CEB's new offerings eye government agencies, SMEs

Membership fee of Rs 15 lakh anually

Corporate Executive Board (CEB), the Rs 2,500 crore human resource (HR) and finance consulting firm, is planning to introduce new research programmes for government agencies and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

According to Shaurav Sen, MD, CEB, “We are thinking of introducing new research areas and consulting verticals. The small and medium businesses is a growing segment. Usually, companies within Rs 2,500 crore turnover are the ones we consider as SMEs. Also, human resource (HR) and finance consultation are as much required by government agencies as the big corporates. So the decision to create these new verticals.”

“We always use real life case studies from our member companies while suggesting improvements to our other members. Real life case studies always come with better insights into problem solving and tackling situations, given any economic situation. So what one company to overcome a situation could be considered by some other company also given the similar situation and size of the company,” Sen said.

In over 40 countries, CEB has a total member base of 5,000 while in India it has over 25 member companies. CEB is targeting around 200 members by end-2010. Each member company has to pay a membership fee of around Rs 15 lakh annually and can avail all of CEB's services throughout the year.

CEB does not charge its member companies on per project basis, unlike other consultation companies. CEB currently has 200 employees in India and 2,000 employees globally, involved in carrying out research and building case studies.

“We expect a flat growth in revenues this year or perhaps a decline. This is because we lost 30-40 clients during this downturn as they closed offices. We are also facing problems getting new clients as most companies have gone into cost-saving mode.

Around 75 per cent of our members are in US and Europe, where the recession has hit hard,” Sen said. CEB currently has office in Gurgaon in India and has plans to expand in Mumbai and Chennai, depending on business generated here.