Consulting firm Oliver Wyman books 6% growth to $2.1 billion

Global strategic consulting firm Oliver Wyman has continued its growth trajectory with a sixth consecutive year of growth. 

In its 2019 financial year, Oliver Wyman generated revenues of $2.12 billion, up 6% on the year previous. While the growth was slower than the 8% and 7% rates booked in the two years previous, Oliver Wyman managed to outperform the growth of the global management consulting market – estimated at 6% – for the third year in a row. 

With around 5,000 consultants and staff, Oliver Wyman is one of the world’s ten largest management consulting firms, alongside the MBB (McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Company), the consulting arms of the Big Four (Deloitte Consulting, EY Advisory, KPMG Advisory and PwC Advisory including Strategy&) and IT giants Accenture (Accenture Consulting) and Capgemini (Capgemini Invent).

In terms of prestige and service offerings, Oliver Wyman ranks as one of the top strategy and management consulting firms, having scooped leading positions in tier-one rankings including FT (UK), Brand eins (Germany), Forbes (US), Capital (France) and Consultancy.org (global). The consultancy enjoys a particular strong track record in the financial services, aviation and retail sectors.

Oliver Wyman was founded in 1984 in the United States by six consultants from Booz Allen Hamilton, led by seniors Alexander Oliver and William (Bill) Wyman. Operating as Oliver, Wyman & Company, the firm initially focused exclusively on the financial services industry. Following a string of acquisitions in the next two decades, Oliver Wyman matured into a generalist consulting firm.

After joining forces with Mercer Management Consulting in 2003, four years later parent Marsh & McLennan Companies merged the company with Mercer Delta and other subsidiaries NERA Economic Consulting (economic consultancy) and Lippincott (creative services) to form Oliver Wyman Group. 

In the past six years, Oliver Wyman Group has grown by an average growth rate of 7% per year, enabling it to break through the barrier of $2 billion fee income. The majority of this growth has been booked organically, with growth expansion accelerated by a number of select acquisitions. Most recently, in March 2018, the firm bought design thinking consultancy 8works, shortly after bolting-on UK-based digital agency Draw and aviation specialist Avisa. 

London-based software firm LShift was purchased at the end of 2016, while in the year previous, Oliver Wyman acquired TeamSAI, which similar to Avisa was integrated into the firm’s Cavok wing. According to merger & acquisition data from Consultancy.org, Oliver Wyman and its legal predecessors have purchased just under 30 firms since founding.

Oliver Wyman’s footprint currently spans more than 60 offices in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. The consultancy is led by 24-year company veteran Scott McDonald – with the London-based leader having been at the helm of Oliver Wyman since 2014. 

As a group, Marsh & McLennan Companies generates revenues of some $16.6 billion, of which $7.1 billion is earned by its consulting division (Mercer plus Oliver Wyman). The company’s other divisions are Marsh (insurance broking and risk management) and Guy Carpenter (a risk and reinsurance specialist).