Although management consulting activities have obtained a considerable growth in terms of economic significance in recent years, these results have not been duly followed by a greater number of conceptual and empirical research in this area. In order to fight the lack of studies on the actual work of management consultants, this article aims at answer some questions that remain open. Is management consulting an intensive and specialized knowledge activity? Are there knowledge and learning key success factors in this area? Are consultants the real experts and the true practitioners of strategy as practice? The results of the empirical analysis in the form of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires given to management consultants and SME managers in Portugal shows that management consulting is founded on a knowledge-intensive base, although consultants cannot be called strategy practitioners as many authors call them. This is illustrated by the Portuguese model of determinants that constitute the management consulting industry presented in this article, which means this proposition is a new direction in strategic thinking in what the field's research strategy-as-practice concerns.

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Management consulting, Strategy-as-practice, Knowledge, Learning