En este artículo se abordan las percepciones que tienen las empresas familiares, expertos, entidades ygremios del Valle de Aburrá (Colombia) respecto al protocolo y la sucesión familiar. El trabajo correspondea una investigación de tipo exploratoria que permite evidenciar que las familias empresarias tienentemor a realizar el protocolo familiar, debido principalmente a su desconocimiento acerca del tema. Sepretende entonces sensibilizar a empresarios, estudiantes universitarios, investigadores, y a la sociedaden general, del importante papel que desempe˜nan las empresas familiares en la actividad económicacomo generadoras de riqueza y empleo, una herramienta importante para su perdurabilidad, continuidady formalización es el protocolo familiar

The article is the result of a research study aimed at describing the marketplace for human resources consulting for medium-sized companies in Medellin. It identifies the concept and the characteristics of management consulting, and discusses its relevance to all human resources processes. A sample of 57 medium-sized companies and 19 consulting companies was selected for analyzing the behavior of supply and demand in the local market. This article also identifies the attributes of companies that demand these services and their human resources departments, the composition of consulting companies, current and future consulting needs and offers, the purchasing process, and the most frequent difficulties faced by consulting projects.