Why no small groups in consultancy survey?

I understand that this year there will be no follow-up to the Top 100 design consultancies’ survey (DW 29 March), featuring the up and coming groups, as there has been in the past.

I am disappointed by this, as having featured in the listings for the past four years, we have had positive feedback from suppliers and clients, as well as benefitting from the boost in staff morale that comes from stepping up the ladder.

As a good guide to the middle and smaller end of our industry, it was useful for our existing clients to measure us against similar competition. I would like to know if you have plans for a similar type of profile focusing on this end of the industry, which probably accounts for a major percentage of your readership.

Simon Hutton

Managing director

To The Point

London WC1

We took the decision not to include a listing of smaller groups this year for various reasons.

Among them is the fact that it isn’t standard policy for other industry sector listings. How would the Financial Times fare, for example, if it felt obliged to list all companies as a sequel to its influential FT 500 chart?

And, of course, no such list can ever be comprehensive. As we do not supply addresses (because in the past we’ve found them to be out of date almost as soon as they have been published), it could not even function as a directory.

Smaller groups do however have a chance to shine in our survey coverage. We have cited the top ten in terms of income in different industry sectors and not all these names feature in the Top 100 chart.

As for efficiency, which we base on fee income per head of full-time staff, anyone can score here. The data supplied also helps us get a broader picture of the design industry to inform clients, politicians and the media – and we are grateful for the trouble groups like To The Point, Warner Associates and others have taken to provide it.

There are other ways in which we serve the interests of smaller groups throughout the year, not least in our news pages. But we have no plans to reinstate the second listing. Ed.