In-house consulting

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In- house consulting is, according to its name, a unit located in a company that provides consulting services for its own company. These consulting services usually extend to the classic subject areas of management consultancies . This includes in particular the conception and optimization of corporate strategies , business processes as well as organizational structures and processes . As a result of the need for restructuring in companies, change management and organizational development are often part of the competence portfolio of internal management consultancies.

The idea of ​​the internal consultant stems on the one hand from cost considerations: from a certain size of the organization, the permanent engagement of a consultant exclusively for the organization is more cost-effective and, for reasons of confidentiality, more secure than the engagement of external management consultants . Another important aspect for the use of internal consultants is their knowledge advantage over external consultants. In-house consultants are familiar with the company and its - formal and informal - structures and peculiarities. You do not have to spend a long time familiarizing yourself with the tasks and can deliver tailor-made solutions. In addition, studies have shown that internal consultants are more widely accepted by the employees of the company being advised than by external consultants.

To ensure effective work, the consultant and his team must be given a function that ensures independence from the department to be advised. Internal consultants therefore have the function of a staff unit and should have their own budget and authority, for example in the corporate strategy staff.

term

The term “in-house consulting” dominates the usage of the term “internal management consulting”. Accordingly, the title “Inhouse Consultant” is the common job title for internal business consultants . Since the terms have not yet been protected, as with external management consultancies, in principle every internal company unit can be referred to as internal management consultancy.

Origin and market overview

Most internal management consultancies were founded in the mid-1990s. Their emergence is essentially due to the increased demands on the professionalization of project work in corporations . Dissatisfaction with the services and the often very high fee costs of external consultations often play a role when setting up an in-house consultancy unit.

In recent years there has been an increasing trend towards the establishment and professionalization of in-house consulting in large and medium- sized companies . In 2004, 75 percent of all DAX and MDAX companies already had an internal advisory unit, including BASF , Bayer AG , Commerzbank , Daimler AG , Deutsche Bahn , Deutsche Bank , Deutsche Post DHL , Deutsche Telekom , E.ON , Porsche , RWE , Siemens and Volkswagen . For example, Allianz owns the internal management consultancy Allianz Inhouse Consulting , Commerzbank owns Commerz Business Consulting , Siemens the internal management consultancy Siemens Management Consulting and Volkswagen the internal management consultancy Volkswagen Consulting . Non- listed companies such as the Otto Group , Flughafen München GmbH , BSH Bosch and Siemens Hausgeräte or the KfW banking group also employ their own advisory units. According to a study by Bayer Business Services and the European Business School from 2009, between 100 and 150 German companies have their own in-house consulting units.

Many in-house consulting units have experienced enormous growth in recent years. They are also considered an ideal springboard for a change to a line function in the group. A number of units have the explicit mandate to train the Group's junior management staff. The consultants benefit from the fact that they gain insight into various business areas and departments of the group as part of their project work. In addition, the projects they oversee are often located at board level.

Success factors

Depending on the individual company situation, the following success factors apply to the use of internal management consultancies:

  • Positioning of in-house consulting in the group as a professional service provider
  • Competitiveness to external consultations
  • Use of extensive and experience-based knowledge of one's own company in strategy , organization and processes ; thereby
    • Reduction of the arrival times in the project
    • “Cultural Fit”, which means that internal consultants in the company are understood more quickly - and more readily accepted by employees - than external ones
    • Faster implementation thanks to the exact fit of the solution and control of implementation
    • Maintaining confidentiality
  • Reduction of the dependence on external management consultancies
  • Preservation of knowledge in the company
  • Reduction of consulting costs

"Closer to" initiative

The “Closer Dran” initiative is an amalgamation of currently 16 in-house consulting units from companies in Germany. The initiative was founded in 2008 by seven companies. Its aim is to provide an insight into the work in in-house consulting and to create a clear profile of the field of in-house consulting in the public and among potential applicants. The joint website (www.inhouse-consulting.de) serves as a platform for this. In addition to consultant profiles, case studies and information on member companies are provided on the website.

The aim of the initiative is also the continuous cross-company and cross-sector information exchange between members, for example on benchmarks or advisory approaches. The members also regularly hold joint training seminars and workshops.

The current members of the initiative are Allianz Inhouse Consulting, BASF Management Consulting, Bayer Business Consulting, Inhouse Consulting BSH Bosch and Siemens Hausgeräte, Commerz Business Consulting (Commerzbank), DB Management Consulting (Deutsche Bahn), Deutsche Bank Inhouse Consulting, DHL Consulting, Center for Strategic Projects (Deutsche Telekom), E.ON Inhouse Consulting, BwConsulting GmbH ( Federal Ministry of Defense ), Internes Consulting KfW Bankengruppe, Merck Inhouse Consulting, RWE Consulting, ThyssenKrupp Management Consulting and Volkswagen Consulting.

criticism

Critics of in-house consulting often accuse internal consultants of operational blindness . Because they belong to the company, they are not in a position to give their clients neutral advice and are reluctant to make unpopular suggestions. Proponents oppose this by saying that operational blindness is, among other things, through a good design of internal organizational structures and working methods, the use of employees with external consulting experience and the consistent inclusion of external impulses (e.g. in the form of orientation to best practices, benchmarking, cooperation with external consultants or universities) can be successfully met.

literature

  • Alexander Moscho, Ansgar Richter (ed.): Inhouse Consulting in Germany - Market, Structures, Strategies. Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-8349-1674-7 .
  • Christel Niedereichholz, Joachim Niedereichholz (eds.): Inhouse Consulting. Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-486-59765-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Klaus Grellmann, Gerrit Heil, Pierre Samaties: In- house consulting: competitive advantage for large corporations. In: Alexander Moscho, Ansgar Richter (Ed.): Inhouse Consulting in Germany. Market, structures, strategies. Wiesbaden 2010, pp. 121-136.
  2. ↑ Kerim Galal, Ansgar Richter, Kai Steinbock: In- house consulting in Germany - results of an empirical study. In: Alexander Moscho, Ansgar Richter (Ed.): Inhouse Consulting in Germany. Market, structures, strategies. Wiesbaden 2010, pp. 11-30.
  3. ↑ Michael Mohe, Christoph Kolbeck: Client professionalization in Germany: Status of professional handling of advice at German DAX and MDAX companies. Empirical results, practices and strategic implications. University of Oldenburg, 2004.
  4. ↑ Handelsblatt. Friday July 2, 2004.
  5. ↑ Allianz Inhouse Consulting - On behalf of the Board of Management ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / perspektiven.allianz.de
  6. ^ Bayer Business Services: The in-house consulting market in Germany. 2009. (online at: inhouse-consulting.de )
  7. ↑ Kerim Galal, Ansgar Richter, Kai Steinbock: In- house consulting in Germany - results of an empirical study. In: Alexander Moscho, Ansgar Richter (Ed.): Inhouse Consulting in Germany. Market, structures, strategies. Wiesbaden 2010, pp. 11-30.
  8. ^ Sibylle Schikora: Ready to attack. In: Financial Times Germany. December 9, 2010, p. A2.
  9. ↑ Inhouse Consulting is expanding. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. March 12, 2011, p. V2 / 10.
  10. ↑ Sarah Sommer: Management forge for top management. In: Financial Times Germany. December 9, 2010, p. A3.
  11. ^ Rüdiger Köhn: climbing aid in the group. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 26/27. February 2011, p. C2. (online at: faz.net )
  12. ↑ Florian Vollmers: Moving from within .. In: aud! Max Wi.Wi. 05/2010, p. 22. (online at: issuu.com ) ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / issuu.com
  13. ↑ z. B. DHL Consulting. on the website of Deutsche Post DHL. (online at: dhl-consulting.com )
  14. ↑ Inga Fötsch: Please be neutral! In: aud! Max Wi.Wi. 11/2010, pp. 36-37. (online at: issuu.com ) ( Memento of the original dated February 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / issuu.com
  15. ↑ a b ThyssenKrupp Management Consulting joins the 'closer to' initiative on dgap.de
  16. ↑ Thomas Günther: Poets on it. In: aud! Max. The university magazine. September 23, 2011. (online at: audimax.de ) ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.audimax.de
  17. ↑ Annika Krempel: Let's go to the graduates. In: Financial Times Germany. December 9, 2010, p. A4.
  18. ↑ "Close up" to Inhouse Consulting. In: The world. September 17, 2011, special page
  19. ↑ z. B. Uwe Böning: Inhouse Consultants - An unkempt field report and uncoated reflections. In: Organizational Development. 2/2010, pp. 38-43.
  20. ↑ Alexander Moscho, Burkhard Zimmermann, Liesa Wilsberg: Prophets in their own country - ways to deal with the risk of operational blindness in in-house consulting. In: Christel Niedereichholz, Joachim Niedereichholz (eds.): Inhouse Consulting. Munich 2010, pp. 17–32.