Market conditions

This is the fourth in my series of blogs looking at the prospects for different segments within the consulting industry.

Engineering consultancies are the new kids on the block where management consulting is concerned, certainly still new enough for some consultants to be surprised when we include them in our analysis.

This is the third in our series of blogs looking at the prospects for different segments within the consulting industry.

One of the striking things about HR consulting firms from a client’s point of view is that there aren’t many of them.  With the services of the big firms increasingly seen to be commoditised and the genuine specialists hard to find, this €1.1 billion segment of the consulting industry isn’t growing.

September seems to have been a good month for most consulting firms in Europe.  This summer, unlike that of 2011, didn’t see a crisis of confidence and many clients came back from their vacations keen to get things moving. For the moment the run up to the end of the calendar year is looking fairly positive.  Inevitably, firms’ thoughts are turning to next year: will 2013 be a good year for the consulting industry?  Vintage or vacuous?  Boom or bust?