Abstract
The National Consulting Index (NCI®) is the revenue contribution of the management consulting sector (MCS) to a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). It is a useful metric that allows for a comparative analysis of the strength of an MCS in one country with others. This index was created by the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI) eight years ago and has developed to hold significance in the global management consulting landscape.
This paper provides a data- driven analysis which looks at the correlation between the NCI® and seventeen other global indexes of country-by-country characteristics. The analysis revealed a noteworthy correlation between the NCI® and six of these indexes. These were the Corruption Perceptions Index, GDP per capita, the Human Development Index, the Index of Economic Freedom, the Global Innovation Index and Hofstede’s Individualism. The paper makes recommendations for further research around the NCI and correlation testing with other global indexes.
Introduction
The National Consulting Index (NCI®) is a measure of the relative strength of a country’s management consulting sector, compared to the country’s overall economy. NCI® is calculated by dividing the $ value of a country’s management consulting sector by the $ size of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The NCI® was first developed by the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI) in 2018, as part of the Institute’s work as a leader in the development of management consulting as a global profession (Haslam, Bodenstein, Abdel-Jaber, 2018).
The research firm, Source Global Research (SGR) estimated that in 2024 management consulting was a US$337billion worldwide industry. This meant the global NCI® figure was approximately 0.30% as global GDP was US$111trillion (Blackman, Abdel-Jaber, Haslam, 2025). Whereas as this global data is a useful general benchmark, the NCI® project seeks to look at national variances - on a country-by-country basis the NCI® varies enormously. Over the past eight years, the ICMCI has expanded its data set and refined thinking on how the NCI® can be used. This paper looks at the country-by-country variances in the NCI® and tests these variances with other country-by-country data. As such, this research seeks to illuminate the conditions in which a management consulting sector may flourish. The central question that has guided this research is therefore ‘what are the national characteristics and conditions that align with a strong national management consulting sector?’
Research Method
This is a data-driven analysis of 35 different countries, during which the correlation of NCI® was tested against 17 other countrywide characteristics and performance indexes. A data-driven approach was deemed essential for this research in order to provide a robust foundation to the findings as well a methodological transparency (for other researchers to validate the results and possibly extend the study). Collectively the 35 countries selected for this study cover a range of continents, cultures, economic structures, stages of maturity and size.
Read the full NCI 2026 Summary titled:
Exploring the National Consulting Index (NCI)®: Indicators of a Strong Management Consulting Sector.