Growth

As China’s economy gradually settles into its “new normal” of more moderate growth, some of the big, foreign-based multinational corporations in the market—the very ones that global consulting firms followed here—have become a bit skittish about making further investments. With MNCs no longer looking like fonts of perpetual high growth, consultants are increasingly turning to the growing and maturing domestic market to fill the gaps in their spreadsheets.

By Alison Huntington

I keep a close watch on the price of oil

Lest my consulting practice goes off the boil

I must admit, I felt worried for a time

But things are fine, I walk the line

…is not what Johnny Cash sang, but does neatly sum up consulting to the energy sector over the last year or so.

With a rapidly maturing market—corners of which are already growing by double digits year on year—you’ll be hard pressed to find a consultant in Africa who doubts the continent’s long-term potential. But those actually living and working on the ground often find they have an uphill task in convincing their bosses back home to make the investments that will have them in pole position when that promised future finally arrives.