The international competitiveness of German consulting engineering: results of an international benchmarking study

German consulting engineering firms currently face great difficulties in competing in globalised markets. They are comparatively small. This article asks what the reasons for this situation are and whether there are options for political assistance to help the trade -- perhaps Germany can learn from other countries -- and describes the results of a benchmarking study which compares the situation of German firms with that of companies in the US, UK and France. The factors that may possibly be important for international competitiveness are analysed. The main result of the study is that the present weakness of German consulting engineering is caused by their lack of adaptation to the needs of the new globalised markets. German firms suffer now from the rather good and secure business opportunities which they have enjoyed during the phase of ‘Aufbau Ost’ in eastern Germany in the 1990s. They have somewhat missed the restructuring that became necessary. Hence, German consulting engineering has to do the bulk of restructuring itself in order to become competitive again.