| Fiona Czerniawska, co-Founder of Source, looks at five options for growth and the segments of industry where consulting firms can expect gains in 2012. |
| Going for growth in 2012 |
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| | By Fiona Czerniawska
Unquestionably, 2012
is going to be a
challenging year, much
more so than consulting
firms – and we –
expected back in
January. Then, the
recovery seemed sluggish
but there were signs
that private sector
clients outside the
financial services
sector were finally
increasing their
expenditure on
consulting. Since then,
even this sluggish
growth has stalled, as
companies worry about
the unfolding Euro-zone
crisis. Moreover, the
financial services
sector – the undoubted
engine of growth in the
consulting industry in
2010 – has started to
rein back its | |
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| | expenditure on
consultants to more
normal levels.
If you were to add up
the collective ambitions
of consulting firms
going into the New Year,
they would far exceed
the levels of growth
likely in the market. So
where will growth come
from? Our short report,
Planning for Growth in
an Uncertain Market,
looks at the main five
options consulting firms
have to grow their
businesses and at which
segments of the industry
are likely to gain or
lose ground in 2012.
For all but the
biggest brands, success
will depend on
specialization and | |
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| | have moved into strategy
and technology – the
list goes on. This
remains a viable
strategy but consulting
firms will over time
find themselves
over-stretching their
price points as much as
their brands.
The volume of work
done by standalone
consulting firms is
shrinking as niche firms
are absorbed by larger
ones, so
cross-selling
between consulting and
non-consulting practices
in a single business may
be an important source
of growth. Yet a long
list of failed
acquisitions is
testimony to how
difficult this is in
practice.
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Equally challenging
from an internal
perspective is being
able to respond to the
consulting opportunities
in globalization
and, in particular, to
tap into client demand
for integrated
international teams.
Astute firms won’t
simply reconfigure their
organisations to make
knowledge-sharing and
multinational teams
easier, but will look at
how they can change
their business model,
redefining
consulting.
Five options for
growth: which will you
choose? | |
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| | innovation. This is
a bitter pill for many
to swallow. Mid-sized
firms have to admit that
they will probably never
have the scale and
status of their larger
rivals; smaller firms
have to relinquish new
markets. Yet the
opportunity here remains
enormous: even the most
cash-strapped clients
want genuinely
world-class expertise.
Tier One consulting
firms have been able to
grow through
diversification:
strategy firms have
stepped into operational
work, operational firms | |
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