The big con: how the consulting industry weakens our businesses, infantilises our governments and warps our economies

Abstract

This timely book is focused on the use of large national and international management con-sultancies, often o ff ering one-size-fi ts-all, o ff -the-peg packages or ‘ pre-cooked ’ approaches, even though previous research has revealed that, in the public services at least, have made little or no signi fi cant impact (Kirkpatrick et al. 2018). One estimate quoted in the book suggests that the UK public sector alone awarded £2.8 billion in consulting contracts in 2022 – up some 75% on 2019 spending. Revans (2011), was typically scathing about: The undue intervention of experts carrying no personal responsibility for real life actions. It is at best, ambiguous, in general opinionative, and at worst, reactionary.