Business consulting has grown rapidly, with industry growth rates exceeding 20% ​​in the 1980s and 1990s. As a business service, the provision of consulting solutions remains highly cyclical and tied to general economic conditions. The consulting industry contracted during the period 2001-2003, but has experienced slow growth since then. In 2007, total global business consulting revenue passed the $300 billion mark.

Various specializations have emerged, namely information technology consulting, human resource consulting, and others, many of which overlap and most of which are offered by the large diversified consultancies listed below. However, so-called “boutique” consultancies are smaller organizations that specialize in one or a few of those specializations.

In the current scenario, these types of consulting firms can be broadly divided into four categories:

1. Large, diversified organizations that offer a range of services, including information technology consulting in addition to a strategic consulting practice (eg, Accenture, Deloitte). Some very large IT service providers have also moved into consulting and are also developing strategic practices (eg Satyam)
2. Midsize information technology consultancies that combine boutique style with some of the same services and technologies that the larger players offer their clients.
3. Large strategy consulting and management specialists who primarily offer strategy consulting but are not specialized in any specific industry
4. Boutique companies, often quite small, that have focused areas of consulting expertise in specific industries or technologies. Most of the boutiques were founded by famous business theorists. Small businesses with less than ca. 50 employees are often called niche consultancies. If they have a unique concept and market it successfully, they often get out of this segment very quickly or are bought by bigger players interested in their knowledge.
Business consulting is also becoming more prevalent in non-business related fields.

As the need for professional and specialized advice grows, other industries, such as government, quasi-government, and non-profit agencies, are turning to the same management principles that have helped the private sector for years. A recent major change in the industry has been the spin-off or separation of the accounting and consulting units of large diversified companies. For these companies, which started their activity as accounting firms, management consulting was a new extension of their business. But after a series of highly publicized scandals over accounting practices, such as the Enron scandal, accounting began selling off its management consulting units to more easily meet the tougher regulatory scrutiny that followed.