Giving advice in adversity

摘要

When even consultants suggest that companies might want to spend less on consultancy, you know the industry is in for a difficult time. A recent article in the McKinsey Quorterly argues that Wall Street's ailing banks could slash up to $2 billion each from their bloated overheads without damaging employee morale. The authors, who work for McKinsey, a leading strategy-consultancy, highlight several areas that bankers could cut-including fees paid to consulting firms. Presumably this includes McKinsey, which has advised most of America's once-mighty investment banks at one time or another.rnConvulsions on Wall Street and elsewhere are grim news for the global consulting industry, which boasted $309 billion in revenues last year, according to Kennedy Information, a research firm. Financial institutions are some of the industry's biggest customers. But revenues are also under pressure in other areas. The credit crunch has cut the number and size of deals by private-equity firms, which are also big consumers of consulting services. And a decline in mergers and acquisitions means there is less demand for the nitty-gritty work of combining computer systems, a mainstay of some consultancies.rnConsultants say they have fared pretty well in the first half of 2008.