ANGLE - Competitors

ANGLE Competition

Now Viewing ANGLE's competition in: Consulting Services

Recent Developments

Firms Tighten Use of Marketing Consultants' Web Surveys - Marketing consultants have increasingly relied on Web-based surveys for clients, but critics question their accuracy. A Stanford University professor who's studied Web surveys for almost a decade cautions against drawing hard conclusions from online polls, because respondents aren't randomly selected. Procter & Gamble now requires service providers to prove that respondents are a broad, highly representative group, and ABC News won't use Web survey results, because they're nonrandom, according to BusinessWeek.

Non-Financial Corporations' Profits Increase - Corporate profits, an indicator of demand for consulting services, is growing, but at low rates. US corporate profits rose 1.7 percent in first quarter 2008 compared to year-earlier levels. Non-financial corporations' domestic profits increased $3 billion in first quarter, a positive indicator for consulting firms serving the sector. Domestic profits of financial corporations continued to decline, however, due to the mortgage and credit crisis, but not as dramatically as in fourth quarter 2007.

Industry Producer Prices Rise Modestly from Year-Ago Levels - The consulting services industry is receiving higher prices than a year ago. The US management consulting industry's producer prices rose 3 percent in May 2008 from year-earlier levels. By segment, administrative and general management consulting prices increased 4.8 percent; HR and executive search consulting, 2.2 percent. In contrast, marketing consulting services rose only 0.6 percent.

Competitive Landscape

Demand for consulting services is closely tied to the health of the US economy. The profitability of firms depends largely on the special expertise they provide to clients. Large firms can offer a variety of services to big customers. Small firms can easily coexist with large ones if they have expertise in a highly specialized area or industry. Although the industry is labor-intensive, the high value of the work produces annual revenue per employee close to $200,000.

Full Industry Overview For Consulting Services

Consulting Services Industry Forecast

from Hoover's/D&B subsidiary First Research

The output of US management, environmental, and other technical consulting services is forecast to grow at an annual compounded rate of 4.8 percent between 2007 and 2012.

Consulting Services Growth Levels

First Research forecasts are based on INFORUM forecasts that are licensed from the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. (IERF) in College Park, MD. INFORUM's "interindustry-macro" approach to modeling the economy captures the links between industries and the aggregate economy.