- Good summer reading from the Spanish Association!! - 30/07/2010
Dear members,
The Spanish Association of Consulting firms has publiched two reports which may be of your interest:
The Impact of Innovation Consultancy on the Spanish Market
Consultancy in Spain: Key Figures for the Industry 2009
You can download them free.
- FEACO Summer newsletter 2010 - 09/07/2010Fédération Européenne des Associations de Conseils en ManagementfeacoPOINTS OF INTERESTEuropean Federation of Management Consultancy AssociationsJuly 2010IntroductionAfter a brief sojourn in Bonn, Germany, the FEACO secretariat is now operating again out of Brussels. The European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations (EFCA) Secretariat is providing us with administrative support on a pay as we use basis. Our archives are stored again in EFCA offices and the conference room is once again available to our members depending of course on availability. FEACO is also financially sound again.After some birth pains the collaboration is working well and we hope for further integration. We would like to thank EFCA staff for their friendly flexibility regarding FEACO’s needs and financial constraints.FEACO’s core activities continue to be implemented by the ExCo members and their Associations and ECIC is expanding its membership and extending its dialogue with the EC.Some former FEACO members have decided to rejoin after discussions with ExCo members and others are revaluating their relationship with FEACO.UBIT, the Austrian Association, and Assoconsult, the Italian association, have renewed their membership.The British, Swedish, Danish and Dutch Associations are in touch with ExCo members once again discussing their participation in a European body representing the industry. Input from all the European associations regarding FEACO’s role in these challenging times will be requested.FEACO’s 2011 Action Plan will be elaborated from this input and presented at the General Assembly to be held in Brussels in late November in conjunction with a round table discussion dinner with the Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, an event being organized by the Finnish Association to celebrate FEACO’s 50th birthday!FEACO News & ActivitiesFeaco Survey 2009/2010The 2009-2010 FEACO survey of the European consulting market is being conductedby the Research Centre on Management and HRM of University Pécs (Hungary) in close cooperation with member and non-member associations of FEACO. On behalf of FEACO, Mr. Kim Karme (President of the Finnish Association) is coordinating the project. The survey is expected to be published in September 2010.Feaco State of the industry surveyThe pilot application of a quarterly State of the Industry Index based on four questions about business trends was repeated during the first quarter of 2010. The results were sent to Feaco members in April 2010. The state of the industry survey was conducted again in June, gathering data for the 2nd quarter of the year. Hopefully more members will participate in the future in order to increase the survey’s reliability and usefulness. We would like to thank Ricardo Penalva from the Spanish association for supervising this activity and Joerg Murmann for supporting Feaco until we can manage the web-based short survey on our own.A European Standard for Management Consultancy ServicesThree members of ExCo continued to be very active in the CEN Committee 381 that has elaborated a draft Standard for Management Consulting Services, which was posted for public consultation on the CEN website on May 27th 2010. The consultation will be open for 5 months. The CEN committee will meet in Milan in December 2010 to finalize the Standard taking into account the comments received from the 27 European Standardization authorities during the 5 month consultation. The Standard is expected to take effect in 2011.CONSTANTINUS AwardThe CONSTANTINUS is awarded in 5 regular categories and 3 special awards, one of them being called 'Constantinus International', dedicated to cross-border consulting projects. The International category is open for all members of any FEACO or ICMCI member organisation (applicants).The award ceremony took place in Bregenz/Vorarlberg on June 10th, 2010. AMCOS, the Slovenian Management Consulting Association, represented FEACO.The Constantinus award winners 2010The Austrian consulting and IT sector is dominated by small and medium-sized companies. The Contantinus- jury awarded 16 companies with the Contantinus Award for proving day by day that they can move things forward.The first place in the category information technology went to Fluitdime Data Services GmbH for their project „qando“. With their mobile information service in real time passengers always know when, where and how public transportation is available. The Algo GmbH convinced the jury with an IT- oriented project too, but in the category communication & networks. With the creation of a network and thought wise cooperation, their platform „Adventure Flachau“ now offers their guests joliday quality from one hand. With its strategic consulting projects the design company Sorit Design ranked first in the category Management Consulting. On the basis of an internal mission statement process, they developed a growth strategy, company positioning as well as an innovation and market strategy deriving for the snow chain manufacturer pewag.Just like Spirit Design, HMS Managmenent services knew how to impress with know-how in the category personnel & training. Consultants developed different, standardized trainings for specialised workers and trainers for plastics and plastic machines in foreign-speaking countries.In addition to that, the following special prizes were awarded:Contantinus International: UNITY Austria GmbHSpecial prize Open Source: KINAMU Business Solution AGSpecial prize Young entrepreneur: trii software GmbHSpecial prize Accounting :COUNT IT GroupSpecial prize Junior-Constantinus: Johannes SchreflMembership IssuesExCo members are holding discussions with representatives from Associations which are former Feaco members to exchange views about FEACO’s future plans and renewed cooperation.We are very pleased to welcome back Assoconsult, the Italian Association, and UBIT, the Austrian Association, and look forward to their input in elaborating Feaco’s 2011 action plan.News from FEACO member associationsCroatia - UPS – AMC, Association of Management ConsultantsREGIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONSULTING IN EXPORT PROMOTIONThe 2nd Regional SEE Network Conference with title „Export Marketing and Promotion – Trends and Challenges in export consulting in SE Europe” was held in Zagreb on March 3rd to 05th 2010. This event, at the same time, was the last project activity within the sub-project “Building-up a regional network of consultants for export promotion in South East Europe” funded by the GTZ Open Regional Fund for Foreign Trade Promotion (ORF FT). The project aimed at building a network between consultants of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, and thus supporting the development of a regional market for consulting services. The conference was attended by about 100 participants.The main topics of the conference were defined as:· Current key developments and challenges of the regional consulting market· EU Funds and opportunities for consultants· Regional cooperation and competition· New Business Models for Consulting – Strategies and Tools for SuccessThe topic “Consultancy Market in the Region – Key Developments and Challenges” introduced by Mr. Klaus Richter, CMC, was pointed out that the relative size of the consultancy market in the region is much smaller than European average, with even significant differences between the national markets in the SEE region. The reason for that lies in a diverse situation in the different countries concerning institutional endowment, competences of consultants and the perception of consultancy services through clients.The subsequent panel discussion confirmed findings stated in the introductory speech However, common issues, relevant for the whole region could nevertheless be identified:
- the relevance of the EU funded projects for development of consulting industry in the Region;
- the unclear image of the consultants as profession;
- the reluctance of both private and public sector clients in hiring consultants.
These common issues provided the basis for the discussions in the respective working group. According to this group, a common market is not yet fully in place, but nevertheless it would be desirable to have it established. Some concrete steps towards the creation of a common regional consultancy market were also recognised:· Continuation of joint training efforts in order to increase professional service provision. Strongly connected to this activity is the facilitation of the exchange of experiences amongst consultants but also amongst consultant associations.· All attempts to foster cross-border cooperation in providing consulting services are highly welcomed. The creation of a joint brand was seen to be supportive towards this objective.· Lobbying for professional recognition of consultants before public authorities.Mr. Janko Arah, President of the Chamber of Management Consultants in Slovenia, introduced the topic of regional cooperation and competitiveness with a brief summary of the consultancy market in the region. He displayed the diverse structure and institutional setting of the different national markets in the regions. In addition to that three consultant networks with a regional SEE dimension were introduced: SEE consultancy network, FEOCA and the MACONET[1] were briefly highlighted.Furthermore, the impact of the world financial crisis on the consultancy market was presented. Following the speaker, the crisis would also open opportunities for the consultancy businesses as the industrial sectors are facing structural challenges for which they will need external support. The competitiveness of consulting industry in the Region can be achieved through adapting own business approaches to the changing environment. Competencies, talent and appropriate operation models have been noted to be important integral parts of such an adaptive strategy. Although the consultancy market is going more and more international, the local know how and knowledge of local consultants is still appreciated by the clients and thus a precondition for successful market penetration.The panel discussion focussed on the question of crisis impact and on the global versus local orientation of the consultants. The panellists confirmed that at least their very own organisations were left better off by the crisis. They were able to exploit the opportunities which occurred. The issue of the dominance of local know how was however questioned. One panellist argued that only the international orientation will allow the regional consultants to create additional value.The subsequent working group on this topic discussed concrete actions to be implemented in developing a competitive SEE consultancy market. The following points turned out to be of importance with regard to this respect:· Developing standardised services,· Exploiting the opportunities of EU/IPA funds,· Assuring quality standards,· General promotion of the consultant profession.New Business Models for Consulting – Strategies and Tools for SuccessThis session discussed future opportunities for regional cooperation from the individual consultancy firm's perspective. The basic features of the consultancy market are identified:· entrance of new players to the market;· immature consultancy market in the region;· the permanent need for training and education· need for cooperation between local firms helps to overcome weaknesses of single organisations.The effects of the global economic and financial crisis were regarded double-fold: On the one hand the crises led to shrinking markets and changes in the demand for consultancy services. On the other hand this demand shock led to the development of new consultancy services and to a reconstruction of the whole market.· Going for regional partnerships in order to join forces. Open questions here are the common "rules of the game"· Consultancy firms should develop their own businesses to "one-stop-shops" for their clients. In this vision SEE consultancy network would have to play a major role in providing and distributing know how· In the midterm perspective, individual consultancy firms should develop their own strategic orientation. Whilst the single firm thus should have a clear thematic focus, the SEE consultancy network should have a broader orientation allowing the network to cover all relevant regional topics· There is no other option but growing with the market. However, the growth should stem from additional employees (consultants) not from additional associates.· Training and education for the professional consultants is on the top of the agenda.The conference came to the end with following conclusions:· The national consultancy markets in the region are diverse in terms of relative size, institutional endowment and perception of consultancy services but with great potential for development.· Due to structural weaknesses of the consultancy markets at different levels in the different countries in the region, an inter-regional cooperation tends to become a most adequate strategy for consultancy business facilitation. Particularly as this would also allow inter-regional exchange of experience.· The consultancy business is a personal one. The consultant and its competences represent the crucial determinant for further development. Continuous training activities for the consultants as well as for the associations are thus highly desirable and they would represent an important task for possible network activities in the future.· Individual (micro) strategies for consultancy firms toward the common consultancy market will always reflect the individual entrepreneurial approach of its owners. It is obvious that there is not one sole panacea strategy.Finland - Liikkeenjohdon Konsultit LJK· LJK (The Finnish Management Consultants Association) had the annual meeting in May in Helsinki. The main decisions taken at the meeting were:o The previous board will continue in 2010 with Kim Karme as the Chairmano The new statutes will come into effecto The new image for the Association was approvedo The image for the Future 2020 Conference in Helsinki in 2011 was approved· The responsibility of arranging the 2011 Management Consultancy Conference in Helsinki in June the 20th to June the 24th was approved.o The conference title is, “Future 2020 – the Role of Management Consultancy”o The main topic of the conference is the future purchasing behaviour of KIBS (Knowledge Intensive Business Services).o The Conference will be in Helsinki on 20th - 22nd of June 2011 and a midnightsun post conference tour will be arranged in Turku on the 23rd - 24th of June 2011.A Conference homepage will soon open at www.future2020helsinki.org.France - Syntec Conseil en Management (Chambre Syndicale des Sociétés de Conseil)- Election of a new Board and a new President
On July 1st, the General Assembly of Syntec Management renewed part of its Board and elected Hervé Baculard as the new President for a mandate of 3 years.
Hervé Baculard, 46, is a senior partner at Kea&Partners, a medium-sized strategy and management consulting firm that he co-founded in 2001. Hervé has been a consultant throughout his career, which he began in 1988 at Bossard Consultants.He succeeds Jean-Luc Placet, who has been the President of Syntec Management since 2004, and who recently has been elected President of “Syntec Etudes & Conseil”, the union gathering within Syntec the sectors of management consulting, market and social research, search and selection, public relations and outplacement.The new Board consists of:- Hervé Baculard, President (Kea&Partners).- Xavier Hochet, Vice-president (Capgemini Consulting).- Olivier Marchal, Vice-president (Bain & Company)- Christian Nibourel, Vice-president (Accenture)- Jacques Cellard, Treasurer (CSC France)- Valérie Ader, Director (Colombus Consulting)- Olivier Chatin, Director (BearingPoint)- Christian Chattey, Director (Deloitte Risk and Consulting)- Norbert Cohen (Beijaflore)- Philippe Jean, Director (Altime Charles Riley)- Jean-Pierre Lemaire, Director (Orange Consulting)- Jean-Claude Merlane, Director (Merlane Group)- Emmanuel Monnier, Director (Ineum Consulting)- Jean-Luc Placet, Director (IDRH)- Patrick Roth, Director (Hommes&Performance)- Pierre-Dominique Vitoux, Director (WeaveManagement)- Second edition of « le WebJT du Management »
Syntec Conseil en Management issued on July 2nd the second edition of its WebNews: Is well-being at work (still) possible?With the first edition which was dedicated to Managerial innovation and a third one to be issued in October on Sustainable Growth, Syntec Management intends to show that consultants have their word to say on topics mixing economic and social interests.The WebNews is available at: www.webjtdumanagement.com (only in French!)Greece - Hellenic Association of Management Consulting Firms (SESMA)- SESMA completed the preparation of model framework contracts for public sector procurement of Services for the Information Society SA.
- 4 articles were prepared by the Board of Directors for the press regarding the role of management consultants and the financial crisis, proposing ways to overcome the current situation, regarding the profession of management consultants and regarding proposals for the activation of the National Strategic Reference Framework 2007 -2013.
- The General Assembly meeting of the Association took place in March. More than 40 member firms attended. Guest speaker was the General Secretary of Industry. Representatives of the association of engineering consultants and the association of tourist enterprises also made a speech.
- The Board of Directors designed and implemented two surveys. The first was about the current financial crisis and its impact on the business sector of the economy. More than 1500 questionnaires were sent out. 200 replies have been gathered. The next step is the consolidation of the data and the presentation of the results. The second survey is looking into the environmental awareness of certain industries. This survey has a more qualitative approach and the goal is to gather 100 questionnaires.
- Position papers have been sent to officials of the public sector regarding the new development law, the new administration map of the country and the effective implementation of the National Strategic Reference Framework 2007 – 2013 and the Operational Programme “Digital Convergence”.
- As SESMA participates as a partner in the project “Support of Women and Youth Entrepreneurship in Remote Districts of Uzbekistan” which is funded by Europeaid as part of the Institutional Building Partnership Programme, the project manager for SESMA took part in the second coordination meeting, held in Brussels at the EuropeAid Co-operation Office in March 2010. The project partners and experts had the opportunity to present the state of play of the project and to discuss with EuropeAid Cooperation Office (Centralised Operations for Asia and Central Asia) representatives about the issues encountered during the first year of implementation.
Romania - Romanian Management Consultancies Association (AMCOR)AMCOR, Romanian Management Consultancies Association, grouped 86 management consulting firms in the first quarter of the year 2010. According to its mission of promoting the principles of professionalism and ethics in the Romanian business environment, the activities that AMCOR carried out in January-March 2010 were:- AMCOR organized the ICMCI European Hub meeting in Bucharest
25 certified consultants from 16 countries attended the meeting that was chaired by Mr. Sorin Caian, member of AMCOR board and chair of ICMCI European Hub.The event also included a consultancy conference with speakers from AMCOR and ICMCI.- AMCOR organized the 1st National Accreditation session of the year
AMCOR is the only organization in Romania that developed a procedure of assuring that the consultancy services provided by the member firms respect the principles of professionalism and ethics. In March, 3 member firms were reaccredited and 3 new members were accredited.- AMCOR organized the 1st International CMC Certification session of the year
AMCOR is the only organization in Romania entitled by the International Council of Management Consultants Institute, ICMCI, to issue the CMC designation.Every consultant who earned the CMC designation should be reaccredited every three years. In March, after the CMC Certification session, there were 30 CMCs in Romania.- AMCOR published Romanian Management Consultancy Market Survey Report 2009-2010
The Romanian Management Consultancy Market Survey Report 2009-2010 is based on the answers of 155 representatives of independent management consulting firms, from which 47 are AMCOR members.- AMCOR published the brochure Ethics, best practices and systems for quality assurance of management consulting services
The brochure gathers the writing efforts of the ones involved in coordinating the main activities of AMCOR and was distributed to all companies.- AMCOR published The 2009 Activity Report
2009 was the first year when AMCOR undertook constant efforts to present to its shareholders the results of its activities.- AMCOR organized the General Assembly of its members
New steps forward were taken. The need to assure professional services to the market and not to encourage the use of the signature “member of AMCOR” instead of providing qualitative services resulted in many administrative changes regarding membership.- Two consultants from two member firms held open courses on the topics of “Quality in Project Management” and “Management Consulting” to the students enrolled in a master program with which AMCOR have collaborated since 2009
The representatives of AMCOR were also present to many business events, offered interviews to various newspapers journalists, met and discussed with representatives of other organizations and represented the interests of AMCOR members.Slovenia - Association of Management Consultants of Slovenia (AMCOS)In February, AMCOS members elected Borut Potočnik (BPMC Management Consulting) as a President. He has exposed high level knowledge and expertise, high quality of service together with understanding of clients needs in the present situation and best possible response as guidance for management consulting in Slovenia.AMCOS has supported and/or organised a set of meetings with managers and HRM managers in order to present them a variety of possible education and training for their employees during a period of shortened working – time and during reorganisation processes in companies.In March, a conference and a round-table on marketing and sale at Promarket 2010 were organised. This year, the motto was “(Let us) sell with a heart”. Confidence, respect for clients (their culture and background) and their needs as well as responsible use of loyalty cards and other instruments dedicated to acquire and to retain customers were key issues. The common conclusion of the round table discussants was that confidence has to be (re)gained. For being a convincing seller and gaining clients confidence it is necessary to be first of all convincing and gaining confidence within the own company.Continuing activities are going on in the field of public procurement. Due to finance restriction measures public clients rather decrease their spending on outside consulting. That means no quality improvement appears in preparation and realisation of public tenders and projects, not enough improvement in efficiency of public administration bodies and public sector overall. And finally that also means less potential income for consulting firms.In June, a round-table on public procurement was organised in co-operation with association of consulting engineers in Slovenia. Key issues concerning necessity for introduction of training for public sector personnel in project management, promotion of quality and innovation based criteria etc., were discussed with representatives of public clients, revision institutions and our members. Conclusions in a form of memorandum were sent to government and competent public administration.AMCOS prepared two short-term State of the MC Industry. At the end of the first quarter, most of our members expressed a moderate optimism that a market situation would remain more or less stable or slightly improves within next 6 months. In June, it was stated that indeed, a situation was slightly improving during a second quarter but a certain degree of scepticism appeared with regards to the next half-year development.The AMCOS President took part, on behalf of FEACO, in the Constantinus award ceremony that took place in Bregenz (Austria). “Quality of consultants’ work is and will stay the most powerful tool and a guarantee for successful future of management consulting. High value added for clients is our best investment in future,” pointed out the UBIT President Alfred Harl in his opening speech.Spain - Asociación Española de Empresas de Consultoría (AEC)- New President and New Board of Directors
In the General Meeting of the AEC on June 18th Enrique Arias was elected the new president of the Spanish Association of Consulting Firms (AEC in its Spanish acronyms).Arias has a degree in Computer Science and a PhD from the Computer Science School of the Polytechnic University of Madrid. He has been a partner of Accenture since 2000, and is part of its Board of Directors since 2007. He is also the president of the Ethic Committee of this company and part of the Corporate Responsibility Committee. Arias is currently the partner in charge of operations in the Public Sector. He is a usual speaker at postgraduate courses, seminars and conferences in addition to his collaboration to Harvard Business Review articles and other publications. Arias was responsible for the development of the Book of Good Practices published by the AEC in 2009.The following partners were also elected in the last General Meeting of the AEC: Tomás Contreras del Pino (Indra), first Vice-president, and Luis Abad Marturet (Altran), second Vice-president. The new Board of Directors of the AEC also includes representatives from Atos Origin, Capgemini, Deloitte Consulting, Everis, IBM, Informática El Corte Inglés, and Tecnocom- Presentation of the Annual Report “Consultancy in Spain: Key Figures for the industry 2009”
The AEC published in June the Annual Report “Consultancy in Spain: Key figures for the industry 2009”. Total revenue of the industry was EUR 9.572 million, and the growth rate was 0.7%. The internalization strategy undertaken by some companies in the sector has offset the effects of the crisis in the strictly domestic market. Outsourcing and development and application integration have been the most dynamic sectors. Employment offered by consultancy companies in Spain is known by its quality, and by the high investment in training its employees, being higher than the average in other industries.Despite the instability of the current economic and financial situation, for 2010 it is estimated that the consulting sector will grow by 1.6%, and globalization will remain a key growth factor during that year.The AEC has published an English version of its annual study.Hong Kong - Management Consultancies Association of Hong Kong (MCAHK)The Association has set up during the year a work teamcomprising of six corporate members who are active inmanagement consulting in the public sector. The work teammeet the government in-house consulting unit known as theEfficiency Unit of the Government of the HKSAR on a regularbasis to discuss matters of mutual interest.The Association maintains regular contacts with severalgovernmental users, including the Financial Secretary, theCommerce and Economic Development Bureau and theEducation Bureau. During the year, these users invitedmembers of the Association either to join government-leddelegations overseas or submit proposals for consulting studiesin the Public Sector.The Association sponsors member-representatives to attendFEACO’s Annual Conference and General Assembly meetingannually.ECICECIC NEWSØ In February 2010 ECIC organized at the IMB offices a recruitment event which was attended by representatives of about 15 new companies that might be interested in becoming ECIC members.Ø In April 2010 ECIC organized a lunch at the Club des Officers. Ms Marianne Klingbeil, Director for Better Regulation, Programming and Impact Assessment in the Secretarial General of the EC was the speaker. About 20 ECIC members and new candidates for membership attended.Ø In May 2010 ECIC organized a lunch at the club des officiers. Mr. Matthias Ruete, Director General for Mobility and Transport in the EC was the speaker. About 20 ECIC members and new candidates for membership attended.The participants in the recruitment event were invited to the EC speaker events in April and May as a teaser. A meeting will be held on July 6th, 2010. Once again representatives from the companies that participated in the February recruitment event will be invited and their future membership confirmed.FEACO upcoming events and activities§ 6, July 2010: ECIC meeting§ 14, September 2010: ExCo meeting, Brussels§ 20-25, September 2010: ICMCI annual conference in Jordan§ 50th Anniversary of FEACO eventAn event is being organised for the end of November or early December to celebrate the Feaco 50th Anniversary. Mr. Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, will be invited to attend a roundtable discussion and dinner with representatives from member associations. During the event, the results of the survey will also be presented. A General Assembly meeting is going to be organised in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary event.§ December 2010: Austrian IT and consultants Day event. Vienna§ June 2011: Feaco 2011 International Consulting Conference, Turku, FinlandThe conference will be held in Helsinki starting on June 20th, 2011. Further information on programme and speakers will soon become available.*(if you are interested in attending any of the ExCo meetings, please let us know)[1] MACONET is the management consulting network of 11 companies from 11 states (Hungary, Slovenia, Poland, Malta, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Slovakia, Macedonia, Ukraine and Latvia). - Now available: FEACO report on the European Management Consulting Market 2008/2009 - 11/10/2009
The Annual FEACO Report on the European Management Consultancy Market 2008/2009 can be ordered by email from the FEACO offices.
The report (about 36 pages) is only available in .pdf format.
The report contains quantitative information, statistics and charts, on the European Management Consulting market and qualitative information: trends and developments on local European markets: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Slovenia, Switzerland and the UK.
Cost pdf: 200 € payable upon receipt of the invoice by bank transfer.
The report can be ordered by email, by providing us with your complete invoicing details, including VAT number.
Notice: Member companies of Feaco member associations are kindly requested to indicate which member association they are a member of in order to receive a free copy of the report.
FEACO European Federation of Management Consultancies - Associations Fédération Européenne des associations de conseils en organisation