ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the theoretical challenges in the analysis of facilitators. The chapter analyzes major groups of facilitators whose chief goal is to thrive as individual businesses by servicing other firms and actors in areas where they need special knowledge and skills. It explores the role of associations and how they meet competition from facilitators that are active in some of the same areas and engage in some of the same issues. In terms of taxonomy, it is possible to distinguish major types of facilitators on account of their services and functions in the business community, although we have to recognize that these are not laid out in a neat order but are subject to evolution. Unlike management consulting, accounting and auditing firms, global law firms rely primarily, if not solely, on the provision of legal expertise and, therefore, build on a single profession with a strong tradition and identity.
