Strategy consulting, often referred to as strategy consultancy, strategic advisory or boardroom consulting, is regarded by the majority of consultants as the most 'high-end' and prestigious segment within the professional services industry. A strategy is defined as “a plan with the aim of realising long-term goals," and organisations regularly engage with strategy consultants for support in developing and implementing business strategies. The strategy consulting domain focuses on supporting private sector clients with the development of corporate, organisational or functional strategies and helping public sector organisations and institutions with economic policy.
There are thousands of consulting businesses offering strategy consulting services all around the world. However, the number of companies with a reputation and global reach is restricted to a much smaller number of companies operating at the top of the market. 'Pure-play' strategy consulting firms, which concentrate solely on strategy and operations, and 'strategy practises' of multi-service firms, which are a branch of a generalist consulting firm that offers strategy services, are the two categories of firms that analysts usually distinguish between.