CAREER SWITCH: CONSULTANCY SUPPORT FOR NEW ENTREPRENEURS

Abstract

Purpose: This paper examines the consultancy process in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), focusing on consulting entrepreneurs at the beginning of their entrepreneurial career chosen out of necessity due to a terminated long-term employment contract in a public company.

Methodology: A qualitative study design was adopted to look into the consultancy process with five new entrepreneurs who participated in a program that combined trainings and consultancy sessions. Text analysis of written feedback from consultants was conducted to understand the challenges entrepreneurs faced and progress they made. Evaluation sheets with closed and open questions were analyzed to explore the effects of the program and the entrepreneur satisfaction with the program. Five years after completing the program, semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify the current status of the entrepreneurial ventures.

Results: In this study, the success of the consultancy process was threatened by time constraints and a lack of comprehensive reasoning behind client motivation to become entrepreneurs. These were the most detrimental factors for the client-consultant relationship, which ended up lacking transparency and thoroughness.

Conclusion: Research results indicate the importance of consultant’s efforts to contextualize the client’s decision to become an entrepreneur. Investing time in building a client-consultant relationship as well as providing long-term follow-up support proved to be crucial to ensuring a positive impact of consultancy support for entrepreneurs starting a new business.