BrazilSimon-Kucher's Dutch office a growth jewel during corona year
The Dutch arm of Simon-Kucher & Partners has developed itself into one of the firm’s top growth jewels, expanding its revenues by 21% in 2020 despite the challenging economic outlook.
With its growth rate of in the 20’s, the Amsterdam office of the international strategic consultancy managed to grow much faster than the domestic market (according to ABN Amro, the Dutch sector contracted by about 6% in 2020), than most of its peers in the consulting industry, and Simon-Kucher & Partners as a whole.
Worldwide, Simon-Kucher’s stellar growth over the past years slowed to 1%, marking its eleventh consecutive year of growth. Total revenues currently stand at €362 million; by comparison, in 2010 the firm had an aggregate fee income of ‘just’ over the €100 million mark.
Onno Oldeman, Managing Partner of the Dutch office, sees a number of explanations for the firm’s strong push: “Firstly, in the Netherlands, we work with clients in a wide variety of industries, making us less dependent on a drop in demand in some markets.”
“In addition, the demand for deep expertise in commercial strategy, pricing and sales remains high, and has even risen due to increased digitisation. We see that revenue and margin improvement remains one of the most important items on the agenda of many companies, especially in a crisis year. Our expertise in this field is an important pillar of our success.”
Corona has meanwhile forced many companies to review their business models, including channel strategies and revenue streams. “For many companies that we worked with in 2020, Covid-19 turned out to be a catalyst for strategic change,” said Oldeman.
Digitisation was another driver of beefed up demand. Oldeman: “The paradox of the corona crisis is that globalisation has accelerated due to the long stay at home. It has further underscored the need for companies to digitise their customer-facing services and operations. The question for many companies is not only what this digitisation process should look like, but also how they can organise and capitalise on their digital propositions.”
For 2021, Simon-Kucher's Dutch wing expects things to remain bright. “Growth remains one of our main objectives,” said Oldeman. Underlining its ambition, the firm is in the process of hiring consultants across its levels. “Our people make the difference. We will continue to strengthen our team and look forward to 2021 with optimism,” he concluded.
