Going for consulting gold in Brazil

By B.J. Richards

Talking about the Brazilian consulting market over the last few months, one particular set of questions has come up time and again: What about the World Cup next summer? What about the 2016 Olympics? Just how much of a consulting boom can we expect off the backs of these two gargantuan events?

Indeed, ever since the announcements came that Brazil would be hosting these two global spectacles, consultants have been eagerly awaiting the bonanza as both public and private players get ready with projects ranging from infrastructure initiatives to security planning to marketing tie-ins. But London’s consultants were here not long ago with similarly high expectations. And, with few exceptions, they would likely advise their Brazilian colleagues that they should not hold their breath.

One of the lessons of the London 2012 Olympic Games was that while everyone talked about the consulting opportunities to be had, very few actually saw any action. Yes, it’s true that quite a bit of Olympic money found its way into consultants’ pockets, but while the sums were often large, the number of pockets remained relatively small as projects were not distributed as widely as many had hoped.

Furthermore, many critical projects somehow moved ahead without consultants actually being consulted. (The horror!) Where facilities were needed, construction firms were contracted. When communications capacity needed upgrading, telecoms companies were engaged. In the run-up to the 2012 Games, vendors were often the first choice for identifying solutions, cutting consultants out of the picture and out of the money.

Negative public perceptions of consulting could also limit the opportunities. Everyone knows that selling the public on the value of external advice can be tough, but the budget vigilance (and occasional outrage) that accompanies a high-profile event can make the scrutiny even more intense than usual. During the 2012 preparations, the London leadership frequently came under fire for its use of consultants, which was often viewed as extravagant whether or not that was the case. When The Daily Mail voiced “fury” that a £200,000 efficiency study failed to identify any additional opportunities for cost savings in the areas considered, the paper may not have been entirely fair, but it had stumbled across the sort of ‘waste’ that yellow journalism lives for and was sure to make the most of it.

And when consulting opportunities do arise in the run-up to major sporting events, the money may not be spent locally. Instead, a small sub-industry of sports management consultants – boutique specialist firms The Economist has termed “Olympic gypsies” -- have sprung up, following the Games and other transient sporting events from city to city and offering the new hosts the benefit of what they’ve learned from previous proceedings. Indeed, such consultants are finding a warm reception in Brazil and will likely be the beneficiaries of a good deal of consulting spending as the World Cup and Olympics draw closer.

So, is there any hope for the Brazilian consultant looking for an Olympic payday? Of course there is. The Brazilian market is not the UK market, and there’s no guarantee the consulting dynamics will be the same. Still, the Brazilian consultant dreaming of Olympic gold may be well advised to start working on that long jump.