The Story of Consulting: 1970 - 1979
14-Feb-2017
1970: The consulting firms continue to prosper even though the economy takes a more slower pace. The main factors that contributed to this prosperity are the globalizing of consulting firms and the computerization of business which led to the increased demand for system consultants, especially from CPA firms and hardware manufacturers.
1973: A new business trend found by Bain & Co. to send dozens of consultants into companies for months at a time. This heavy client focus and relationship building was very new at the time and allowed Bain to grow very rapidly.
In 1978 Consulting firms formed a powerful hiring force employing 22% of the Harvard Business School MBA class at an average salary of $30,000 per annum.
1976-1980: The idea that firms should attempt to create shareholder value by maximizing the created wealth was heavily promoted by prominent thinkers bringing in financial models of risk and return into the consulting practice.