentioned above, the bidding company formulated such a game rule during the bidding process:
1. The price limit is RMB XXX million; (Quality consulting companies do not necessarily bid)
2.30 days to prepare the tender; (Lack of effective communication)
3.45 minutes to tell and answer questions; (It's easy to go through the motions)
4. The next day, the bid opening will select the top three; (still going through the motions)
5. The top three with the lowest price were awarded. (Value trend deviation)
It is not difficult to see from the rules of this game that there is only one bidding text, even if the best experts are invited within one day, the quality of bid evaluation cannot be guaranteed, and the key to winning the bid is still the so-called "price determines everything" in the so-called "top three". Its lack of rigor and scientificity is self-evident.
Methods and suggestions for solving problems
1. Clarify the development direction of the enterprise and lock the rectification demand target.
If enterprises want to pursue "sustainable development", they must have clear directions and goals and formulate corresponding development rules. At the same time, when determining the development plan, enterprises must formulate a "support system" to ensure the realization of this plan. Further formulate plans and investment budgets for improving the management system. Only by defining the direction, goals and needs can an enterprise determine what kind of external help and support it needs. Otherwise, you will often fall into the misunderstanding of "treating headaches and treating pains" and "copying and copying to catch up with fashion".
2. Evaluate and select consulting companies, professional counterparts and professional knowledge.
When selecting a consulting firm for enterprise evaluation, it is suggested to adopt the following program mode:
A. High-level docking: It is suggested that the main experts of the consulting company hold many docking talks with the top management of the enterprise, especially the top leaders, with the main goal of reaching a * * * understanding of the business philosophy of the enterprise and locking in the consulting objects. B. Pre-investigation: It is suggested that enterprises should sign a pre-investigation and diagnosis agreement with the consulting company before formally signing the consulting contract with the consulting company. This has the following advantages:
Through this preliminary investigation and diagnosis, both sides have a direct cognition and understanding at all levels.
② Consulting suggestions designed by consulting companies can be "targeted" and consulting schemes can be "tailored".
(3) The risks of both partners will be effectively reduced, especially for enterprises. At the beginning of the cooperation, there was no large consultation fee, only a small diagnosis fee.
C. Person in charge of training: Generally speaking, training companies usually do not have consulting ability, but consulting companies must have training ability. So on the one hand, enterprises must identify whether you are in contact with a "training company" or a "consulting company". It may not be wise and effective to talk about consulting business with training companies. On the other hand, in order to be prudent when choosing a consulting company, enterprises can ask the consulting company to attend several professional training courses on the main targets of consulting, and directly and intuitively judge the consulting concept, consulting ability and professional level of the consulting company through training. This method is usually effective.
D. Evaluation and selection: It is suggested that when choosing a consulting company, enterprises should set up an evaluation committee composed of middle and senior staff of the company, and invite some external experts to participate in the evaluation when necessary, which is believed to increase the scientificity and accuracy of the selection. If the enterprise has really done a lot of preliminary work, it is not bad to adopt the form of "bidding" by several consulting companies to finally determine one. Because "bidding" itself is still a good choice, it is only used for management consulting and must be changed.
The professional expertise of consulting companies is different. There is no doctor who can cure all diseases, and of course there is no universal consulting company. Generally, it can be divided into many professional types, and consulting companies have different cognitive depths of the industry. These are the correct judgments that enterprises must make when choosing consulting companies. Simply analyzing the characteristics of consulting industry, consulting industry should have four important functions: 1. Industry evaluation; 2. Enterprise research; 3. Scheme design; 4. Promote implementation. In developed countries, international consulting companies tend to focus on the first three functions, while the fourth function is mainly driven by enterprises themselves. However, due to the fact that the maturity of China enterprises is often far lower than that of international enterprises, this effective consulting mode in developed countries in the world has been "repeatedly defeated" in China. Therefore, China's consulting model must increase the weight of project promotion. Of course, this will certainly test the practical operation ability and project promotion ability of consulting companies, but only this consulting model can adapt to the reality and actual needs of domestic enterprises.