One distinctive feature of Hong Kong's services sector is the importance of business to business services. Management consultancy is one such important service, but its extent and scope was not clearly understood by potential users.Therefore,the Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries (HKCSI),the service policy thinktank of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC),

commissioned the Poon Kam Kai Institute of Management of the University of Hong Kong to undertake a study of the current and future place of management consultancy in relation to Hong Kong's competitiveness, together with an analysis of how the sector might be promoted.The study was funded by the Services Support Fund of the HKSAR Government in October 1997 and completed in early 1999. The academic team was led by Professor Michael J Enright and Dr Edmund R Thompson, who came to a very clear conclusion -"The Next Revolution in Hong Kong's Economy will not be a Technological Revolution, but a Managerial Revolution" Management consulting adds value to Hong Kong through its own sales and expenditures, through the revenues and profits brought back to Hong Kong from "exports';through the increased competitiveness of its local client base, and through its ability to transfer global best practice management tools and technigues to the local business environment. In view of the importance of the management consultancy sector, a key recommendation from the survey was to advocate collective action to promote the management consultancy sector through the creation of an association to speak for the industry. As the representative for the industry the association would carry greater weight in interacting with government, educational institutions and other organisations at home and abroad. The Management Consultancies Association of Hong Kong (MCAHK) was therefore formed in April 1999 with the assistance of the HKGCC and support from the HKSAR Government.The purposes of the association were to provide a central body for inguiries - particularly overseas parties who wished to use the services of Hong Kong based consultants, to provide a networking and educational arena for local consultants, to be a conduit for information, and to act as a representative for issues pertaining to management consultants. The survey concluded that there were 90 organisations in Hong Kong which described themselves as management consultants. 60 of these organisations are now members of the MCAHK.