MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY AND ITS ROLE IN SMEs PERFORMANCE

ABSTRACT

This study examined management consultancy role in the performance of SMEs using some selected business around Ugbowo area of Benin City as case study. The specific objective includes the rationale for SME's engagement of consultants, the role of consultancy services in SMEs management, business challenges and consultancy service role in solving them and criteria for consultancy selection among SMEs. The survey research design was adopted for this study. The population of this study covers selected business that have engaged consultant as well as a consultant at Hadi consultancy limited. Interview were used as the research instrument and a total of three SMEs and one consultant were interviewed. The study based on the results of the interviews conducted; found out that consultants do have relevant and adequate knowledge in how to improve business performance as a result of their industrial experience and market knowledge. The study recommended that there is the utmost need to build long-term consulting relationships rather than one-off engagements, allowing consultants to have a deeper understanding of the SME’s challenges and objectives, there is the need to Implement systems for tracking and measuring the impact of consulting services on SME performance to ensure that the services are delivering tangible benefits, and also the need to establish a feedback mechanism where SMEs can provide input on the effectiveness and relevance of consulting services, allowing for continuous improvement.