Cover Feature
Retail’s New Horizons
As information empowerment gives consumers a new swagger at home, consultants help to globalize an industry in which local business savvy determines whether companies live or die.

Special Feature
The Best Places to Stay, 2006
In an age when bottled liquids are all that’s needed to strike fear into the hearts of seasoned road warriors, consultants have continued to buckle up and journey whenever their clients deem it necessary. Once again, you shared with us your hard-earned wisdom about life on the road.

Client View
Three Engagement Narratives
Katzenbach Partners teams up with Pfizer, Huron Consulting turns around a struggling hos-pital, and Mercer Human Resource Consulting helps Wachovia establish a wellness culture.

Editor's Note
Five years after Accenture converted its partnership into a publicly held firm, the consulting world has undergone changes no less startling.

Short Takes
Three Questions for Steven Myers
Oracle Gives Accenture a Room to Grow In
Where Built to Last Ends, Does Purpose Begin?
Tax Burden May Dim Luster of Offshore Career
A New Tableau for Consultants
Infosys Helps Interns Get “InStep” with India

DataWatch
Consulting By Numbers
Many companies based in rapidly developing economies (RDEs) are going global fast. In a recent study, Boston Consulting Group analyzed the activities and strategies of 100 companies growing at an average rate of 24 percent per year in these markets.

Where the Consulting Opportunities Are
Expanding Abroad
Where They Are Growing
How the Firms Stack Up in Packaged Goods

Interview
A Talk with ATK’s New Chief
Having recently taken the reins of a newly emancipated AT Kearney, Paul Laudicina has few doubts about his firm’s future.