News

By Axel Gloger

Munich - German management consultants are celebrating successes in other countries. Their services are currently a hit: these consultants achieve up to 40 percent of their turnover with business in Europe and overseas. “Internationalization of this business will continue with strong growth during the next ten years,” says Thomas Lünendonk, an analyst in this sector who has investigated this subject in a study.

The German consulting company with the greatest export volume is Roland Berger with seat in Munich. Their yearly turnover on the world market lies between 220 and 550 million euros. Places two and three are occupied by Horváth from Stuttgart and Droege from Düsseldorf. It is the specialists among the consulting companies which feel the strongest demand: Simon-Kucher, a services provider who specializes in providing advice on prices, plans to open five more branches overseas in just this one year (2007), in addition to the eleven branches which it already has. “Worldwide market coverage is increasing in importance,” says Hermann Simon, head of this company in Bonn, when describing his strategy.

German consultants have not just been following customers from their own country around the world. Consultancy made in Germany has long enjoyed a good image with customers based in other countries too. For example, Kerkhoff Consulting operates offices in Asia, America and Europe. These consultants from Düsseldorf, which specialize in cutting procurement costs, don't just x-ray purchasing at German companies: they perform this service for companies in India too.

Karim Barkawi confirms this trend. As founder and head of the logistics consultants Barkawi & Partners, last summer he opened his first branch office in Shanghai. “From there we are now advising Chinese customers too,” reports this consultant from Munich. He has already set his sights are on a second large foreign market, namely India. There he will open two new offices during the course of this year.

Progress is also being made in the USA. “That which was unthinkable just five years ago has become ‛business as usual’ today: American customers now ask about our services,” reports Simon, the adviser on prices, with glee. The German consultants also explain their success in terms of German virtues, which continue to be in great demand. “The future prospects for the consulting business are good,” says analyst Lünendonk. One third of these consultant companies want to grow by 10% a year until 2011 and almost half of them are aiming for at least 5%. “That is more than most other sectors are able to look forward to.”