It's not everyday that my words are taken as an official explanation. Thank you.

Kidding aside, I do see that some (not all) conglomerate business owners don't quite understand the need to pay for management consulting. I see this attitude mostly among the founders. Perhaps it is a generation gap, as many of their sons and daughters that are now running the business are more welcoming to us.

As for outrageous amounts of consulting fees, I think both parties bear the responsibility for it because it takes two to tango. MBB, the place I worked for included, do on occasions make a mountain of a problem out of a mole hill... on the initial proposal. But we are always open to negotiate on work scope so long as it still allows us to work towards a proper recommendation.

On your comment re: consulting as an insurance business, I concur. True story: we were once retained by a major bank in a neighboring country to help assess a rather large loan request... by providing a perspective on the business that the loan was intended for. This is puzzling because a major bank should be able to review this on its own. It turns out that it is not a question of capability, but rather one of integrity. Apparently, the bank did not trust its own loan review team for fear they could be influenced (read: bribed) by stakeholders. In their mind, since MBB consultants are paid high salaries, we are less likely to engage in shady side deals.