International executive search firm Norman Broadbent’s investment in three diverse new business ventures, announced yesterday, should give it the ability “to weather turns in the market”, according its chief executive Sue O’Brien (pictured left). 

As Recruiter reported yesterday, Norman Broadbent has acquired majority stakes in board level leadership consulting and executive search firm Acker Deboek, and a new social media consultancy subsidiary. It also plans to launch a new mid-market business.

O’Brien explains the strategic thinking behind the investments. She tells Recruiter: “If you just have a recruitment business, it tends to be peaks and troughs. Having the individual businesses individually led, separately branded and well run should give you the ability to weather the turns in the market, and that is exactly the strategy we are following.” 

Although she says Broadbent’s executive search business “will always be the jewel in the crown of the business” and probably remain “dominant” in terms of turnover, “the new businesses will certainly improve the turnover of the business as a whole … That’s the diversity effect,” she adds.