They identified 8-10 businesses in the world and a few academic institutions working in this area. But after more research, Meyer's group determined that the firm didn't have the capability of developing software tools to implement the theory. In this case, the pure research was done by Bios, and development was done by the clients. In the professional services business, anything that detracts from direct billability of professionals is hard to justify. So, if the idea is good enough, a client should be ready to fund its development at least to some extent.
Many firms find it difficult to decide what to invest in.
Instead, they invest small amounts in many different projects without any overall sense of strategy investment, she adds. Deloitte Consulting holds occasional contests among its employees for their wildest innovations. Firms that have decided what to invest in face a different issue - how to prevent their investment from becoming a white elephant, according to Czerniawska. Firms typically make an investment decision and establish a dedicated team to develop the methodologies or tools, but then have problems integrating the output back into the mainstream consulting practice. What's lacking is an established and accepted process by which products are developed by one group, and then taken to market by another group.