Understanding of value delivery in consulting for competitiveness in China: from sensemaking perspective

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Wu, C, 2021. Understanding of value delivery in consulting for competitiveness in China: from sensemaking perspective. DBA, Nottingham Trent University.

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Abstract

This thesis aims to explain a development of a new value delivery path which can help improve the consulting service and provide better quality service to their client's needs from the client's perspective through gaining insight into how clients understand client value and how those client value understanding impacts on their value delivery in consulting. This thesis intends to provide better understanding of value delivery from the perspectives of both consulting and client through the lens of sensemaking. More importantly the thesis presents application of sensemaking theory of Weick (1995) in a new field.

This research applies sensemaking theory as a vehicle for new understanding of the consulting framework and drive a more efficient approach to deliver client value and enhance client competitive ness through interpreting the meaning understanding between client and consultants in the consulting value delivery process. Case study is used in this research and semi structured interviews were conducted with twelve leaders of an enterprise in China. The interviews collected information about their experiences involved in consulting and the researcher makes sense of their response in the interviews and demonstrates how sensemaking can provide more efficient practical help to consulting services in order to deliver client value. Competitiveness is seen as an outcome of value delivery in this research.

The outcomes emerging from this research through the view of sensemaking perspective include, firstly, unlike traditional client value delivery, that there are limited understanding conflicts of the meaning of client value between consultants and their clients. Secondly, client value delivery has two significant different processes. One is that the consultant needs a deeper understanding of two driving processes of different client values which are 'consulting driven assumed client value perception' and 'client driven understanding of client value'. Thirdly, value delivery in consulting involves client's value understanding, and sensemaking can help the client to make better sense of the situation of competitiveness, with the help of sensemaking, consulting and clients can go beyond the difference in value understanding and can achieve their own competitiveness through value delivery.

The research shows that consulting can provide better services for their clients when consulting engages with clients more in understanding client value as a part of the value delivery process and allows clients to understand value through applying the sensemaking theory with consultant's help. Therefore, theoretically the research makes contribution to the literature of sensemaking in consulting, practically, the research offers a new path to consulting to deliver client value better.

Item Type:	Thesis
Creators:	Wu, C.
Date:	May 2021
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	01 Aug 2022 13:42
Last Modified:	01 Aug 2022 13:42
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/46797