Heads: Business Lessons from an Executive Search Pioneer

CHAPTER 8EXECUTIVE SEARCH TODAY

FRAGMENTATION AND REGROUPING

Since its modern inception in the 1960s, the executive search field has been dominated by five firms: Korn/Ferry International, Heidrick & Struggles, Spencer Stuart, Russell Reynolds Associates (RRA), and Egon Zehnder. Alongside these firms, a small number of midsize firms and many boutique firms have sprung up. In the past decade and a half, many of these smaller firms have combined into worldwide groups or networks sharing the same brand name.

This consolidation gained impetus during the ravages of the 2008 financial crisis and protracted downturn. While statistics on the industry are hard to come by due to fragmentation and the large number of privately held firms, the Association ...