Worth less than half a billion euros, Russia’s consulting market is small by any standards. In terms of market comparisons, it’s worth a bit less than Poland’s management consulting market and only about the same as the consulting markets of Romania, Czech Republic, and Slovakia combined. It’s also much smaller than it used to be: Since 2013 it has contracted by just over a quarter of its entire value, thanks mainly to falling oil prices, Western sanctions, and all of the knock-on effects from these.  

Bearing this context in mind, 2016 was actually not as bad as it might have been for consultants in Russia. The market contracted by a mere 1.7%—much less than the 14% contraction experienced in 2015, and a much better performance than both consultants and their clients had feared at the start of 2016. But with oil prices remaining low and no sign of Western sanctions being lifted anytime soon, this remains a challenging market for consulting firms. Indeed, for some firms, 2016 was a worse year than the difficult years that had preceded it, and others left the market altogether in favour of more stable overseas opportunities. But in general, it is our view that the consulting market in Russia has turned a corner, and could even see some growth, albeit of a very modest nature, in 2017 and beyond.