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ABSTRACT
The monograph deals with current counseling with an emphasis on its professional side, which is a key prerequisite for the performance of counseling. Consulting has now become a highly sophisticated profession that requires highly qualified consultants working in consulting firms.
Consulting companies are knowledge-intensive companies that are a source of innovation and change. These initiatives arise in the consulting process, in which the consultant enters together with the client. Consulting has taken on the character of industry and consultants are promising professionals who, due to the turbulent development and dynamics of management and business, undoubtedly have a great future ahead of them.
Our goal in this monograph is to present consulting as a profession of the future, which has the perspective of growth and development. We focused on management consulting and its core – marketing consulting, which intersect throughout the company and business. For this purpose, we used a range of scientific methods, in particular analysis, synthesis, description and comparison, and critical analysis.
Keywords: consulting, consultant, consulting firm, consulting process, management and marketing consulting.
PREFACE
Modern consulting is a beneficial professional service that helps businesses analyze practical problems and solve problems based on improving their business and entrepreneurial activity. Consulting is multidimensional. The consultant diagnoses, analyzes, plans, evaluates, designs, manages, implements, coordinates. To handle all these tasks on a professional level, he must complete appropriate university training, based on mastering a systematic theory and acquiring certain communication skills. Furthermore, the question of the social prestige of the consulting profession is open. It is important to note the growing interest in the practice of this profession, as well as the demand for the services it provides. Consultants are not only providers but also holders of consulting services. With their approach, based on the necessary skills and competencies, they are responsible for the success and achievement of an effective outcome of the consulting process. To achieve the best possible consulting performance, new practices and consulting approaches are constantly emerging. 21st century consulting is expected to be more responsive to client requirements.
In our monograph, we focus on key aspects of consulting – its essence, consulting providers – consulting firms, and consultants up-to selected areas of consulting. Our goal is to point out consulting and its benefits for management, marketing, and business and its professional nature. We focus on management consulting and its core, which is marketing consulting. Both of these consulting disciplines are inextricably linked to business and entrepreneurial activity. Both have the potential for growth and the prospect of development. It is assumed that in the future, more than before, firms will turn to external consultants and use their services. However, this poses new challenges for firms providing such services, in particular, that consulting services need to be much more efficient, less intuitive and more sophisticated, precise, and economically sustainable.
From the perspective of further growth and development, consulting, together with information technology, management, and psychology, is referred to as the profession of the future. However, this will require constant progress and improvement, especially in terms of professionalism and the professional approach of consultants to the tasks.
Eva Hanuláková & Ferdinand Daňo