In 2004, a consulting company did a comparative study of the ways in which companies in Italy and the UK employed outside advice. They found that Italian were much likely to turn to friends, family and even competitor firm before going to a consultant, whereas in UK, the consultants were often chosen as the first option. When one examine the statistics the UK accounts for 24% of the European consulting Market, whereas Italy accounts for only 3%, despite having similar sized economies. Please answer the following questions as a consultant:

a) What do you think this paragraph reflects? (2 Marks)

b) What are your hypotheses? (4 Marks)

c) How would you test your above hypotheses by doing further research? (04 Marks)