Tuesday 29th Mar, 2016
By Fiona Czerniawska.
Our latest report on UK consulting pegs growth in this market at 8.2%, that’s up from 6.6% in 2014 and means that, for the second year running, the UK is one of the world’s most attractive consulting markets.
Inevitably, though, growth isn’t spread evenly across all industries or service lines: two areas stand out.
The first is risk and regulation. That’s not a new story, but it does have a bit of a new twist to it. As we’ve pointed out before, demand is bifurcating, with the more familiar areas being commoditised and industrialised, as clients seek to limit the overall amount of money they have to spend in this area, and the less familiar areas commanding greater executive attention and higher fee rates. We thought that might lead to a slow-down in growth overall, because the bulk of consulting falls into the first, commoditised category and because clients here are seeking to bring fee rates down even if they can’t reduce their actual workload, but it appears that the amount of regulatory change is still more than enough to maintain demand. The risk and regulatory consulting market, worth just over £500m in 2015*, grew by 12%.
Tuesday 19th Jan, 2016
By Alison Huntington M&A is one of the issues a client is most likely to pick up the phone to a consulting firm about, and luckily for TMT consultants, there’s been a huge amount of it across the industry. 2014 saw deals hit their highest level since before the financial crisis, creating lots of opportunities for consultants in pre- and post-merger integration work, and in due diligence. A key driver behind the spike in activity is clients’ recognition that they need to explore all options to remain relevant in the marketplace of the future.
Sunday 17th Jan, 2016
By Fiona Czerniawska Consultants are notoriously optimistic. Years ago, I had the partner I was working for up against a wall (metaphorically speaking, you understand), when he overused the phrase, “every problem is an opportunity”. “This is just a problem,” I said, “I’ve looked everywhere for the opportunity in it, and there isn’t one.”
Monday 14th Dec, 2015
By Fiona Czerniawska When does a big consulting service become a blockbuster? The simple answer is that it’s when it ticks four boxes: - It resonates with a widely-recognised issue in society: ‘just’ being a business concern is never enough to fuel exceptionally high levels of growth.
- It is a new issue: philosophers may tell us that there’s nothing really new under the sun, but corporate memory is short and each new generation of executives experiences something for the first time.
Tuesday 1st Dec, 2015
Japanese clients are a hard bunch to win over. Consulting has never taken off in that market nearly to the extent it has in other major economies, and consultants we spoke with estimate that only about half of the businesses they’d expect to be buying consulting actually are. It’s a culture that doesn’t think much of investing in intangibles like advice, and while interest is definitely picking up, this is a market that has a long way to go if consulting is ever to become the norm.
Tuesday 17th Nov, 2015
As China’s economy gradually settles into its “new normal” of more moderate growth, some of the big, foreign-based multinational corporations in the market—the very ones that global consulting firms followed here—have become a bit skittish about making further investments. With MNCs no longer looking like fonts of perpetual high growth, consultants are increasingly turning to the growing and maturing domestic market to fill the gaps in their spreadsheets.
Tuesday 10th Nov, 2015
By Alison Huntington I keep a close watch on the price of oil Lest my consulting practice goes off the boil I must admit, I felt worried for a time But things are fine, I walk the line …is not what Johnny Cash sang, but does neatly sum up consulting to the energy sector over the last year or so.
Tuesday 27th Oct, 2015
With a rapidly maturing market—corners of which are already growing by double digits year on year—you’ll be hard pressed to find a consultant in Africa who doubts the continent’s long-term potential. But those actually living and working on the ground often find they have an uphill task in convincing their bosses back home to make the investments that will have them in pole position when that promised future finally arrives.
Thursday 22nd Oct, 2015
I’ve recently returned from Singapore, where, braving the poisonous smog, I was fortunate enough to interview a wide range of consulting firms about the South East Asian consulting market. Our report on the South-East Asian market will be out soon but in advance of publication I thought it was worth shining a light on what seemed to me, to be some striking parallels between the South East Asian and GCC markets, and the opportunities and challenges that consulting firms operating in them are facing.
Tuesday 6th Oct, 2015
By Alison Huntington Ouch. Much like waking up with a pounding headache after a big night out, the Brazilian economy is suffering the after-effects of its long binge on credit, high commodity prices, and domestic consumption. The formula that felt so good at the time papered over deeper structural issues in the economy—issues that are now headline news. The country’s credit status is junk, commodity prices are low, and ordinary Brazilians are cutting back on spending as they feel the pinch.
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