The European management consulting market entails players offering consulting and advisory services across various industries and functions (e.g. logistics, procurement). As such, we segmented the industry according to players’ areas of expertise into: (i) generalist and (ii) functional.

The European landscape is consolidated at the top, with dominant European incumbents mainly facing competition from US-based multinationals, followed by a long tail of small- and medium-sized (niche) players. Strategic M&A has been prevalent in recent years, primarily to (i) capture additional market share, (ii) expand expertise and service offerings, (iii) acquire new customer bases and (iv) diversify geographically.

Sponsor-led interest has been limited with ~32% of identified assets being backed by investors (June 2023). Functional (niche) players have attracted the most attention, with the potential for (i) roll-up strategies with multiple arbitrage potential, (ii) service diversification and (iii) operational improvements presenting the main growth opportunities for PEs. Appetite to invest in generalist consultancies has been on the lower end, with the inherently limited scalability of business models deemed as the most significant reason.

ESG topics primarily revolve around environmental and social challenges, arising from frequent business travel and consultants’ long working hours. As such, identified players have been carefully assessing their travel needs, with some already cutting on extensive (recurring) trips. From a social perspective, players have mostly adopted hybrid working environments and employee wellness programmes to improve work-life balance in recent years.