Operational Adaptation and Innovation During COVID-19: Lessons Learned from Consulting and a Road Map for the Future

Matthew C. Walsman ()
Additional contact information
Matthew C. Walsman: Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854

Service Science, 2022, vol. 14, issue 2, 195-212

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed professional service firm (PSF) operations, most visible perhaps in the transition to a work from home economy. This study is a deep dive into management consulting (a common type of PSF) and describes the impact of the pandemic on short- and long-term operations. It uses a mixed-method approach to data collection (primary/secondary and quantitative/qualitative) to explain the operational adaptations that consulting firms made in response to the pandemic and the service innovations that resulted. During the pandemic, disruptions to client mix, customer experience, customer acquisition, and employee lifestyle triggered new organizational challenges in strategic planning, marketing, employee relations, and cost control. Firms responded by modifying operational characteristics (e.g., customer engagement, customization, knowledge intensity, and capital intensity). Successful operational adaptations led to service innovation (most commonly in product, strategy, delivery, and marketing). The study finishes with an exploration of how the lessons learned in management consulting may provide a road map for other PSFs and more generalized services in a post-pandemic world.

Keywords: professional service firms; COVID-19; management consultants; service operations; knowledge workers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/serv.2022.0301 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orserv:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:195-212

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Service Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().