Management consulting refers to both the industry of, and the practice of, helping organizations improve their performance, primarily through the analysis of existing business problems and development of plans for improvement.

Organizations hire the services of management consultants for a number of reasons, including gaining external (and presumably objective) advice, access to the consultants' specialized expertise, or simply as extra temporary help during a one-time project, where the hiring of more permanent employees is not required. A frequent (but not cheap) practice in order to be sure further of the advice content, when investments and decisions are more relevant, is the 'double opinion' through which the same question/situation is submitted to two or more consultants in order to compare results.

Because of their exposure to and relationships with numerous organizations, consulting firms are also said to be aware of industry "best practices", although the transferability of such practices from one organization to another is quite difficult due to the high level of customization of the advise.

Consultancies may also provide organizational change management assistance, development of the strategy and of coaching skills, technology implementation, or operational improvement services. Management consultants generally bring their own, proprietary methodologies or frameworks to guide the identification of problems, and to serve as the basis for recommendations for more effective or efficient ways of performing business tasks.

Management consulting grew with the rise of management as a unique field of study. The first management consulting firm was Arthur D. Little, founded in 1886 by the MIT professor of the same name. Though Arthur D. Little later became a general management consultancy, it originally specialized in technical research. Booz & Company was founded by Edwin G. Booz, a graduate of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, in 1914 as a management consultancy and the first to serve both industry and government clients.

After World War II, a number of new management consulting firms formed, most notably Boston Consulting Group, founded in 1963, which brought a rigorous analytical approach to the study of management and strategy. Work done at Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, Booz & Company, and the Harvard Business School during the 1960s and 70s developed the tools and approaches that would define the new field of strategic management, setting the groundwork for many consulting firms to follow. In 1983, Harvard Business School's influence on the industry continued with the founding of Monitor Group by six professors.

One of the reasons why management consulting grew first in the USA is because of deep cultural factors: it was accepted there, (contrary to say, Europe), that management and boards alike might not be competent in all circumstances; therefore, buying external competency was seen as a normal way to solve a business problem. This is referred to as a "contractual" relation to management. By contrast, in Europe, management is connected with emotional and cultural dimensions, where the manager is bound to be competent at all times. This is referred to as the "pater familias" pattern. Therefore seeking (and paying for) external advice was seen as inappropriate. However, it is sometimes argued that in those days the average level of education of the executives was significantly lower in the USA than in Europe, where managers were Grandes Ecoles graduates (France) or "Doktor" (Germany), though this is very difficult to quantify given the vastly differing management structures in American and European businesses.

It was only after World War II, in the wake of the development of the international trade led by the USA, that management consulting emerged in Europe. The current trend in the market is a clear segmentation of management consulting firms.

Another special area of management consulting is Human Resources consulting. Such firms provide advice to their clients regarding the financial and retirement security, health, productivity, and employment relationships of their global workforce.

HTLC Network goal is to share with small and medium sized companies its 'affordable' experience and ability mainly related to:

• 'Make or Buy' analysis support for the outsourcing of key administrative and back-office activities
• Administrative activities efficiency implementation with use of the most recent information technology
• HR remote control both on timing and results, according to companies policies implementation and audit
• Internal, HR and accounting due diligence processes
• Multicountry coordination of administrative services, granting unified and comparable per each country control systems
• Inter-professional team work granting joint and coordinated action of chartered and qualified consultants specialists in the legal, HR, tax & accounting, training and psychological support for multinational company staff
• Key consulting and administrative support during M&A operations and HR transfers
• Key consulting and administrative support during temporary management events
• Enterprises business development and international tax planning support