Hm. So if the consultant's job is to improve the company culture somehow, or do a random chore like improve software security as timtadh suggests, I can see ho

Hm. So if the consultant's job is to improve the company culture somehow, or do a random chore like improve software security as timtadh suggests, I can see how that probably wouldn't provide much industry insight. But what if the goal is to help management make some strategic decision, or improve some business process? Are there consulting firms that help their clients with this stuff? Even in the "improve the company culture" case, it seems like you could still get a lot of behind-the-scenes information about a variety of industries just by chatting with your clients over lunch.