A ‘Mekko’ chart is said to have gained the name because it resembles a print developed by the Finnish Textiles and Fashion group - Marimekko. 

The chart's design shows two variables in the case of our recent briefing - the size and level of consolidation of the largest four staffing markets in Europe. Putting together such a chart using Excel 2013 is not hard. It takes just three steps and using the date from the briefing I will show you how.

Step 1 - Sort out your Data

For this chart we have the four largest staffing markets France (€20,947 million), Germany (€20,844 million), Netherlands (€14,321 million) and the UK (€28,211 million) worth in total €84,323 million; or approximate 25%, 25%, 17% and 33% each.

Then we have the combined list of firms who are in the top five for each country. There are Adecco, Manpower, Randstad, Groupe Crit, IT Staffing, Hays, Impellam, Persona, Reed, Synergie and USG People.

The data is arranged as follows (click on any of the graphics to enlarge them). 

The figures in Row 2 are derived from the market share shown above. So for example the data for France with a market share of 25%, runs from 0 to 25. The UK starts at 67 because this is cumulative market share of France, Germany and the Netherlands (25%, 25% and 17%) which comes before and runs to 100.

The company market share for each country (the Y values) is shown twice. Thus in France (Columns B & C) Adecco has a 24% market share, Manpower 20%, Randstad 15%, Group Crit 5% and Synergie 4%. None of the others firms market share is shown as they are not in the top five. However we have calculated and entered the the remaining market share for all firms in the marketplace, as follow:

Size of the total market (100%) – Top 5 Market Share (69%) = Other (31%)

Step 2 - Creating the Chart

Select all the data except that in row 1 data and create a 100% stacked area chart (Insert – All Charts – Area 100% Stacked Area. 

The chart will look like this.

Select the bottom axis and press Ctrl+1 (numeral one) to open the Format Axis dialog. Under Axis type (its at the top), change Automatically Select to Date Axis. The chart will look like this

You can then delete the data in the bottom axis (what looks like gobbledygook above), as well as the legend and chart title. You might also want to add solid line boarders as this help to visually differentiate the segments.

Step 3 – Label the diagram

My approach is to drop this chart into PowerPoint and label it there by using the add text feature. However if you want to be more sophisticated Jon Peltier has some suggestions, which you can read here.

Its as simple as that. As ever if you have any improvements to this approach please don’t hesistate to drop me a line.