RE: Vendor conflict of interest - Consultants, etc.

[Mike.Crump@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Good points by everyone.

To Leif's point, while it's valid to me that assumes the outcome (and
assumes it's positive) and from where I was posing the question (and
probably not well enough) would be before the results.  And I can list
numerous projects whereby we had consultant assistance that resulted in
further work being assigned to the consultant and the results weren't all
that hot.  I suppose that's a bit of a self serving answer but just to show
the other side.

Granted, we ask for things to be answered in a certain way sometimes.  But
there are times we want that objective approach and want an independent
answer.  I'm just seeing us involving more and more consultants for a
recommendation on a decision who can (and most often do) derive a definite
benefit depending on one of the answers they provide.  It's kind of the
nature of the beast these days but I'm not sure I like it.......




                                                                                
                                                      
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                      Please respond to        Subject:  RE: Vendor conflict of 
interest - Consultants, etc.                          
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                      Discussion about                                          
                                                      
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Good point...many times objective advice really isn't wanted...those can
be messy with their hidden objectives. But I like it when clients say to
me "You can do the recommendation, but you can't bid on the work or you
can pass on the recommendation gig but then be able to bid on the
solution." That makes a clear distinction between the recommender and the
do-er.

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 11:36:44 -0500, "Andy Nolen-Parkhouse"
<aparkhouse@xxxxxxxxxxx> said:
> I would imagine that many "consulting" arrangements are really designed
> to
> reach a pre-determined result.  Either because a board may need to
> justify a
> very large expense or because executives need to override their internal
> staff, a study is commissioned to provide the appropriate "due
> diligence".
> I don't think it's a problem in these cases that someone would contract
> with
> someone who supports the desired results and may profit from the
> decision.
>
> Many of us do this frequently, but on a smaller scale.  A potential
> customer
> calls up and says "Management won't let me upgrade my iSeries because
> they're thinking about implementing SAP.  Help me get together my
> business
> case for staying on the platform and you have a good chance of selling me
> the upgrade."
>
> On the flip side, anyone who truly wants an objective analysis of
> alternatives should vet their consultants thoroughly and make it clear
> that
> they want objective advice.  Hiring someone who could profit from one
> choice
> presents such a clear conflict of interest that it should really be
> avoided.
> But in many cases, I don't think objective advice is desired.
>
> Regards,
> Andy Nolen-Parkhouse
>
>
>
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