Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft, Band 166/2024, pp. 93-102, 2025/04/30
Band 166 (Jahresband), Wien 2024
Volume 166 (Annual volume), Vienna 2024
This paper examines the role of consulting firms in the sustainability transformation in Germany, with a particular focus on whether, to what extent and why large global pro-ducer service firms (PSFs) (such as the Big Four accountancy firms) are likely to become strategic players in this field in the future. The paper’s key findings are: 1) While current-ly many companies perform the tasks associated with sustainability transformation still in-house, and of those that outsource these tasks, a significant proportion choose small, nationally operating companies, our research reveals that in particular large corpora-tions with global operations seek out globally positioned consultancies. 2) Results also indicate that the global producer service firms will rapidly expand their market position, on the one hand because the globalisation of sustainability regulations will require ser-vice providers that can better master the resulting requirements due to their geographic organisation, and on the other hand because only large consulting firms can handle the interweaving of sustainability issues with the core business issues of companies, i.e. fi-nancial and legal issues. 3) Accordingly, sustainability services are becoming another area where global producer service firms are taking on strategic governance responsibil-ities for their clients.
Keywords: Sustainability transformation, global producer service firms (PSFs), green capitalism, Germany