FEACO, the European Federation of Management Consulting Associations, which was founded in 1960, actively supported the European cooperation of management consultancies. The internet and social media did not exist that time. In 1992, in Crans-Montana (Switzerland), FEACO launched the new FEACO working party «Small Tops» to complement the existing international «large one» working party. The initiant was Prof. Dr. André C. Wohlgemuth CMC, who later organised several «Small Top meetings» (e.g. in Rome and Brussels) under the FEACO umbrella.
The goal was to create the first long-term, competitive European network of independent, highly qualified, small management consultancies. It aimed to offer an attractive alternative to large management consulting firms, targeting internationally operating clients, such as corporations, family-owned firms and NPOs etc.
The Independent Management Consultancies Network was founded in Brussels by nine members on 3rd September 1994 (2 Germany, Italy, 2 United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Belgium, Slovak Republic and Switzerland). The IMCN had and still has a clear and professional criteria of membership, with all members undertaking a challenging admission procedure and pledginge to the professional Code of Conduct of Management Consultants. The responsible person of the member firm contributes actively to the good governance of the IMCN and has proved entrepreneurial spirit.
The IMCN is continuously developing and adapting in order to serve its clients' best interests. It held its first international client conference in Paris in 1997 and its first website was built in 1998/99 and is continuously renovated. The IMCN took a prominent platform and role at the Management Consulting World Conference in Berlin (5.10.2000) while the first M&A-workshop was held in Austria 2010. From 2003 to 2013, Hong Kong joined the IMCN as a Global Member, and from 2008 to 2013, the US also joined as a Global Member. In 2015, long-standing Norwegian member, Collusor, and its responsible person, Trond Parelius Johnsen, became the first honorary member of the IMCN. Based on continuous knowledge sharing and Europe-wide cooperations, as well as experiences with numerous cross-border assignments, many IMCN tools and useful products have been developed and are at the disposal of member consultants. 2019 the IMCN celebrates its 25th anniversary and renews its strategy for the future of the network (2020/21). The completion of this process was made visible to the public in 2021 through a new three-member governing body, the IMCN board. The chairman of the IMCN since 1994, André Wohlgemuth, was appointed honorary chairman by the members in 2021. In 2023, the Annual Meeting (Oslo) was opened up to all consultants from the member companies for the first time and thus greatly expanded. For its 30th anniversary in Lisbon (2024), the network was constituted as an association under Swiss law.
Every year, IMCN members meet for at least a two-day event with partners and clients alternately in a member country. The aim of these meetings is for knowledge-sharing, business development and quality assurance within the IMCN. Annual meetings have been held in Brussels (1994-97, 1999), London (1998), Milan (2000), Zurich (2001), Paris (2002), Athens (2003), Cambridge (2004), Vienna (2005), Lisbon (2006), Frankfurt (2007), Oslo (2007), London (2008), Rotterdam (2009), Düsseldorf (2010), Hong Kong (2011), Malmö (2012), Paris (2013), Frankfurt (2014), Milan (2015), Warsaw (2016), Lisbon (2017), Athens (2018), Barcelona (2019), virtual (2020), Vienna (2021), Bologna (2022), Oslo (2023) and in Lisbon (2024).
Market studies confirm the importance of reliable networks for the management consulting profession and for management consulting clients. It is an enduring trend in the management consulting industry, which remains extremely dynamic. Since the beginning in 1994, the IMCN has been cited several times as a successful management consulting network in public, and also in academic media. IMCN members have often been awarded (e.g. winning awards for delivering highest value to clients, beeing one of the best consultancies in a field of IMCN specialisations, honorary membership of management consulting associations).
Country | Firm | CEO | Member until |
---|---|---|---|
The Netherlands | Van Oortmerssen Organisatie-Advies | Willem Van Oortmerssen | 2023 |
Finland | Karme Consulting Oy | Kim Karme | 2022 |
Austria | ALCEDO Unternehmensberatung | Wolfgang Moser | 2019 |
Sweden | Cordial | Linus Malmberg | 2017 |
Poland | APAX Consulting Group | Dariusz Brzeziñski | 2017 |
Italy | METHODOS | Sabrina Paladini | 2017 |
Denmark | Oleto Associates | Ole Toft | 2016 |
Germany | IFM Institut für Managementberatung | Rolf Heeb | 2016 |
Austria | imPlus Unternehmensentwicklung | Thomas Böckle | 2016 |
France | Altaïr Conseil | Bruno Gourévitch | 2015 |
United Kingdom | Business Transformation | Michael Wellin | 2015 |
Poland | Augeo Ventures | Dariusz M. Budzen | 2013 |
Sweden | XLNS Consulting | Björn H. Lindbäck | 2013 |
USA | The Normandy Group (Global member) |
Charles C. Burke | 2013 |
Hong Kong (China) | K K Yeung Management Consultants (Global member) | K K Yeung | 2013 |
Spain | Metanomia Consultoria Estratégica | Edmond Ayoub | 2013 |
Italy | Diodovich | Nicola Diodovich | 2011 |
United Kingdom | Touchstone Renard | Philip Austin | 2009 |
Portugal | CEV - Consultores em Engenharia do Valor | Maria José Pita | 2009 |
Belgium | CODEPRO | Paul Van der Elst | 2007 |
Belgium | Comase Management Consulting | Jean-Luc Henry | 2006 |
Italy | Butera e Partners | Federico Butera | 2006 |
United Kingdom | ER Consultants | Mark Goodridge / Ann Gammie |
2006 |
Greece | TEC Consultants | Pantelis Koukos | 2005 |
Germany | Hans Eßer & Partner | Hans Eßer | 2004 |
Sweden | LGM / Moncura | Lars-Gunnar Mannersjö / Alf Glückman | 2002 |
Italy | ORGA | Pierluigi Malinverni | 2002 |
Greece | Indeco Management Consultants | Nikolaos Papadopoulos | 2002 |
The Netherlands | AO, Adviseurs voor Organisatiewerk | Frits van den Berg | 2001 |
Denmark | Simonsen Management | Erik Heidemann Simonsen | 2001 |
Germany | Walter Skarka Unternehemensberatung | Walter Skarka | 1999 |
United Kingdom | MMM Consultancy Group | Tony Wright | 1998 |
Slovak Republic | TIP Consulting Agency | Zdenek Znamenacek | 1998 |
Italy | Pegaso Consulting | Furio Patri | 1997 |
The IMCN is always interested in strengthening its network and striving for qualitative growth. We appreciate feedback from member clients and potential clients and are open to fruitful dialogue. Potential members are invited to contact the network secretariat.