来源：Consultancy.uk

根据该行业代表机构的一份报告，英国咨询公司设法摆脱了大流行的压力，在 2020 年实现了稳健的增长。新研究发现，该行业的增长率几乎是今年预期的两倍，公司设法利用全球需求来弥补英国或欧洲工作量的下降。

每年， 管理咨询协会(MCA) 都会使用其成员的表现来衡量英国管理咨询市场的规模和健康状况。数据在年末备受期待，许多专家预计该行业将面临最糟糕的情况，英国经济在 2020 年之前一直受到大流行和历史性衰退的蹂躏。不过，不少业内人士的表现无疑是松了一口气。

根据最初的数据，MCA 估计该行业的收入增长了约 2.5%。虽然这比上一年的增长显着下降，但在大流行的背景下，这几乎是一个惊喜。六个月后，由于有更多时间从其成员那里接收数据并估计更广泛市场的增长，MCA 升级了其分析。

在 2020 年之前，MCA 曾预测，由于英国脱欧的焦虑和经济低迷，客户勒紧裤腰带，该行业的增长率将达到 4% 左右。现在，该组织认为英国的咨询实际上可能优于大流行前的估计。

MCA 的成员公司网络报告称，2020 年的总收入为 62.6 亿英镑，假设这一业绩在其他国家行业中得到复制，那么英国咨询行业现在的价值将达到 125.2 亿英镑。这将比 2019 年的数据增长 4.5%，当时 MCA 的评估断言该行业价值 114 亿英镑。

应该指出的是，马华的数字确实与其他组织不同。例如，Source Global Research 对英国咨询业规模的估计要保守得多，因为使用的参数侧重于“大咨询”市场，侧重于由大中型咨询公司（那些具有50 多名顾问），其中通常包括为大中型客户开展的工作——这可能不包括 MCA 数据中的许多高绩效公司。与此同时，MCA 的数据依赖于其成员，因此可能需要对市场健康状况做出更广泛的假设。

然而，考虑到这一点，如果 MCA 的成员确实看到更广泛的市场复制了他们的表现，该研究表明增长可能即将到来。据一位马华发言人称，虽然该组织之前估计 2021 年至 2022 年期间可能会出现 9% 的扩张，但现在“可能会略高并达到两位数”。

推动该行业增长潜力的因素之一可能是英国公司费用收入的国际化程度不断提高。2019 年，MCA 发现该行业 84% 的收入来自英国客户，而邻国欧洲占公司收入的 8%。然而，一年后，两者的百分比都下降了，而来自世界其他地区的费用收入增长了 15 个百分点，几乎占所有费用的四分之一。这表明，随着全球客户在大流行期间进行数字化，英国顾问已经能够吸引对其技能的需求——MCA 预计这种情况在未来几年只会增加。

MCA 首席执行官 Tamzen Isacsson 在评论调查结果时说：“英国咨询业是世界第二大咨询业，其全球吸引力显而易见，得益于新的数字化工作方式，我们现在向更多国家出口。公司在提高女性领导力等一些关键领域的多样性和包容性方面取得了重要进展，随着我们不断努力改进进步、实施最佳实践和监测行业劳动力的多样性，这种势头必须继续下去。”

（UK consulting managed to shrug off pandemic pressures to record a solid year of growth in 2020, according to a report from the industry’s representative body. The new study found the sector’s growth was almost double the rate expected for the year, with firms managing to tap into global demand to make up for declines in work in the UK or Europe.

Each year, the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) uses the performance of its members to gauge the size and health of UK's management consulting market. The data was keenly awaited at the turn of the year, with many experts expecting the worst for the industry, with the UK economy having been ravaged by a pandemic and historic recession through 2020. When the MCA released early estimates of the UK management consulting industry’s performance, however, quite a few members of the industry undoubtedly issued sighs of relief.

According to the initial figures, the MCA estimated that the industry had seen revenues expand by around 2.5%. While this represented a notable fall on the previous year’s growth, in the context of the pandemic it was almost a pleasant surprise. Six months later, having had more time to receive data from its members and estimate the growth of the wider market, however, the MCA has upgraded its analysis.

Ahead of 2020, the MCA had predicted that the industry was due to see growth of around 4%, due to Brexit anxiety and a sluggish economy seeing clients tightening their belts. Now, the organisation believes that UK consulting may have actually outperformed that pre-pandemic estimation.

The MCA’s network of member firms reported a combined revenue of £6.26 billion for 2020, and assuming this performance was replicated across the rest of the national industry, the UK consulting industry would now be worth £12.52 billion. This would represent growth of 4.5% on 2019’s figures, when the MCA’s assessment asserted the industry was worth £11.4 billion.

It should be noted that the MCA’s figures do differ from other organisations. For example, Source Global Research has a much more conservative estimate of the UK consulting sector’s size, due to using parameters focusing on the “big consulting” market, focusing on consulting work conducted by mid-to-large-sized consulting firms (those with more than 50 consultants), which typically includes work carried out for mid-and-large-sized clients – something which may exclude many high-performing firms in the MCA’s data. At the same time, the MCA figures rely on its members, and so wider assumptions on the health of the market may need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

With that in mind, however, if the MCA’s members did see their performance replicated by the broader market, the study suggests that heightened growth may be on the horizon. According to one MCA spokesperson, while the organisation previously estimated the period between 2021 and 2022 could see 9% expansion, now this “could be slightly higher and in double digits.”

One of the factors boosting the industry’s growth potential could be the increasing internationality of UK firms’ fee income. In 2019, the MCA found that 84% of the industry’s income was from UK clients, while neighbouring Europe represented 8% of the fees coming into firms. One year later, however, the percentage of both has fallen, while fee income from the rest of the world has boomed by 15 percentage points, to account for almost one-quarter of all fees. This shows that UK consultants have been able to attract demand for their skills as clients around the world digitalise amid the pandemic – something the MCA expects which will only increase in the coming years.

Commenting on the findings, MCA CEO Tamzen Isacsson said, “The global attractiveness of the UK consulting sector, the second biggest in the world, is clear and we are now exporting to more countries than ever before thanks to new digital ways of working. Firms have made important strides in improving diversity and inclusion in some key areas such as female leadership and this momentum must continue as we increase efforts to improve progress, implement best practice and monitor the diversity of the sector workforce over time.”）