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514 CHAPTER 15 THE PRACTICE OF STRATEGY

ILLUSTRATION 15.3

Dinner with the consultants

Consultants operate through both formal and informal channels to

influence strategic thinking.

Locco * was a major European automotive component

manufacturer. In the mid-1990s, it began to experience

declining profits. The CEO therefore invited consultants to

undertake a strategic review of the firm. This consultancy

team included a partner, a senior consultant and a junior

consultant. Their recommendations led to changes in

Locco’s product and market strategy.

Like all other consultancy assignments the consult-

ants undertook extensive analysis of industry data and

company data. However, in addition to this more formal

work, there was more informal engagement between the

consultants and the management, including three din-

ners held during the period of the project.

At home with the CEO

At the beginning of the assignment the CEO invited the

partner and senior consultant to meet senior managers at

his home for dinner ‘to get together in a more informal

way . . . to get to know each other better . . . and . . . learn

more about the history of our company’, but also to estab-

lish trust between the managers and the consultants.

Others saw it differently. For example, the marketing

and sales manager viewed it as an attempt by the CEO to

influence the outcome of the project: ‘(he) likes to do

this. While dining in his home you can hardly oppose his

views.’ The consulting partner was somewhat wary, fear-

ing a hidden agenda but none the less seeing it as an

opportunity to ‘break the ice’ as well as gaining political

insight and understanding of the management dynamics.

Over dinner discussion was largely between the CEO

and the consultants with the CEO setting out some con-

cerns about the project, not least the danger of cost

cutting leading to a loss of jobs. As they mingled over

after-dinner drinks other sensitive issues were raised by

other managers.

At the castle

In the third week of the project the consultant invited the

CEO to a restaurant in a converted castle. He saw this as

an opportunity to get to know the CEO better, to gain his

agreement to the consultants’ approach to the project,

but also to gain a clearer understanding of the politics

among the senior management and establish more

insight into the CEO’s perceived problems of Locco.

Over the meal the consultant established that there

were two management ‘camps’ with different views of

strategy. The consultant also took the opportunity to

influence and gain the CEO’s approval for the agenda for

the next management meeting.

At the pizzeria

Some weeks later the senior consultant invited middle

managers whom he saw as ‘good implementers’ for pizza

and beer at an Italian restaurant to ‘exchange informa-

tion and get opinions on some of our analyses, see how

some of the middle managers react . . .’. Some of those

who attended were sceptical about the meeting but went

along. Senior managers were not invited.

At the dinner the consultant discussed his initial

analysis, particularly on strategic competences. He also

raised some issues to do with the political dynamics within

the senior management team. The consultant regarded

the dinner as a success both in terms of establishing

a rapport but also in establishing that ‘some (of the

managers) know exactly why the company has a prob-

lem . . . they already have some ideas for solutions . . . but

their voices are not heard’. The managers who attended

were, on the whole, also positive about the dinner, many

regarding it as ‘good fun’ though others who were not

there felt threatened by their absence.

* A pseudonym used by the researchers.

Adapted from A. Sturdy, M. Schwarz and A. Spicer, ‘Guess who’s com-

ing to dinner? Structures and uses of liminality in strategic manage-

ment consultancy’, Human Relations , vol. 59, no. 7 (2006), pp. 929–60 .

Questions 1 Why are informal settings such as dinners

useful?

2 Could the consultants have influenced the

agenda in more formal ways? How?

3 If you had been one of the managers at the

Italian restaurant, what would your views of

the meeting been?

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