In Berlin on May 27, 2010, Wirtschaftwoche Editor-in-Chief Roland Tichy and Professor Dietmar Fink presented the "Best of Consulting" award to Gerd Kerkhoff and Dirk Schäfer, Managing Director at Kerkhoff Consulting and responsible for the project at Bernard Krone. This is the second major award which Kerkhoff Consulting received within a period of only twelve months. In May 2009 already, the business magazine CAPITAL elected the consultancy as "Hidden Champion of the Consultancy Market” in the purchasing sector. Kerkhoff Consulting was thus winner of one of the most important quality contests for small and medium-sized consultancies.
"We are very proud of this new award", says Gerd Kerkhoff. "Once again, we thank our clients for their confidence and especially all our staff for their great commitment without which such a result would never have been possible."
Customer satisfaction was a central measuring criterion of the study. In a three-stage process, clients were interviewed, a project analyzed in detail for its quality, and jury decisions made. Kerkhoff Consulting had applied with its comprehensive consultancy project at Maschinenfabrik Bernard Krone in Spelle. Its general management, project managers, as well as those responsible for the budget gave top grades to Kerkhoff consultants and certified that they were "very satisfied" with the work performed.
Bernard Krone, owner of the medium-sized company with annual sales of more than € 250 million, sums it up: "Kerkhoff Consulting stands for pragmatic approaches, together with a high methodology competence, focusing on the implementation of a jointly defined strategy, and precise communication in an understandable language – exactly what small and medium-sized businesses expect from consultants and all too rarely will find.“
Kerkhoff Consulting is positioned even ahead of last year's "Hidden Champion" for Supply Chain Management, J&M Management Consulting, which only made second place in this competition. Another competitor – last year, like Kerkhoff Consulting, "Hidden Champion" in the area of purchasing and procurement – had not even made it to the top 3.
"The fact that we had again been able to prevail, and yet even better, versus our competitors tells me that the market classifies us as a reliable and especially consistent partner. We are perceived as the quality leader", says Kerkhoff. "We help a company like Krone now itself being considered a quality leader in its business sector, in the area of supply chain management and purchasing – especially because we contractually grant all our clients consulting exclusivity for their sector. We don't provide consulting for their competitors directly after the end of the project so that our clients will realize not only just selective but rather long-lasting competitive advantages."
Background of the study:
On behalf of Wirtschaftswoche, the study was carried out by Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Management und Beratung (WGMB). In a first round, clients were interviewed in terms of their satisfaction, and a project was evaluated. In round two, a special advisory council determined the three best consultancies in their respective category. This council consisted of the professors Ann-Christin Achleitner (Technical University of Munich), Manfred Bruhn (University of Basel), Ruth Stock-Homburg (Technical University of Darmstadt), Christopher Jahns (European Business School Oestrich-Winkel) and Elgar Fleisch (University of Zurich). Finally, the champion was selected by a jury consisting of Prof. Dr. Dietmar Fink, FH Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, Eva Manger-Wiemann, Managing Director of the meta consultancy CARDEA from Zurich, Professor Michael Mirow (Technical University of Berlin), Tom Sommerlatte, former head of the consultancy Arthur Andersen, and Roland Tichy, Editor-in-Chief of Wirtschaftswoche.
About Kerkhoff Consulting
Kerkhoff Consulting is the quality leader of the consultancies for purchasing and procurement. In 2009, the business magazine CAPITAL awarded Kerkhoff Consulting the title of "Hidden Champion of the Consultancy Market"; in 2010, Wirtschaftswoche elected Kerkhoff Consulting as the best consultancy for supply chain management. No other consultancy for purchasing and procurement won both titles.
The consultancy has its headquarters in Düsseldorf and is represented worldwide in nine countries. Kerkhoff Consulting primarily consults clients from small and medium-sized companies, but also from major groups and public authorities. Projects by Kerkhoff Consulting excel in their high implementation orientation: Their consultants' work does not end upon the presentation of a concept but only when it has been fully implemented at the client's.
The Kerkhoff Competence Center of Supply Chain Management (KCC) at the chair for Logistics Management at the University of St. Gallen is bringing together theory and practice in purchasing and supply chain management.
Media contact: Christian Pfeiffer
Head of Corporate Communications
+49 (0)211 621 80 6-0
c.pfeiffer(at)kerkhoff-consulting.com 
Roland Tichy, Editor-in-chief of the Wirtschaftswoche, presents Gerd Kerkhoff the award for the best consultancy in the category supply chain management. 
Gerd Kerkhoff (4.l.) together with the winners of the other categories. Copyright: F. Peters für WirtschaftsWoche |
