Juilet 2005
Le marché du conseil en management en Slovénie
L'AMCOS
(Association of Management Consultants of Slovenia) publie un document
sur le marché du conseil en Slovénie, secteur en plein
développement. L'étude a été
menée par la FEACO et le document final mis à la
disposition des lecteurs de ConsultingNewsLine
par le Président
de l'AMCOS, Janko Arah. Texte en anglais
A. RESULTS OF THE FEACO SURVEY ON THE OPERATIONS OF CONSULTING COMPANIES – AMCOS MEMBERS Income
Consulting companies which are members of AMCOS generated income of about EUR 32 mio from management consulting in 2004. MC income growth rate 2004/2003 was at 10 %.
According to our estimations AMCOS members cover about a third of the management consulting market in Slovenia. It should be pointed out that the major share of consulting in the field of IT is recorded elsewhere, since the companies operating in this field are affiliated in the Association of Informatics and Telecommunications.
Market size
The management consulting market in Slovenia is estimated at about EUR 90 to 96 mil.
Market structure
Shares of income of AMCOS members by basic fields of consulting:
- Corporate Strategy 45%
- Operations Management - 30%
- Human Resources Management - 14%
- Information technology - 8%
- Outsourcing Services - 3%
Fees
Average fees for consulting services in EUR:
- partner consultant 950
- project manager 710
- consultant 450
- junior consultant 280
Minimum and maximum fees in EUR:
Small and medium MC Firms Top MC firms/ most complex projects
- partner consultant 450 - 2500 950 - 3000
- project manager 350 - 1100 700 - 1200
- consultant 280 - 700 400 - 800
- junior consultant 150 – 450 250 - 550
Main market drivers in 2004:
- EU membership:
1. increasing awareness that competitiveness is a key issue for
internationalisation and globalisation –was one of strong push factors for
managers in their demand for consultants
2. ( higher) availability of EU
funds and projects
- increasing interest for foreign markets
- relatively high economic growth in 2004 in Slovenia (4,8)
- growing interest for:
HRM issues, Cost Reduction and Income issues,
Strategic Planning/Organisational Development,
Market & Competitive Intelligence,
Sales/Marketing/Corporate Communication and Market Research
Negative factors:
- limited purchasing power of SMEs does not contribute to the MC market
development
- government tenders’ policy and procedures is evaluated as inappropriate for
various reasons
- clients demand services/solutions with short-term results
- pression on fees
- clients “ fidelity” decreases
- hesitating clients and more smaller than big projects in general
2005 market expectations:
generally optimistic – ( app 8%)
Current market situation: good
- MC slightly growing – a bit less than at the beginning of the year (season
impact)
- higher growth is expected in autumn
- public demand below expectations due to political changes.
B. SUMMARY OF MAIN RESULTS OF THE GENERAL MARKET RESEARCH
1. DEMAND FOR CONSULTING SERVICES
LEVEL OF USE OF CONSULTING SERVICES
External management consultants are hired by about one third of all Slovenian companies (34%).
STRUCTURE OF THE MANAGEMENT CONSULTING MARKET (by demand side)
The companies which hired an external management consultant during the past three years allocated the greatest share of funds for consulting in the field of corporate strategy (31%), followed by the fields of information technology (28%), operations management (22%) and human resources management (17%). However, no significant differences have been observed in the structure of consulting in terms of size of the companies.
The respondents were also asked to enumerate the subfields of the above main fields where they allocated most funds for external consultants.
Thus, in the field of corporate strategy, the respondents allocated most funds for financial consulting (38%), followed by marketing and corporate communication (22%) and strategic planning and organisational development (20%).
In the field of information technology, most funds for external consultants were spent on the development of information technology system (60%) and the rest for information technology consulting.
In the field of operations management, the respondents allocated most funds for the business process reengineering (28%) and total quality management (27%).
In the field of human resources management, most funds were spent on training and education (61%), followed by executive search, selection and recruitment (23%).
NON-USERS OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTING SERVICES
The non-users of consulting services (i.e. the companies which did not hire an external management consultant during the past three years) are mainly small (56%) and medium sized companies (37%).
As the main reasons for not hiring external consultants they stated the following: they had not thought of it; they had thought of it but the consultants could not help them; they had thought of it but the management consultants were too expensive; there was no need for hiring consultants since they had their own consultants.
As much as 59% of the non-users will probably or definitely carry out significant business changes and plan to hire external consultants for those projects.
REASONS FOR HIRING EXTERNAL CONSULTANTS AND SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Companies decide to hire consultants mostly due to their special knowledge and experience (58%) which should help them avoid difficulties in the future or spot new opportunities on the market. Other reasons for hiring consultants include consultants' unbiased approach to the company (18%) and the desire to learn something in co-operation with consultants (16%).
The main source of information on the providers of consulting services is informal "mouth to mouth" information, i.e. recommendation from those who had already co-operated with consulting companies (55%). Other respondents stated that they looked for the addresses of consulting companies they know (20%) and that they sent an inquiry to those companies they had already co-operated with (16%).
FACTORS OF SELECTION AMONG CONSULTING COMPANIES
Professionality, appropriate consulting team and references stated in the offer are the most important factors of selection among the providers of consulting services. It should be pointed out that the price and payment conditions as well as the recommendation from others are somewhat more important for the non-users than for the users of consulting services.
USERS' PREFERENCES IN THE SELECTION OF CONSULTING COMPANIES
Most of the companies which use consulting services have expressed no preference regarding the nationality of the consulting company, since 58% ( 57%) gave no preference either to domestic or to foreign consulting companies. Domestic consulting companies were given priority by 37% of respondents while foreign consulting companies were preferred by less than 1% of respondents. Nevertheless, the vast majority of users (81%) give preference to specialised consulting companies.
IMPORTANCE OF AND SATISFACTION WITH THE FACTORS FOR ASSESSING PERFORMANCE OF CONSULTING PROJECTS
As the most important factors for assessing performance of consulting projects the users have stated professionally managed field, well defined goals of the consulting task and achievement of the defined goals.
In case of major consulting projects carried out in the past three years the satisfaction of the respondents with individual factors was lower than was the importance of those factors regarding all factors except approach, communication with the user and relationship between the consultants and employees in the company.
2. OFFER OF CONSULTING SERVICES: THE ROLE OF CONSULTING SERVICES PROVIDERS:
Almost 92% of income from consulting activities was generated on the domestic market and the rest on the markets of Germany, Italy, Austria and Croatia while the shares of other markets are negligible.
New users represent on average about 52% of total turnover of consulting services in respondent consulting companies. The share of income from consulting activities resulting from the major user is relatively high at 46%.
Over a third of all income (34%) from consulting services in 2004 was generated with activities in the field of corporate strategy. Other main fields of consulting are operations management (20%), outsourcing (13%), human resources management (13%) and information technology (12%).
EVALUATION OF COMPETITION
Most consulting companies (over 30%) taking part in the survey marked fierce competition in the fields of IT and human resources management, followed by outsourcing, corporate strategy and operations management.
DEVELOPMENT OF NEW CONSULTING SERVICES AND FIELDS
Only 25% of respondents developed new consulting services or fields during the past two years – mostly (7%) in the field of new technologies and IT.
RECRUITMENT IN CONSULTING COMPANIES
Consulting companies lack consultants, especially at the level of higher qualifications (consultants and managers of consulting projects), since consulting companies envisage the majority of recruitment at those levels.
KNOWLEDGE AND TRAINING OF CONSULTANTS
All (?) respondent companies provided training for their consultants in 2004 which lasted on average 28 days and for which they spent on average SIT 650,000 sit. Most of the funds allocated for training were aimed at obtaining functional knowledge (i.e. technical training in the consultants' specialised fields) and methodological knowledge (such as consulting project management, methods and techniques of consulting etc.).
TRENDS ON THE MANAGEMENT CONSULTING MARKET
Both directors of consulting companies and directors of companies which are potential users of consulting services expect the management consulting market to grow in 2005 and 2006. The respondent consulting companies expect the users to express more demand for the following fields of consulting: human resources management, finance, sales and marketing, organisational changes, optimisation of processes, new technologies and IT and EU and gaining the funds from the EU.
COMPARISON OF SOME RESULTS WITH THE 2001 RESEARCH
Although it is impossible to make direct and exact comparisons due to methodological limitations it is obvious from the survey results that the volume of consulting services market has increased (more than three times) and is still increasing. The prices of consulting services have also increased, especially at higher levels of consulting (at the highest level by about 290%). The main reasons for hiring external consultants remained the same: consultants' special knowledge and experience; consultants' unbiased approach to the company and the desire to learn something in co-operation with consultants. The most important factors of selection among the providers of consulting services remained the same, too: professionality, appropriate consulting team and references. The structure of funds allocated for external consultants changed slightly. According to the 2001 research large companies allocated most funds for the field of IT, followed by corporate strategy, while in 2004 the companies spent about the same amount of funds on both fields. Small and medium-sized companies spent most funds on strategies and management in 2001 while in 2004 they allocated most funds for strategies and IT.
Mis à la disposition de ConsultingNewsLine par
Janko Arah, President de l'AMCOS
A. RESULTS OF THE FEACO SURVEY ON THE OPERATIONS OF CONSULTING COMPANIES – AMCOS MEMBERS Income
Consulting companies which are members of AMCOS generated income of about EUR 32 mio from management consulting in 2004. MC income growth rate 2004/2003 was at 10 %.
According to our estimations AMCOS members cover about a third of the management consulting market in Slovenia. It should be pointed out that the major share of consulting in the field of IT is recorded elsewhere, since the companies operating in this field are affiliated in the Association of Informatics and Telecommunications.
Market size
The management consulting market in Slovenia is estimated at about EUR 90 to 96 mil.
Market structure
Shares of income of AMCOS members by basic fields of consulting:
- Corporate Strategy 45%
- Operations Management - 30%
- Human Resources Management - 14%
- Information technology - 8%
- Outsourcing Services - 3%
Fees
Average fees for consulting services in EUR:
- partner consultant 950
- project manager 710
- consultant 450
- junior consultant 280
Minimum and maximum fees in EUR:
Small and medium MC Firms Top MC firms/ most complex projects
- partner consultant 450 - 2500 950 - 3000
- project manager 350 - 1100 700 - 1200
- consultant 280 - 700 400 - 800
- junior consultant 150 – 450 250 - 550
Main market drivers in 2004:
- EU membership:
1. increasing awareness that competitiveness is a key issue for
internationalisation and globalisation –was one of strong push factors for
managers in their demand for consultants
- increasing interest for foreign markets
- relatively high economic growth in 2004 in Slovenia (4,8)
- growing interest for:
HRM issues, Cost Reduction and Income issues,
Strategic Planning/Organisational Development,
Market & Competitive Intelligence,
Sales/Marketing/Corporate Communication and Market Research
Negative factors:
- limited purchasing power of SMEs does not contribute to the MC market
development
- government tenders’ policy and procedures is evaluated as inappropriate for
various reasons
- clients demand services/solutions with short-term results
- pression on fees
- clients “ fidelity” decreases
- hesitating clients and more smaller than big projects in general
2005 market expectations:
generally optimistic – ( app 8%)
Current market situation: good
- MC slightly growing – a bit less than at the beginning of the year (season
impact)
- higher growth is expected in autumn
- public demand below expectations due to political changes.
B. SUMMARY OF MAIN RESULTS OF THE GENERAL MARKET RESEARCH
1. DEMAND FOR CONSULTING SERVICES
LEVEL OF USE OF CONSULTING SERVICES
External management consultants are hired by about one third of all Slovenian companies (34%).
STRUCTURE OF THE MANAGEMENT CONSULTING MARKET (by demand side)
The companies which hired an external management consultant during the past three years allocated the greatest share of funds for consulting in the field of corporate strategy (31%), followed by the fields of information technology (28%), operations management (22%) and human resources management (17%). However, no significant differences have been observed in the structure of consulting in terms of size of the companies.
The respondents were also asked to enumerate the subfields of the above main fields where they allocated most funds for external consultants.
Thus, in the field of corporate strategy, the respondents allocated most funds for financial consulting (38%), followed by marketing and corporate communication (22%) and strategic planning and organisational development (20%).
In the field of information technology, most funds for external consultants were spent on the development of information technology system (60%) and the rest for information technology consulting.
In the field of operations management, the respondents allocated most funds for the business process reengineering (28%) and total quality management (27%).
In the field of human resources management, most funds were spent on training and education (61%), followed by executive search, selection and recruitment (23%).
NON-USERS OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTING SERVICES
The non-users of consulting services (i.e. the companies which did not hire an external management consultant during the past three years) are mainly small (56%) and medium sized companies (37%).
As the main reasons for not hiring external consultants they stated the following: they had not thought of it; they had thought of it but the consultants could not help them; they had thought of it but the management consultants were too expensive; there was no need for hiring consultants since they had their own consultants.
As much as 59% of the non-users will probably or definitely carry out significant business changes and plan to hire external consultants for those projects.
REASONS FOR HIRING EXTERNAL CONSULTANTS AND SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Companies decide to hire consultants mostly due to their special knowledge and experience (58%) which should help them avoid difficulties in the future or spot new opportunities on the market. Other reasons for hiring consultants include consultants' unbiased approach to the company (18%) and the desire to learn something in co-operation with consultants (16%).
The main source of information on the providers of consulting services is informal "mouth to mouth" information, i.e. recommendation from those who had already co-operated with consulting companies (55%). Other respondents stated that they looked for the addresses of consulting companies they know (20%) and that they sent an inquiry to those companies they had already co-operated with (16%).
FACTORS OF SELECTION AMONG CONSULTING COMPANIES
Professionality, appropriate consulting team and references stated in the offer are the most important factors of selection among the providers of consulting services. It should be pointed out that the price and payment conditions as well as the recommendation from others are somewhat more important for the non-users than for the users of consulting services.
USERS' PREFERENCES IN THE SELECTION OF CONSULTING COMPANIES
Most of the companies which use consulting services have expressed no preference regarding the nationality of the consulting company, since 58% ( 57%) gave no preference either to domestic or to foreign consulting companies. Domestic consulting companies were given priority by 37% of respondents while foreign consulting companies were preferred by less than 1% of respondents. Nevertheless, the vast majority of users (81%) give preference to specialised consulting companies.
IMPORTANCE OF AND SATISFACTION WITH THE FACTORS FOR ASSESSING PERFORMANCE OF CONSULTING PROJECTS
As the most important factors for assessing performance of consulting projects the users have stated professionally managed field, well defined goals of the consulting task and achievement of the defined goals.
In case of major consulting projects carried out in the past three years the satisfaction of the respondents with individual factors was lower than was the importance of those factors regarding all factors except approach, communication with the user and relationship between the consultants and employees in the company.
2. OFFER OF CONSULTING SERVICES: THE ROLE OF CONSULTING SERVICES PROVIDERS:
Almost 92% of income from consulting activities was generated on the domestic market and the rest on the markets of Germany, Italy, Austria and Croatia while the shares of other markets are negligible.
New users represent on average about 52% of total turnover of consulting services in respondent consulting companies. The share of income from consulting activities resulting from the major user is relatively high at 46%.
Over a third of all income (34%) from consulting services in 2004 was generated with activities in the field of corporate strategy. Other main fields of consulting are operations management (20%), outsourcing (13%), human resources management (13%) and information technology (12%).
EVALUATION OF COMPETITION
Most consulting companies (over 30%) taking part in the survey marked fierce competition in the fields of IT and human resources management, followed by outsourcing, corporate strategy and operations management.
DEVELOPMENT OF NEW CONSULTING SERVICES AND FIELDS
Only 25% of respondents developed new consulting services or fields during the past two years – mostly (7%) in the field of new technologies and IT.
RECRUITMENT IN CONSULTING COMPANIES
Consulting companies lack consultants, especially at the level of higher qualifications (consultants and managers of consulting projects), since consulting companies envisage the majority of recruitment at those levels.
KNOWLEDGE AND TRAINING OF CONSULTANTS
All (?) respondent companies provided training for their consultants in 2004 which lasted on average 28 days and for which they spent on average SIT 650,000 sit. Most of the funds allocated for training were aimed at obtaining functional knowledge (i.e. technical training in the consultants' specialised fields) and methodological knowledge (such as consulting project management, methods and techniques of consulting etc.).
TRENDS ON THE MANAGEMENT CONSULTING MARKET
Both directors of consulting companies and directors of companies which are potential users of consulting services expect the management consulting market to grow in 2005 and 2006. The respondent consulting companies expect the users to express more demand for the following fields of consulting: human resources management, finance, sales and marketing, organisational changes, optimisation of processes, new technologies and IT and EU and gaining the funds from the EU.
COMPARISON OF SOME RESULTS WITH THE 2001 RESEARCH
Although it is impossible to make direct and exact comparisons due to methodological limitations it is obvious from the survey results that the volume of consulting services market has increased (more than three times) and is still increasing. The prices of consulting services have also increased, especially at higher levels of consulting (at the highest level by about 290%). The main reasons for hiring external consultants remained the same: consultants' special knowledge and experience; consultants' unbiased approach to the company and the desire to learn something in co-operation with consultants. The most important factors of selection among the providers of consulting services remained the same, too: professionality, appropriate consulting team and references. The structure of funds allocated for external consultants changed slightly. According to the 2001 research large companies allocated most funds for the field of IT, followed by corporate strategy, while in 2004 the companies spent about the same amount of funds on both fields. Small and medium-sized companies spent most funds on strategies and management in 2001 while in 2004 they allocated most funds for strategies and IT.
Mis à la disposition de ConsultingNewsLine par
Janko Arah, President de l'AMCOS
Janko Arah
President AMCOS
President AMCOS
Planetecologie.org