Background
Training and discipline allow you to move ahead rapidly while minimizing risks. (By the way, we do enjoy skiing!)
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We started in 1973 as a sole proprietorship,
mostly conducting technical literature searches (manually!!) and
gradually evolved into management consulting, incorporated as
Technology Management Associates, Inc. in 1984.
Our core team,
with advanced degrees, professional certifications, and 20+ years
each of successful industrial/ consulting experience, is joined
by additional talented people matching your specific requirements
to deliver sound results at a practical fee.
Client Relationships
Superior value is realized when both parties
take time to establish a partnership relationship. For this reason,
we do not charge for initial exploratory conversations or visits;
we only ask that you pay our expenses if travel is involved.
Our approach to working with you (see our 7-Step Process), ethical
standards, fee and referral policies outlined below reinforce
our objective of achieving an open, honest business relationship
based on mutual trust and respect.
Ethical Standards
We adhere to the Code of Ethics of the
Council of Consulting Organizations, Inc., addressing confidentiality
and conflict of interest issues, objectivity, fees and professionalism.
In addition, you have the freedom to suspend or terminate an
assignment at any time, for any reason; upon receiving your notification,
we will invoice you just for the expenses incurred to that time
and promptly forward all materials to you. (This has occurred
exactly once since 1973).
Fees
You are in control of your budget. To
help you plan and adhere to your budget, we maintain our long-standing
policy of pricing by the project, rather than by set hourly fees
(with the exception of certain environmental consulting). You
know in advance how much a given set of results will cost, and
this arrangement allows both of us the flexibility of unlimited
contact without being concerned about the meter running.
Referrals
We're always happy to refer fellow
professionals -- never for a fee -- for work that others are better
able to deliver. We call this a Win3 situation: you win, through
the introduction of a professional we're staking our own reputation
on, with no financial strings attached; we win because
we're providing you with a fuller range of services than we could
provide to you ourselves; our colleague wins through exposure
to new potential clients and, of course, professional fees.
Likewise, we do not pay for referrals to
us; that cost would either have to be passed on to you or would
reduce our ability to update software, keep up with the latest
techniques and otherwise serve you to the best of our ability.
This isn't as ungracious as it seems. We've found that referrals
for major projects frequently are appropriate for collaboration
with the referring professional, who thereby earns a fee for active
participation in the project. We also tend to return the favor
whenever we can.
Biography
Joanne Gucwa