Cette seconde edition reprend dans sa premiere partie (421 pages) la trame elaboree deja en 1998 pour la partie France et fait un point complet et detaille du metier de Conseil en Recherche de Dirigeants en France, a travers une analyse approfondie et precise de 63 cabinets d'Executive Search retenus par l'auteur, avec une biographie pour tous les Dirigeants et Consultants mentionnes dans l'etude (415 Professionnels de la Search). Trois cabinets d'Interim Management sont egalement presentes & analyses. La seconde partie de l'ouvrage (363 pages) est consacree d'une part aux grands reseaux d'Executive Search Europeens et Internationaux et d'autre part fournit une information detaillee de type annuaire sur 250 cabinets ou bureaux, et ce, dans 20 pays Europeens en dehors de la France. L'ouvrage d'un format 210 x 270 comprend 784 pages et existe en francais ou en anglais. L'etude realisee par Patrick James Bruneteau, Conseil en Recherche de Dirigeants depuis dix huit ans successivement Dirigeant du Cabinet PJB International Management puis de B & Associes depuis 1996 reprend la formule de la precedente edition et l'enrichit de nouveaux chapitres sur la maniere de travailler avec un cabinet et/ou un Consultant, une bibliographie elargie avec commentaires de l'auteur et une serie d'articles emanant de quelques grands tenors de l'approche directe tant francais qu'anglo-saxons. L'ouvrage contient egalement deux enquetes realisees au debut de l'annee 2000 aupres de 1.000 Dirigeants d'entreprises & de groupes et de plus de 80 Dirigeants de Cabinets personnellement rencontres et interviewes par l'auteur. Un CD-ROM accompagne l'ouvrage et introduit l'etude tout en proposant a l'utilisateur de se promener sur une cinquantaine de Web sites de cabinets francais & anglo-saxons. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The work you are reading is the second edition of a study of Direct Approach firms in France in the year 2000, with a supplement on European firms. Excellent guides and directories already exist in the market and lie within easy reach, on every human resources and recruitment professional's desk. The purpose of this study is both different and complementary. Different, because the goal is not to draw up an exhaustive list of all recruitment firms in France (there are currently about 1,350) but to focus intentionally on a small minority - Direct Approach firms working in the Top and Senior Management segment. Complementary too, because much information in this study is not, or only barely, mentioned in other works, especially the market analysis approach. Some excellent European studies on Executive Search firms (particularly that of Nancy Garisson Jenn / Executive Search in Europe, 1999 edition) do exist, but our work focuses on the French market and more specifically on the men and women, the trends, the ideas rather than on somewhat unreliable figures. Why such a study, and whom is it for? The author has been in the Executive Search (or Direct Approach) trade for the past seventeen years and has a passion for his work, the people he works with and the individuals he meets (clients, candidates and colleagues), and was driven by the need to discuss this long-undiscovered profession, one which is often misrepresented by the media, the desire to provide Management Executives, investors, management boards, all professionals, and managers in search of a new challenge, with thought-inspiring, analytical, concise work that not only makes it possible to choose an Executive Search professional but also to have, at a given moment in time, a clear picture of a small world reserved for those who most often accept high-level responsibilities in French and foreign companies and groups. Which procedure did we choose for this survey? The project was born of its author's imagination on a beautiful day in July 1997. The first edition saw the light of day on October 20th 1998 and the English version two months later. Executive Search firms, Organization and Strategy firms, Top School Associations as well as a significant number (several hundred) of managers of leading French and Anglo-Saxon companies greeted this first book in a way that confirmed that there was a need for information on the trade and that we had partly met their expectations. Based on this initial experience, we decided bring out a second edition in the Spring of 2000 in which an addition on Europe would be included, as many companies apparently wished to be better informed on existing partners and networks in the Old World. Just as in 1998, we proceeded with a preliminary analysis of various firms in the trade which could be considered for our study, based on their practice of direct approach. Then came the pre-selection of firms who could be included based on previously-established criteria. This enabled us to update a database which included 114 firms in late 1999. At the same time, a questionnaire was drawn up and sent to 1000 companies President GM, AGM, HRM) betwe