"The European Union's process offers a lot more credence to competitors," said Edward Kee, a management consultant in Washington for the PA Consulting Group, which is based in London.

LEAD: Companies McKinsey is seeking the Information Consulting Group, which was created last year by several executives from Arthur Andersen and other accounting firms.

The Specialist Consulting Group.

"We'd hire six people right now if we could," said Mr. Pendrock, an executive vice president at Application Consulting Group, a Morristown, N.J., business services firm.

"A longer-term, more comprehensive study that quantifies variables is necessary," said Jack Kester, a senior vice president at the Risk Consulting Group, which is part of Marsh, the insurance company.

In 1993, Serge Grudzinski merged his two careers of management consulting and of comedy together when he established the "Humour Consulting Group."

The tax credit has made wind power "a business for the big guys," favoring companies that have enough cash flow to be able to use the credit, said Jim Heidell of the PA Consulting Group.

Guardianship: "Another Place Called Home" Cornerstone Consulting Group, Inc. (2001) View Abstract Identifies considerations for establishing a guardianship program and describes strategies for funding subsidies.

He later started Intergraph, was chief executive of Helioprint and adviser in PA Consulting Group.

He recently served as managing partner of a unit of the Interpublic Group of Companies, the Plus Consulting Group, that was housed at Interpublic's Lowe Worldwide agency in New York.