Minority Business Ownership and Management Consulting
Recently we started talking about Minority Business Ownership in terms of governmental contracts. However, this particular entry will be more about finding those opportunities offered by federal, state, or local government. There are many ways to find those opportunities, which could range from self-service to third-party services; however, we would like to discuss the role of a management consulting firm.
The mere decision to seek, find and win governmental contracts is the first and most important de facto burden a minority business owner must overcome. Though tempting to simply decide to pursue such opportunities, it involves tremendous and tedious leg work and know-how which is best done by those professionals that understand the requirements to undertake such ventures successfully.
Before proceeding, we have to distinguish between size and its impact. Our thoughts and opinion on this particular matter relate more closely to small businesses and their respective capabilities and access to funding and talent. Generally speaking, large firms that have the means to cultivate and maintain the necessary internal competencies and resources encounter different challenges. Hence, our suggestions and opinion are geared toward minority business owners primarily operating small businesses.
We would like to concentrate on outsourcing to a management consulting firm. The first step is to have a management consulting firm assist in evaluating the given organization’s ability and capability to accomplish contractually mandated objectives. Considering steep penalties, governmental and nongovernmental organizational oversight, and public scrutiny, it is extremely important for the given organization to have the ability to complete the governmental contract according to pre-established contractual parameters. At first, such a statement seems too elementary even to mention; however, considering possible legal and financial consequences that may occur if a dispute occurs, it becomes even more important to point to the importance of organizational capability to finish the job to satisfaction.
Yet even knowing that such a decision needs to be made based on solid internal organizational standing, one may wonder why a management consulting firm would be the best choice. It is rather simple why a management consulting firm is usually best suited to assist in that decision. A management consultant or a management consulting firm can and will approach the examination of internal organizational capabilities in a neutral and unbiased manner should be sufficient. However, there are many more reasons, including advanced knowledge and education on the part of those management consultants and management consulting firms, continuous training, access to a variety of sources for research, unbiased and neutral industry comparison as well as cross-industry experiences make fundamentally for the best possible point of start.
Nevertheless, the mere selection of a given management consulting firm does not guarantee success or a better outcome. As discussed in our past management consulting blog, we have established that certain parameters should be applied in selecting the most viable and appropriate management consulting firm.
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