chapter 6 situation 1

When they created Round Table Group Inc. , Russ Rosenstein
and Robert Hull envisioned a company of offering one stop shopping for
intellectual expertise. They wanted to help business, management consultants,
and litigation attorneys to get answers to important questions from top-notch
thinkers anywhere in the world though internet.

RTG’s plan was to have a kind of SWAT team pf professors who
would answer questions based on their expertise. A team might consist of one or
two professors, who would communicate with client via email, phone, or
videoconferencing on projects that might involve a few hours or a few weeks of
input. In traditional management-consulting model, work on project often last
as long as a couple years, and the team consist of a group of junior analysts,
managers, and partners.

 RTG assembled
database made up mainly of 3,000 university professors available to consult on
a.as-needed basis. The firm fixed costs would be low because the professors
would be paid when they did billable work. But a unexpected wrinkle soon
emerged. RTG ‘s customers wanted RTG to start acting more like traditional
consulting firm. Business executives wanted face to face contact with the
professors giving the information. They also wanted number crunching and follow
up analysis. And they wanted current, customized research.

That has left RTG at a crossroads. Should it try to become
more traditional management-consulting firm or continue to pursue its original
mission of providing advice though internet content or virtual links

Taking the first path would mean providing support to
clients, adding infrastructure and formalizing its operations by dividing it
into distinct specialties. That would have the downside of making RTG’s
competitive point of differentiation murky. But the second path would risk
putting off customers who say they want more.

Please answer 3 questions from above passage.

1. What is the basic problem that Rosenstein and Hull need to resolve

2.What are the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed online consulting and the traditional approach to consulting

3. What do you think Rosenstein and Hull should do?