MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY ANDITSROLEINSMEs PERFORMANCE

This study examined management consultancy role in the performance of SMEs usingsome selected business around Ugbowo area of Benin City as case study. The specificobjective includes the rationale for SME's engagement of consultants, the roleof consultancy services in SMEs management, business challenges and consultancyservice role in solving them and criteria for consultancy selection among SMEs. Thesurvey research design was adopted for this study. The population of this study coversselected business that have engaged consultant as well as a consultant at Hadi consultancy limited. Interview were used as the research instrument and atotal of three SMEs and one consultant were interviewed. The study based on the results of the interviews conducted; found out that consultantsdo have relevant and adequate knowledge in how to improve business performanceasa result of their industrial experience and market knowledge. The study recommended that there is the utmost need to build long-termconsultingrelationships rather than one-of engagements, allowing consultants to have adeeperunderstanding of the SME’s challenges and objectives, there is the need to Implement systems for tracking and measuring the impact of consulting services onSMEperformance to ensure that the services are delivering tangible benefits, andalsotheneed to establish a feedback mechanism where SMEs can provide input ontheef ectiveness and relevance of consulting services, allowing for continuousimprovement