Swedish consulting market grows to 800 million euro

Sweden’s consulting market has grown by 5.5% last year, taking it to a value of just under €800 million, making it the largest management advisory industry in the Nordics. For 2015 and beyond, continued growth is forecasted, although it is unlikely to surpass 5%.

In recent years the Swedish consulting market has booked strong growth, in particular in the light of the lacklustre progress in other mainland European countries. According to data from Source Information Services (Source), a UK-based analyst firm, Sweden’s management consulting market was worth just over €700 million in 2011*. Following three years of (strong) growth, 2.5% in 2012, 4.8% in 2013 and 5.5% in 2014, the market is now estimated at nearly €800 million. Last year, growth was driven primarily by digitisation (digital strategy / operations / technology) and operational improvement, the services most in demand says the analysts. From an industry perspective, public sector, retail and financial services remain key client sectors for external consultants.

With a value of €797 million, Sweden is the Nordics biggest consulting market, more than double the size of the Finnish advisory industry, and 22% larger than Denmark, the second biggest Nordic market. In terms of growth Sweden together with Denmark leads the Nordics, with both markets growing 5.5% in 2014.  

Outlook
Looking ahead, 2015 is set to continue in a similar vein, yet growth in Sweden is unlikely to increase further says Source, the result of a mix of economic developments, including political and economic uncertainty in Europe and Russia, lower growth in other Nordic consulting markets and continued pressure from clients to optimise their consulting spend.

* The scope of Source’s market assessment focuses on mid-sized and large-sized consulting firms (those with more than 50 consultants) and typically includes work they have carried out for mid- and large-sized clients. The sizing does not incorporate the turnover of very small firms and/or freelance consultants. Note that Source has adjusted its baseline figure for 2014 – Consultancy.uk has updated market estimates for 2011 – 2013 accordingly based on growth rates.