As a result, consulting firms of all sizes are forced to rethink their roles in the business world. Each strategy requires a different approach to recruiting, career management, training, marketing, and service delivery. And each implies a particular positioning in clients' minds. Deep generalists offer a general management, problem-solving approach supported by specialist knowledge of functions and industries. Independence is a core value of deep generalists, enabling them to play the role of objective, trusted counselors.
Branded experts are firms that become truly renowned in a particular area.
They focus single-mindedly on an area of specialization or a grouping of related specialties, creating an nstitutional brand for their expertise rather than individual stars. Branded experts may develop some of the deep, advisory relationships characteristic of deep generalists, but their focus is on providing specific, often prepackaged so-lutions to a varied array of clients, and disseminating their expertise as widely as possible to a broad audience. This strategy represents an extension of the IT services, such as outsourcing, that branded experts have offered for many years. Infrastructure partners team up with major hardware and software companies to build the e-commerce infrastructure of the new economy. Rather than fighting the exodus of talented consultants to dot-com companies, infrastructure partners have joined the club and are offering the lure of stock options, equity stakes, and the buzz of being part of the Internet revolution from the inside.