Management Consulting 2023

In 2023, the consulting market is no different from the economy as a whole: it is shaped by the multipolar challenges and crises of our time. The consequences of the Corona pandemic and the changing demands of young, talented junior staff have permanently changed the traditional working methods of many consultants; geopolitical upheavals make it inevitable for their clients to rethink their established global structures and strategies; technological upheavals, climate change and the energy transition will bring entire industries to their knees if they do not reinvent themselves from scratch. Inflation is making investments expensive, rising interest rates are making them difficult to finance – and at the same time, the state is forcing many companies into an ever tighter regulatory corset.

To put it in a nutshell: Our time is characterized by countless, enormous changes, combined with a high degree of uncertainty as to how these changes can be managed and where they will lead us. This is therefore a time with the best basic conditions for the business of management consultants. So it is not surprising that the already high growth rates that the industry has recorded over the past decade increased once again last year. Overall, the consulting business in Germany grew by around 16 percent to 44 billion euros – the highest growth rate since the early 1990s. And despite all the caution associated with such a forecast, double-digit growth is likely to continue in 2023. Meanwhile, in the environment described above, it is becoming increasingly important, but also increasingly difficult, for clients in the industry to form an opinion on the areas in which the specific strengths and weaknesses of individual consulting firms lie.

Since 1998, our studies have contributed to enhancing the transparency of the consulting market – practice-oriented, research-based and independent. In doing so, we can rely on a network of experienced board members and executives from major German companies. Their trust and willingness to support us with their assessments and evaluations is our greatest asset. It obliges us not only to conduct research using scientifically proven methods, but also and above all to be uncompromisingly independent of all actors and interest groups.

Please note: all our studies are published in German.

Content of the study

This year we are once again looking at the performance and competencies of the leading management consultants from different perspectives – from the perspective of a board member, that of a budget manager and that of a project manager, as well as from the specific perspective of DAX40 corporations.

Which consultant has the greatest expertise in the consulting fields of strategic planning, digitalization, ESG/sustainability, mergers & acquisitions, post-merger integration, corporate finance, organization and human resources, marketing and sales, innovation, operations and performance, global supply chains, turnaround and restructuring, and transformation? Which of these areas have the largest budgets on the client side? Which consultants are particularly present in which industries? Who has the greatest market knowledge, who has the greatest implementation expertise? Who works best in a team, who has the best methodological, technical and analytical skills? Who has the most satisfied customers? Questions like these are answered in detail in the study. In clear graphics and rankings, which list the five best consultants in each category – because we want to show which consultants are rated particularly well, but we don’t want to discredit anyone.