Interview with Harvard Business School Professor Robert G. Eccles
a-connect Talent Partner Bernhard Stadler recently spoke with Harvard Business School Professor Robert G. Eccles, who is currently writing a case study about a-connect for his MBA elective “Leading Professional Service Firms”. Professor Eccles, who joined the faculty in 1979 and started his own consulting firm in 1993, teaches both MBA and Executive Education Programs and is developing new cases to expand the types of professional service firms being covered in the course and to explore some leading-edge opportunities and challenges. He shares his insights about trends shaping the consulting industry and the role that innovative players like a-connect will play in the future.
What are the main trends shaping the future of the consulting industry?
Professor Eccles: There is big uncertainty on how the global economic downturn will affect the traditional and innovative players in the consulting industry – it provides both risks and opportunities. General trends I see continuing are 1) an accelerated importance of emerging markets, 2) clients becoming more sophisticated buyers of consulting services as they keep hiring former management consultants and 3) people becoming more serious about their work-life balance. The number of “knowledge workers” who choose a career as independent contractors will continue to grow.
What role do you see companies like a-connect play in this market in the future?
Professor Eccles: In the short term, I expect companies with innovative business models like a-connect to continue to play a symbiotic role, where they are not taking away business from the traditional players, but rather complementing them with a different type of service. Smart clients will develop a portfolio approach, where they will work with different companies for different types of projects. How the market structure will look like and how big the market for innovative players will be in the long term remains to be seen…
Where do you see a-connect’s main strengths and assets?
Professor Eccles: Many of the firm’s strengths today have been initiated very early on: The decision to go global, standardized global recruiting processes and heavy investments in technologies allow the firm to serve clients with high quality resources globally in a very fast and efficient way. The strong team and the culture that the firm has built are other key assets for its success. The major challenge I foresee for the future is to further grow the team at such high rates as in the past.
In what type of client situations is a-connect’s value proposition the strongest?
Professor Eccles: I think a-connect serves those clients the best who have a clear understanding of what they need and what the various players in the market can offer. With many large companies having built up internal capabilities, clients have become more adept at working with externals – smart clients today and in the future will buy based on capabilities of people, not brands. The middle market could be an attractive additional segment given advantages on price over traditional consulting firms.
What surprised you the most about a-connect when you developed the HBS case on a-connect?
Professor Eccles: I have been following trends in the professional services industry for a long time, so I have seen a lot before. What I find interesting though is how the company capitalizes on the trends on the client and IP side and how much of a positive forcing mechanism its clear objective to build a scalable systems business has been in keeping everyone focused and building a strong firm culture.
Bernhard: Thank you very much for the interview.
For details about Professor Eccles’ biography, research and publications, please click here.
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