Caribbean Export/CICMC:
Management Consulting Industry
Report
Management Consulting Business Symposium 2
St. Kitts & Nevis
29 June 2010
Project Description
Aims
• Profile management consulting industry
• Strategy for development of the industry
Goals
• Help local consultants access regional/external markets
• Stronger industry to support development of region
Process
• Local surveys of suppliers and purchasers of services in:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
•
The Bahamas
Barbados
The Dominican Republic
Jamaica
The OECS (Antigua and St. Lucia)
Trinidad & Tobago
Martinique
Draft report based on supply/demand gaps
The Market: Spending
Amount Spent Yearly Percentage of
(US$)
Respondents
Mid-point
Share of
Value (US$) Market Value
$10,000 - $19,999
36%
$15,000
3%
$20,000 - $49,999
18%
$35,000
3%
$50,000 - $99,999
13%
$75,000
5%
$100,000 - $249,999
14%
$175,000
12%
$250,000 - $499,999
6%
$375,000
12%
13%
$1,000,000
65%
$500,000 or more
The Market: Approach to Consulting
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Number of Consulting Projects
Commissioned Annually
0
1-2
3-5
6-9
10 or
more
• Few projects: consulting valuable add-on, not part of business model
• High value spend on strategy or systems, smaller amounts on
process-type services
• Although small/young businesses need strategy, most spend on
process services: need to show benefits to develop this market
The Market: Performance
Client Satisfaction by Consultant Type
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Local
Regional
Extra-regional
Not satisfied Somewhat
satisfied
Satisfied
• Satisfied + very satisfied:
▫ Locals: 82%
▫ Regional: 82%
▫ Extra-regional: 72%
Very
satisfied
Management Consulting Industry Profile
Number of Employees
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1-4
5-9
10-19
20-49
• 64% 1-4 employees, 82% 9 or fewer
50 or more
Management Consulting Industry Profile
Revenue in 1-4 Employee Group (Average of 1.45
professional staff)
Revenue Bracket
$10,000 - $19,999
$20,000 - $49,999
$50,000 - $99,999
$100,000 - $249,999
$250,000 - $499,999
$500,000 or more
% in Revenue
Bracket
30%
26%
26%
13%
5%
0%
Midpoint
$15,000
$35,000
$75,000
$175,000
$375,000
-
Revenue per
Employee
$10,323
$24,086
$51,613
$120,430
$258,065
-
• Productivity critical indicator of profitability
• Productivity benchmarks: 2xsalary min, 3x good, 4x
very profitable
• 2 groups exist: 1-new/struggling firms, 2-mature firms
Supply/Demand Implications
• 65% of market value in large assignments, but
only 13% of number of clients
• 54% of clients spend under US$50K annually
▫ Two-tiered market, weak middle
• Quality issues thrown up by Group 1 firms
▫ Need for skills development
• Flight to safety: big names on big value
projects, small local firms pushed out
▫ Need for quality assurance-CMC
• Still hard for Group 2 firms to tap top segment
▫ Need for market development/intelligence,
alliances
Demand Side Recommendations
• Develop market for higher value consulting,
particularly strategy consulting
▫ Focus on MSME market to help small consulting
firms
▫ Will help fill in weak middle
• Need to educate customers on benefits of
consulting, process and reasonable outcomes
▫ To do this use active (workshops, newsletters)
and passive (information packages) techniques
▫ CICMC could provide consulting services to BSOs
serving MSMEs; act as business cases and learning
opportunities
Supply Side Recommendations
• Marketing BDS: Benefit all firms
▫ Opportunity identification: Centralise gathering of market
intelligence, advise on market trends
▫ Improve positioning in key marketing channels: Alliances
between Caribbean firms, partnering with extra-regional
firms (member directory)
▫ Guidance in preparing marketing material
▫ Guidance in responding to tenders
• Professional BDS: Benefit Group 1 firms
▫ Develop technical and consulting competency, CMC and
advisory services
▫ Advice on defining service offering, consulting operations
(setting fee rates, management systems)
▫ Provide quality assurance supplementing CMC
Implementation
• CICMC to lead implementation, support from
CE, form strategic alliances with national
industry associations where they exist
▫ Appoint a Strategy Director to act as point person,
draft implementation plan based on Strategy
▫ Lobby on behalf of industry in ongoing initiative to
regulate management consulting
• Goal is sustainability: Need for CICMC to
become service driven industry association,
eventually decrease role of CE
▫ Self-reliant associations: membership fees, fee-based
services, professional/promotional events
Thank you