Consulting Industry Market Research

Global consulting industry revenues (including HR, IT, strategy, operations, management and business advisory services) will be about $470 billion in 2016, according to Plunkett Research estimates.  This represents reasonable growth from $449 billion during the previous year. 

In the U.S., consulting of all types, including management, scientific and technical, generated $257.6 billion during 2015, up from $233.9 billion the previous year.  Accounting and related services (such as tax return preparation) generated an additional $155.4 billion in 2015, up from about $145.2 billion during 2014, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

Consulting is a somewhat cyclical industry.  The years 2008-09 marked a challenging period throughout the world of business, in light of the global economic slowdown and shrinking corporate budgets.  In general, major consulting companies, including leading firms in management consulting and HR consulting, along with other advisories such as accounting firms, found themselves with substantial drops in business during 2009.  India’s largest outsourced business and technology consulting firms were complaining that clients were delaying or cancelling projects as 2009 began.

However, in recent years, corporate profits in general grew dramatically, meaning that executives are now more willing to authorize new consulting projects as long as they see the potential for a good return on the cost.  For example, India’s leading consultancies have recently enjoyed substantial growth in employee count and revenues, as have most of the global consulting firms based in the U.S. and EU.

While corporate profits have been growing, government budgets in the U.S. and much of Europe have been under tremendous pressure at the national, state and local levels.  At many governmental units, tax revenues were down significantly during the recent recession, although recent years saw a general rebound in tax collections.  Meanwhile, governments and their agencies have been under intense budgetary scrutiny.  Spending and debt have been called in question, and in some cases curtailed.  This has been particularly hard on some consulting firms, since governmental agencies are prime clients for consultancies.

Until recently, consulting firms were enjoying stellar growth in emerging and rapidly developing nations such as China and Brazil.  However, by 2015-16, China’s growth had slowed, and many formerly promising nations, including Brazil and Russia, were encountering serious economic problems.

The top specialties in the consulting field are led by management consulting and technology consulting.  Management consultants assist companies with restructuring or strategy development, in order to enhance operating efficiencies, increase productivity and increase return on assets, as well as significant assistance in identifying and merging with other firms that are targeted for acquisitions.

Technology consulting companies offer skilled services across the full spectrum of technology needs.  This includes consulting in telecommunications, software development, systems implementation and enterprise-level database enhancement.  In recent years, much of this work has shifted to projects involving cloud computing, mobile apps and mobile tools for workers in the field.  Consulting firms based in India have carved out a very significant market share in this field.  Other significant sectors within consulting include human resources and employee benefits consulting; risk management; industrial automation; logistics and distribution; and environmental and regulatory compliance.