Corporate Culture
KPMG and Andersen's Mixed Match
A survey of consultants at major consulting firms, which provided the statistical grist for our 2001 feature titled "The Top Ten Best Consultancies to Work For," is now offering some additional insight into one of the Big Five consulting world's most ambitious mergers to date. Only 12 months ago it would have been difficult to imagine the stormy turn-of-events that would lead KPMG Consulting and Andersen's consulting operations to the altar. Although perceived by many as culturally divergent, the two firms in fact share much in common, according to survey findings.
While KPMG failed to make the final "Top Ten" cut, the upbeat responses supplied by Andersen consultants allowed that firm to secure the number nine slot. Still, 96 percent of KPMG respondents were proud to say that they worked for their firm. At Andersen, the number was 98 percent. When it came to client service, 92 percent of KPMGers said that their firm always or very frequently delivered quality results. Such a high mark was still edged out at Andersen, where the figure was 96 percent.
At right is a look at how our survey findings match up the two firms:
Sidebar: For the Record/Who's the Oldest Now?
When Arthur D. Little bit the dust earlier this year, the 116-year-old firm relinquished its title as the "world's oldest management consultancy." Just which firm now owns the distinction appears to be a matter of debate within certain consulting circles. If accounting houses qualify for this competition, then PricewaterhouseCoopers gets the honor. The firm can trace its history to Samuel Lowell Price, who started his business in London in 1848. Consulting purists, however, continue to advance Booz Allen Hamilton as being the profession's most senior citizen. Edwin Booz started the firm in 1914.
The Consultancy Query
Staying the Course at L.E.K.
As UK-based consultancy L.E.K. continues its U.S. expansion, all eyes are on 20-year consulting veteran Marc Kozin. L.E.K.'s North American president recently spoke with Consulting and offered some insights into how the firm manages to grow inside a rocky economy.
CM: The last 12 months have been challenging times for most consultancies. How's LEK been managing?
Kozin: This year, we're planning to grow, hopefully, around 10 to 15 percent.
So we have managed to weather the storm very well. We didn't do layoffs, didn't rescind offers, and didn't do any of the crisis stuff we saw throughout the industry. Our business wasn't growing at a rate we wanted it to grow at recently. In terms of our L.E.K. book of business, it bottomed out in the first quarter; the second is better, and we're pretty optimistic about the second half of the year. … But always in this part of the cycle you always see more competitive bidding and more price negotiation. People try to make sure that they get really good value for their money with consultants.
CM: Do you see the firm expanding beyond strategy consulting in the near future?
Kozin: We pretty much want to stay in the strategy space. We're a pure strategy consulting firm — we don't want to do HR, IT, organizational behavior, or things like that. Most of our growth will be geographic. We've got our eyes on places up and down the East Coast and in the Midwest as well. Let's say that New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston all look like logical places where we would want to go.
We have certain areas we're very deep in, such as healthcare, energy, and media and entertainment. As our partners go through the system, they'll have expertise in other areas, and we'll want to go into those industries as well.
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