Know-How Exchange : Research/Metrics

Consultants have become a very generic term.

Many co's lay off staff and hire as consultants. This could be for marketing, architecture, manufacturring, chemical.... google consultants and you'll see what I mean. (I did-- never knew there were lactation consultants!)

Now, I doubt a marketing consultant is researching lactation consultants, but the #'s will vary if you are searching for a consultant in management, sales, marketing, etc.

We might be able to provide more info if you tell us type of consultancy you are researching.

This is a book I found on Amazon --https://www.amazon.com/Business-Consulting-Basics-Beyond/dp/0787940216

I also googled "management consultant organizations" and have this link. https://www.business.com/directory/management/consulting_services/organizat...

Scrool down and you'll find some trade orgs, it'll take some digging but you'll find some of your answers.

Advantages are-- their blended price costs less! Clients only buy the time and service they need and do no pay the overhead of an employee-- benefits, desk space, etc. We are very multi faceted, because we work with a variety of types of businesses, we can give broader perspectives than in house staff. I think the public view of them is higher-- I work and am paid totally on performance. Its lucrative for me, and you won't catch me playing solitare "on the job"

Good Luck
Carol
Sell Well and Prosper

Dear cldita -

I have worked in global marketing for management consulting for a number of years. The actual data on market share, market size and competitors is very, very hard to come by. This is especially true if you want numbers by a particular industry segment (like consumer goods, or transportation services) as each company organizes themselves differently and groups industries differently. Most provide only high level data - even if they are publicly traded.

In the US, some of the best data is available (for a fee) from Kennedy Information Inc.

Here's a link to their web site: https://www.kennedyinfo.com/

Once you get out of the US the problem is harder, because the competitors vary so much from country to country.

Web sites can help you identify some strengths and weaknesses (if they don't mention a particular service or industry, chances are good it's not a strength).

The big companies generally divide into strategy consultants (e.g. Bain; Booze Alan; McKinsey; BCG; Roland Berger in Europe only; AT Kearney, Monitor), IT consultants (e.g. Accenture; Deloitte Consulting; Cap Gemini; CSC; IBM). AT Kearney is also very strong in operations and logistics and there are a whole slew of outsourcing people who call themselves consultants, including a number if Indian firms. Finally there are the smaller, niche consultants that are hardest to identify because the are privately held and focus on a specific region or country. The difference between the large and small firms is often the size of the project they will/can do. The big IT firms won't really touch a project for less than several hundred thousand $, while the little guys are happy and profitable doing <$100,000 engagements.

So, yes, there's always room in the market for someone new as there is a great deal of business out there. It pays to concentrate on a niche and grow bigger rather than try to be all things to all people. Margins tend to run between 5% (for outsourcing) and 30% (for strategy work) at the big firms. Monitor generates the most revenue per employee for their board-room strategy work, and McKinsey is second.

Hope that give you some background and a place to start. Good luck!

Natalie