Roland Berger Strategy Consultants

Roland Berger Strategy Consultants

Type	Partnership
Industry	Management consulting
Founded	1967
Headquarters	Munich, Germany 49 offices in 35 countries
Key people	Prof. Roland Berger, Honorary Chairman Prof. Burkhard Schwenker, Chairman Dr. Martin C. Wittig, CEO
Products	Management Consulting Services
Revenue	US$ 850 million (est. 2009)
Employees	2,500 consultants
Website	rolandberger.com

Roland Berger Strategy Consultants is a global strategy consulting firm headquartered in Munich, with 49 offices in 35 countries. Roland Berger Strategy Consultants was founded in 1967 by Roland Berger. According to Vault.com, the firm has established itself among the top three consulting firms in Europe, behind McKinsey & Company and The Boston Consulting Group, and among the top five in the global strategy consulting market. In 2009, the company's sales were c. USD 850 m with around 2,500 employees worldwide. The company is an independent partnership wholly owned by its approx. 220 partners. In July 2011 18 new partners were appointed.

Roland Berger operates as a generalist strategy consultancy and advises the world's leading corporations, non-profit organizations and public institutions on management issues ranging from strategy development to performance improvement. Roland Berger's business is organized into global functional and industry competence centers. Its practice areas include corporate development, marketing and sales, operations strategy, restructuring and corporate finance, and information management. Industry specialties include automotive, consumer goods and retail, energy and chemicals, engineered products and high-tech, financial services, information communications, pharmaceuticals and health care, public services and transportation.

History

Roland Berger established the firm in 1967, after four years of working for Boston Consulting Group. At that time management consulting was a new profession in Germany, and generally centred on cost-cutting; Berger instead focussed on marketing and strategy. Revenues doubled annually for the first three years, reaching DM 5.6 million in 1970. By 1987 the firm became the largest consultancy in Germany, with sales over DM 100 million.

To finance overseas expansion, Berger then allowed Deutsche Bank to take a minority stake, rising to 75.1% in 1988. This proved a problem in the US, where the Federal Reserve Bank did not allow subsidiaries of commercial banks to practise consulting, so the managers bought back Deutsche Bank's shares in 1998 and 2000.

In November 2010 the firm reached an advanced stage in talks to merge with Deloitte's consulting arm, but withdrew after the partners decided instead to invest more of their own resources.

Organization

The organization is based on global Competence Centers along functional and industry lines. Roland Berger Strategy Consultants is known for its expertise in the fields of restructuring and marketing. Furthermore, the consultancy has a focus on the automobile industry and the capital goods sector.

In the USA, the company has established 3 offices in Chicago, Detroit and New York City. The former San Francisco office was closed in early 2004.

Competitors

Roland Berger Strategy Consultants' major competitors include McKinsey & Company, The Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, Booz & Company and A.T. Kearney. The firm also competes with specialist boutiques such as Monitor Group, L.E.K. Consulting, Oliver Wyman, OC&C Strategy Consultants and Simon-Kucher & Partners.

Offices

Roland Berger Strategy Consultants has 49 offices in 35 countries.

Americas

Chicago

Detroit

New York

São Paulo

Europe and Africa

Amsterdam
Barcelona
Berlin
Brussels
Bucharest
Budapest
Casablanca

Düsseldorf
Frankfurt
Gothenburg
Hamburg
Helsinki
Istanbul
Kiev
Lagos
Lisbon
London

Madrid
Milan
Moscow
Munich
Paris
Prague
Riga
Rome

Stockholm
Stuttgart
Vienna
Warsaw
Zagreb
Zurich

Middle East

Beirut

Doha

Dubai

Manama

Asia

Beijing
Guangzhou
Hong Kong

Jakarta
Kuala Lumpur
Mumbai

Singapore
Shanghai
Seoul

Taipei
Tokyo

Projects and initiatives

Roland Berger Strategy Consultants is Official Supplier for the BMW Oracle Racing team, a founding member of the Best of European Business Awards, and sponsor of the Counterparts initiative to support culture and education in Central and Eastern Europe. Roland Berger Strategy Consultants also supports the Young Global Leaders at the World Economic Forum.

On 30 January 2012, the company said it was in the process of collecting €300 million from financial institutions and business intelligence agencies to set up an independent non-profit credit ratings agency, which could provide its first country ratings by the end of the year.

Members of the Executive Committee

• Martin C. Wittig - Chief Executive Officer, former CFO
• Charles-Edouard Bouée - Member of the Executive Committee

Notable current and former employees

• Roland Berger - Entrepreneur, philanthropist and founder of the firm, now Honorary Chairman
• Torsten Oltmanns - Global Marketing Director

Publications

• think:act, the brand aggregating the corporate publishing formats of Roland Berger (books, customer magazines, surveys and information brochures)

External links

• rolandberger.com, official website
• Roland Berger & Partner GmbH, company profile at ReferenceForBusiness.com
• website containing information of all publications of Roland Berger, Think: act