Corporate growth of engineering consulting firms: A European review

Corporate growth is understandably one of the hottest topics among researchers in management and managers themselves. Nonetheless, research in the sector of professional service firms, especially engineering consulting firms, has not yet led to a deeper understanding of how growth in this particular sector is achieved. This descriptive empirical study tries to provide some answers by reviewing the endeavours of the largest engineering consulting firms in Europe (top 100) within the timeframe 1990-1998. The findings suggest that the firms surveyed grew on average about 120% in terms of staff increase and about 170% in terms of revenue increase. This growth was largely achieved organically: growth through mergers and acquisitions (M and A) also contributed quite strongly whereas engaging in joint ventures played only a minor role. The same pattern emerged when analyzing the success of the different modes of growth, with organic growth being the most successful, followed by growth through M and As and joint ventures. Further, it could be shown that the firms' growth was strongly influenced by a focus on firm size, followed by a focus on market share and on profit, while focus on the firm's value was less significant.