The German consulting market hit a record €50.1bn in 2024. Growth slowed to 5.9%, the lowest in years, but the message from the WGMB-Fink 2025/26 study is not decline — it is reset.
Firms are being tested on distinctiveness, delivery, and competitiveness. Those who adapt will strengthen their position; those who don’t will fade.
Market growth: from boom to consolidation
After years of double-digit growth, the market is consolidating. Strong firms are holding their ground while other players face pressure.
Budgets are being allocated more carefully, with spend flowing only to projects that clearly strengthen competitiveness.
The volume play is over. Impact is what matters.
AI as catalyst, not threat – what partners are telling me
Generative AI is not replacing consulting, but it is raising the bar. Clients are still buying clarity, judgment, and mobilisation, but they are far less tolerant of generic slideware.
As one Big Four AI leader told me, “quick wins are a myth.” GenAI may take months to show value, AI agents often take years, and real ROI only comes once people, processes, and data adapt. The hype cycle sells speed. Delivery requires patience.
I also spoke to an MBB partner who leads GenAI programs and has delivered ~40 implementations. His view: AI won’t kill consulting, but it will compress the pyramid by automating junior analysis and slide work, pushing firms toward implementation-heavy, value-capture engagements with partners taking greater ownership supported by AI agents. He believes the firm will endure but must overhaul its operating model and be more open and agile around new tech; today, governance and bureaucracy slow the pace.
Both partners view on Europe, and Germany in particular, is that adopting AI is done with a lot more caution, and there’s a significant near-term opportunity for nimbler firms to lead multi-use-case transformations and publicly showcase impact.
Market shape continues to shift
Operations remains the largest segment at 36%, but IT and transformation are the fastest growing. Strategy holds steady but is under pressure as clients expect advice embedded in execution.
Manufacturing is still the biggest buyer at 30% of demand, yet the fastest expansion is in telecoms, IT, and the public sector. Consulting is embedding itself more deeply across the economy.
Satisfaction recovers
After a dip in 2023, client satisfaction has rebounded. Seventy-one percent of executives now rate projects as successful. Boards and budget owners are the most positive, but project managers remain more critical.
Many prefer challengers such as Oliver Wyman and EY-Parthenon, who are seen as pragmatic and execution-oriented. Winning the C-suite is no longer enough. Credibility on the ground is just as important.
Competitiveness as the new currency
Nine in ten leaders say competitiveness is the main reason they hire consultants. But only one in four projects delivers a measurable boost.
When they succeed, the gains are extraordinary: EBIT uplift of up to ten times the fees. Success depends on three levers: orientation (strategic clarity), qualification (operational readiness), and mobilisation (making people and organisations act differently).
Mobilisation is the hardest, and most firms still struggle with it.
Who is trusted to deliver
McKinsey leads in operations, BCG in strategy, and both dominate transformation. They remain the most trusted firms to strengthen German competitiveness.
But challengers are carving sharp positions: Arthur D. Little in technology and innovation, Bain in M&A, Kearney in supply chain, Simon-Kucher in pricing, and AlixPartners and Alvarez & Marsal in restructuring.
These niches are becoming the next wave of distinctiveness.
Transformation is about people
Tools alone do not transform organisations. Clients value consultants who bring expertise, empathy, conviction, presence, and decisive action. McKinsey and BCG score highly across the board.
Oliver Wyman is praised for empathy. Alvarez & Marsal is trusted for action. In a market obsessed with technology, clients are reminding firms that human qualities still count.
Execution is the only currency
When leaders choose a consulting firm, one factor trumps everything: execution. They want outcomes that work in practice.
Thought leadership and industry expertise still matter, but price ranks lowest. Firms are no longer judged on the sophistication of their decks, but on the results they deliver.
The bigger picture
The WGMB-Fink study makes it clear. Consulting is not shrinking. It is sharpening. The next chapter belongs to firms that can combine clarity with execution, and distinctiveness with measurable competitiveness.
For firms, impact is no longer optional. For executives, consulting spend still delivers value, especially when judged against competitiveness and outcomes.
This post comments on:
manager magazin: How consultants are reshaping Germany’s competitiveness
18-September 2025
Ben Appleton is the founder of Strat-Bridge, a specialist executive search partner to the strategy consulting industry. He works with global consulting firms and senior leaders across the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and beyond — helping them build capability at the Partner and Director level.
