Global Management Consulting Market

  • In 2016, the global management consulting industry was valued around $250 billion, and it is expected to grow at ~4–5 percent to reach $275 billion by 2018 
  • New business models like crowdsourcing is evolving in the industry, which can be disruptive in nature. Wikistrat, HourlyNerd are few companies with such models

Global Management Consulting Market Maturity

  • North America and Europe are highly mature markets contributing to three-fourth of the consulting revenue. Supplier capabilities to serve complex client requirements in these regions are high. The APAC consulting market has relatively lesser market share

Global Management Consulting Drivers and Constraints

  • Companies implementing digitization, improving efficiency, chasing M&As, and increasing risk management are driving the consulting industry. Shortage of talent and litigation are the major challenges hampering the industry

Drivers

Shift towards Process Improvement and Efficiency Organizations are constantly trying to reduce costs and increase their efficiency, so that the cost savings can be transferred to the customer as a means to withstand intense competition. This is leading to growth in demand for business process improvisations and consulting related to operational efficiency. Increasing Digitization and Cyber Security The fourth industrial revolution and globalization have increased our dependence on Information and Communications Technology (ICT), thus increasing our vulnerability. Mitigating risks associated with ICT adoption is an important factor driving the demand for technology consulting. Global Companies Chasing M&As The need to register growth in a slowly growing economy is driving companies to consider M&As instead of organic growth. The faster results achieved through M&A activities, coupled with availability of money at low interest rates, is resulting in a rise in M&A activities and thus the need for consulting

Constraints

Quality Control As a service industry, consultancies rely significantly on the buyers’ perception of their work. Skill Gaps The industry is considered as very stressful and demanding, resulting in constant exit of talent from the industry. This severely impacts the availability of talent in senior roles compared with junior roles. Increased Litigation Increased lawsuits against vendors could hurt the image of the industry as well as vendors’ capability to add value

Cost Structure Analysis

  • Cost structures for management consultants vary in wages and profit margins 
  • Industry players, like Accenture and Deloitte, tend to have high profit margins, due to their ability to leverage capacity in many fields to boost sales and achieve economies of scale 
  • Smaller firms have considerably higher wage costs, as profit margins are slimmer and majority of revenue is paid in wages