ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how individual consulting firms cope with growth and either fail or succeed. While numerous reasons account for the success and failure of consulting firms, growth management issues have to be near the top of the list. A notable case of failure occurred in 1997 for the once-promising strategy consulting firm Mitchell Madison Group (MMG), which in five years had expanded to fourteen offices around the world and 800 employees. Given the difficulties experienced by so many firms in managing their growth, people decided a few years ago to begin a study to determine if professional services firms (PSFs) pass through discernable stages of growth. Making radical changes is difficult because private consulting firms and even public ones typically elect their Managing Partners (CEOs), but they are unlikely to be replaced unless the firm's profits are in serious decline.
