Consultant
Sept 2007
Report on the FEACO meeting in Budapest
Interview : Jozsef Poor
Consultant of Mercer Hungary and Organizer of the FEACO-VTMSZ 2006 Congress in Budapest
Dear Joseph, the 2006 FEACO meeting was held in Budapest with the Hungarian federation VTMSZ as the organizer. Is this related to the new role Eastern european states are going to play in a still growing European Union?
Jozsef Poor : I believe that accession in 2004 and latest enlargement of EU in 2007 which brought to EU new nations, those are ready for growth. More than 100 million Eastern Europeans have increased cultural, religious and people diversity of EU. This evolution would increase number of translators in different EU institutions but it could contribute to widening human resources and knowledge capacity of EU. These matters can make attractive different events organised or organising in Eastern Europe. Therefore more and more Western businessmen would like to learn about emerging part of Europe.
A few month after the Budapest meeting is it possible to make a first assesment of this international gathering ? (number of people, topics...)
What are the trends and the new topics that emerge from this meeting?
Jozsef Poor : Multinational firms try to cover whole region. This evolution requires lot of consulting support. Local consultancies in our region are becoming maturated. This development attract interest of Western consulting companies looking for new joint ventures or acquisitions. EU accession and different consulting opportunities of structural found based project provide and require new cooperation Eastern and Western consultancies. Besides previous written positive trends SME related consulting remains underdeveloped area of our business.
The Budapest meeting was following some unrests in the country. Might these events be explained to our readers ? How is the economy now?
Jozsef Poor : The 2006 protests in Hungary are a series of anti-government protests triggered by the release of Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány's private speech in which he confessed that his Hungarian Socialist Party had lied to win the 2006 election. Most of the events took place in Budapest and in some other cities. Bitterly divisive politics fuel Hungarian unrest in 2006. Hungary, partly because of the early liberalization of the command economic regime enjoyed a significant competitive edge in the region in different areas. The transition has been overshadowed by high inflation and a drastic decrease in the output performance during 90s’. Meantime more and more countries of the region try to change this trend. Today most of countries within the region have begun to grow. Hungary has lost its privileged role step by step as front-runner of transition in Eastern Europe.
VTMSZ was the organizer of the meeting. What might be said about this association (birthdate, number of consultants, number of consultancies, budget, important peoples...). Does it represent all the Hungarian consultants ? Might Foreign consultancies be members?
Jozsef Poor : The most significant representative organization of the consulting profession in Hungary, the Hungarian Association of Management Consultants (AMCH) was established in 1990 and became a full-member of FEACO (Federation of European Association of Management Consultancy Institutions) in 1993. AMCH currently has about 65 member companies, representing almost 1200 consultants. The Association of Management Consultants in Hungary has offered the qualification of Certified Management Consultant in the frame of its examination system effective from 1994. Approximately 160 consultants of the member companies have obtained the Certified Management Consultant. Among members of AMCH there several local subsidiaries of big and medium-size international consultancies.
The first representatives of foreign consultancy firms appeared in Hungary already at the beginning of the 1970’s. They were attracted at the time by the launch of the World Bank’s restructuring programs. The first joint ventures in consultancy were established in the mid1980’s, and were mainly co-operations with German, Austrian and Swiss companies. From the end of the 1980’s, the number of consultancy firms of Anglo-Saxon origin started to expand. The top traditional consulting firms (McKinsey&Co., Boston Consulting Group, HayGroup, Roland Berger etc.) have set up offices in most cases only in one or two CEE countries, or have managed their projects in the region from their Western-European offices (Bain, Booz, Allen&Hamilton, Mercer etc.). Foreign capital inflow played an important role in the now widespread usage of outside consultancy among enterprises in Hungary.
Among your guests were consultants coming from all over Europe, the Americas and Asia and many of them were interested by having an activity in Hungary. Might the language, the Magyar, be an impassable boundary to operate in Hungary ? Same question for Central Europe as a whole?
Jozsef Poor : Participants came with different expectations to our latest conference in Budapest. Range of these expectations is very wide. They include contribute to wider acceptance of our profession, learner more about latest development of this profession last but not least find new business opportunity. Hungarian consulting market has been maturated almost all major players has arrived and established business here. The Hungarian management consultancy market is currently considered to be the most developed one in Central and Eastern Europe. This occasion might contribute to widen business opportunities of Hungarian consultancies. As far as our strange Finnish-Ugrian language there is no any other option for us to learn foreign languages.
Jozsef Poor : How much help can the Hungarian consultants give to newcoming foreign consultancies ?
Jozsef Poor : As previous said Hungarian consulting market is maturated. It means a newcomer can find in any sector of our business a reliable local partner.
French companies, such as Alstom, are investing more and more in the Hungarian economy. With the companies come their consultants. What might be said to this businessmen and their consultants ? Might they settle down in the place despite the fact that big 4s and other big operators (Mercer, BCG...) came in a long time ago?
Jozsef Poor : This case is not unusual in our region. There are different ways for newcomer to overcome initial problems as follows:
- Foreign consultancy can serve its international client project based.
Administrative and support activities can be covered by locals.
- It can be established a joint venture with a local firm. It is not very typical in
Hungary today.
- Third option is to establish a local office or look for acquisition of a reliable local
consultancy.
Dear Joseph, I remember you, when giving your last address to your gests, speaking about being hungry, angry or from hungary... Was this word game a way to to show how hungarian people master foreign languages and then to show how open is the hungarian economy now?
Jozsef Poor : It was a simple word game.
New states are to enter the European Union next year. Some had representative persons at the FEACO - VTMSZ meeting in Budapest (Romania, Bulgaria...) Will hungarian consultants take some new responsabilities in this European integration?
Jozsef Poor : Previous it was said that the Hungarian management consultancy is market is currently considered to be the most developed one in Central and Eastern Europe. Many Hungarian firms have started to operate in the region. My case is similar with previous statement. I am actually managing a big Phare project in Romania. I spend 80% of my time on this assignment.
Finally let’s quote a statement of the Czech President, Vaclav Havel, made back at the beginning of the 1990’s: “In Central and Eastern Europe everything is possible but difficult”. If we keep this in mind during our assignments, our consulting activity will be successful in this Hungary and in this region as well.
Words collected by Bertrand Villeret
Editor in chief
ConsultingNewsLine
To know more :
www.feaco.org
www.vtmsz.hu/
http://ee.mercer.com/home.jhtml
Nota
Despite the worldwide change of name from Mercer to Oliver Wyman,
Mercer Hungary is still operating under the Mercer name
Whoswoo :
Jozsef Poor
Images :
B. Villeret pour ConsultingNewsLine. Copyright B. Villeret / Quantorg 2006
Copyright
RH&M 2006 - 2007Sept 2007
Report on the FEACO meeting in Budapest
Interview : Jozsef Poor
Consultant of Mercer Hungary and Organizer of the FEACO-VTMSZ 2006 Congress in Budapest
Dear Joseph, the 2006 FEACO meeting was held in Budapest with the Hungarian federation VTMSZ as the organizer. Is this related to the new role Eastern european states are going to play in a still growing European Union?
Jozsef Poor : I believe that accession in 2004 and latest enlargement of EU in 2007 which brought to EU new nations, those are ready for growth. More than 100 million Eastern Europeans have increased cultural, religious and people diversity of EU. This evolution would increase number of translators in different EU institutions but it could contribute to widening human resources and knowledge capacity of EU. These matters can make attractive different events organised or organising in Eastern Europe. Therefore more and more Western businessmen would like to learn about emerging part of Europe.
A few month after the Budapest meeting is it possible to make a first assesment of this international gathering ? (number of people, topics...)
Jozsef Poor : International gatherings of FEACO and its
partners (Zen-Noh-Ren-Japan, ACME-US) have special flavour. As usual
first part of these programs deals with reviewing overall trend
of consulting business in different part of the world. Next parts of
the conference covers regularly country related experiences,
certification and training&development of consultants. Program ends
with several contributions on future of our profession. The Budapest
meeting highlighted a growing role of Eastern European consultants in
renewal of our profession. . Since changes in the regime’s consulting
linked to privatization, firm restructuring and development has been
developing significantly in all countries. consulting is underwent a
significant development in the region. Our latest conference in
Budapest has contributed to increasing networking of Eastern
European consultants with Western and Eastern colleagues.
What are the trends and the new topics that emerge from this meeting?
Jozsef Poor : Multinational firms try to cover whole region. This evolution requires lot of consulting support. Local consultancies in our region are becoming maturated. This development attract interest of Western consulting companies looking for new joint ventures or acquisitions. EU accession and different consulting opportunities of structural found based project provide and require new cooperation Eastern and Western consultancies. Besides previous written positive trends SME related consulting remains underdeveloped area of our business.
The Budapest meeting was following some unrests in the country. Might these events be explained to our readers ? How is the economy now?
Jozsef Poor : The 2006 protests in Hungary are a series of anti-government protests triggered by the release of Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány's private speech in which he confessed that his Hungarian Socialist Party had lied to win the 2006 election. Most of the events took place in Budapest and in some other cities. Bitterly divisive politics fuel Hungarian unrest in 2006. Hungary, partly because of the early liberalization of the command economic regime enjoyed a significant competitive edge in the region in different areas. The transition has been overshadowed by high inflation and a drastic decrease in the output performance during 90s’. Meantime more and more countries of the region try to change this trend. Today most of countries within the region have begun to grow. Hungary has lost its privileged role step by step as front-runner of transition in Eastern Europe.
VTMSZ was the organizer of the meeting. What might be said about this association (birthdate, number of consultants, number of consultancies, budget, important peoples...). Does it represent all the Hungarian consultants ? Might Foreign consultancies be members?
Jozsef Poor : The most significant representative organization of the consulting profession in Hungary, the Hungarian Association of Management Consultants (AMCH) was established in 1990 and became a full-member of FEACO (Federation of European Association of Management Consultancy Institutions) in 1993. AMCH currently has about 65 member companies, representing almost 1200 consultants. The Association of Management Consultants in Hungary has offered the qualification of Certified Management Consultant in the frame of its examination system effective from 1994. Approximately 160 consultants of the member companies have obtained the Certified Management Consultant. Among members of AMCH there several local subsidiaries of big and medium-size international consultancies.
The first representatives of foreign consultancy firms appeared in Hungary already at the beginning of the 1970’s. They were attracted at the time by the launch of the World Bank’s restructuring programs. The first joint ventures in consultancy were established in the mid1980’s, and were mainly co-operations with German, Austrian and Swiss companies. From the end of the 1980’s, the number of consultancy firms of Anglo-Saxon origin started to expand. The top traditional consulting firms (McKinsey&Co., Boston Consulting Group, HayGroup, Roland Berger etc.) have set up offices in most cases only in one or two CEE countries, or have managed their projects in the region from their Western-European offices (Bain, Booz, Allen&Hamilton, Mercer etc.). Foreign capital inflow played an important role in the now widespread usage of outside consultancy among enterprises in Hungary.
Among your guests were consultants coming from all over Europe, the Americas and Asia and many of them were interested by having an activity in Hungary. Might the language, the Magyar, be an impassable boundary to operate in Hungary ? Same question for Central Europe as a whole?
Jozsef Poor : Participants came with different expectations to our latest conference in Budapest. Range of these expectations is very wide. They include contribute to wider acceptance of our profession, learner more about latest development of this profession last but not least find new business opportunity. Hungarian consulting market has been maturated almost all major players has arrived and established business here. The Hungarian management consultancy market is currently considered to be the most developed one in Central and Eastern Europe. This occasion might contribute to widen business opportunities of Hungarian consultancies. As far as our strange Finnish-Ugrian language there is no any other option for us to learn foreign languages.
Jozsef Poor : How much help can the Hungarian consultants give to newcoming foreign consultancies ?
Jozsef Poor : As previous said Hungarian consulting market is maturated. It means a newcomer can find in any sector of our business a reliable local partner.
French companies, such as Alstom, are investing more and more in the Hungarian economy. With the companies come their consultants. What might be said to this businessmen and their consultants ? Might they settle down in the place despite the fact that big 4s and other big operators (Mercer, BCG...) came in a long time ago?
Jozsef Poor : This case is not unusual in our region. There are different ways for newcomer to overcome initial problems as follows:
- Foreign consultancy can serve its international client project based.
Administrative and support activities can be covered by locals.
- It can be established a joint venture with a local firm. It is not very typical in
Hungary today.
- Third option is to establish a local office or look for acquisition of a reliable local
consultancy.
Dear Joseph, I remember you, when giving your last address to your gests, speaking about being hungry, angry or from hungary... Was this word game a way to to show how hungarian people master foreign languages and then to show how open is the hungarian economy now?
Jozsef Poor : It was a simple word game.
New states are to enter the European Union next year. Some had representative persons at the FEACO - VTMSZ meeting in Budapest (Romania, Bulgaria...) Will hungarian consultants take some new responsabilities in this European integration?
Jozsef Poor : Previous it was said that the Hungarian management consultancy is market is currently considered to be the most developed one in Central and Eastern Europe. Many Hungarian firms have started to operate in the region. My case is similar with previous statement. I am actually managing a big Phare project in Romania. I spend 80% of my time on this assignment.
Finally let’s quote a statement of the Czech President, Vaclav Havel, made back at the beginning of the 1990’s: “In Central and Eastern Europe everything is possible but difficult”. If we keep this in mind during our assignments, our consulting activity will be successful in this Hungary and in this region as well.
Words collected by Bertrand Villeret
Editor in chief
ConsultingNewsLine
To know more :
www.feaco.org
www.vtmsz.hu/
http://ee.mercer.com/home.jhtml
Nota
Despite the worldwide change of name from Mercer to Oliver Wyman,
Mercer Hungary is still operating under the Mercer name
Whoswoo :
Jozsef Poor
Images :
B. Villeret pour ConsultingNewsLine. Copyright B. Villeret / Quantorg 2006
pour ConsultingNewsLine
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