consulting - you answer to both your organization and the client. however, you take no credit when the client succeeds but all the sh*t if something goes wrong.

banking - you just answer to your own organization. in fact, you might even get the opportunity to own a project and boss consultants around. take almost all the credit in the event of success and just little responsibility if things fail. consultants can be used as ur bullet-proof vest, similar concept to what was brought up by another poster previously.

take note that most consultants are dying to exit into the industry (ergo be the client themselves)

If its off the mark, couldnt you share your findings as well to steer it close to the mark? After all those external consultants and whatnots would usually work closely with you, bothering your everyday with interviews about your process and your thoughts right? Or do they lock themselves in 1 of your meeting rooms and dont talk to you guys to collect information at all? If its the latter, then your company has hired consultants who dont know what they are doing.

Take no credit? You sure about that? Consultancies have come a long way since the good old "claim no credits" days. For example, consultancies are now proud to announce that they are partners-working alongside big clients in order to attain some of that halo effect. It makes for good credentials as well, imagine you are running a travel company-1 of the biggest names now, and your competitor just hired mckinsey for consulting and revamp of their program management system. Would you be worried? Would you want to hire mckinsey or another 1 of mckinsey's competitor?

Take another example, if you are running a company not in the travel industry but closely related, and you have witnessed great success from that mckinsey engagement. Would you not try to hire mckinsey as well?

In Singapore at least, consultancies are always proud to announce that they are partnering with governmental organisations in delivering positive impact to citizens.

Yes, we do that all the time. Between all the incessant fact finding, explanations, breaking down of internal processes and meetings with them, we really might as well do the work ourselves. We'll probably get it done faster than the consulting team if that was the only thing we had on our plate.

Strictly speaking, we can do have the brainpower to do the work ourselves, just that it is sometimes more cost effective and time-saving to outsource one off projects externally. In my experience with various engagements, there's really not much knowledge transfer though because the consulting methodologies are by no means groundbreaking. I recognise that this is industry specific though so probably some sectors benefit more from consultants than others.

again, consultancies are awarded no credit. ergo, they have to toot their own horns like what you said. even so, they have to clear with their clients first (e.g. not delving into too much specifics).

let me give u an example. sg govt has many consultancies on their payroll (for digital transformation - singpass project and ns portal; as well as advice on covid mgmt etc). ever heard them mentioning any? nope. mostly it’s just this committee or that ministry, no one gives them credit for a job well done. on the flip side, if sh*t hits the fan, you will see all the arrows flying out on print media.

Very insightful. Really dont get what’s with all the ‘glamour’ in consulting. Personally, as long as I love my job and it enables me to live comfortably without sacrificing too much WLB, I’m happy.

Heard of too many stories of how these high-flying jobs in finance/strat consulting led to a deterioration of mental/physical health as well as personal relationships. Not my cup of tea, but too each it’s own.

Yes, but does the methodology or consultancy given by mckinsey really make the company do well by making tons of $$$ ? (taking away on the part of external "validation" )

if so, shouldn't all the small start-up company engage mckinsey and will become successful overnight because of strategy provided by them.

If so, ex-mckinsey team could just come out open their own start-up and potentially become the next google, amazon, etc

Firstly, not every start up has the budget to engage MBB. Secondly, MBB will not waste time on small engagements when they have bigger fish to fry. Thirdly, most startups are run by founders who actually more or less understand the business they're building.

The consultants only come in when companies start to get large and bloated and the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Notice a pattern? Yes, essentially its the blind leading the blind.


A major reason why strategy consulting is being criticised is because it is rather difficult to quantify the value that they bring. Hence giving rise to suspicion that they're peddling no more than a few slide decks thrown together at exorbitant prices.

As for your last point, many MBB alumni are indeed parachuted into high growth companies, with mixed success. After all, its very easy to be a third party commentator but not so easy to run the ship. A rough analogy can be seen in politics - it's very easy to be an opposition party, but when you're actually in government, guess what, you actually have to deliver results.

Having worked at both Accenture and JPM, I strongly suggest your go for banking tech unless the bank who offered you is working with legacy tech

Yep you just gave more examples to the reasons why consultancies exists.

You mentioned "We'll probably get it done faster than the consulting team if that was the only thing we had on our plate.". Consultancies exists because employees have their own roles and responsibilities to fulfill on a daily basis and have little to no time or manpower to work on projects which are related to streamlining efficiency. If you can get rid of this problem then good for you, if not then you jolly well have to accept them around.

You mentioned "it is sometimes more cost effective and time-saving to outsource...". This is another reason why consultancies exist. They know that businesses cannot afford to hire a group of internal change managers on a fulltime basis just to tackle 1 particular inefficiency in the business. So unless you can get rid of this problem entirely, consultancies are here to stay.

Yep what consultancies do may not be groundbreaking but they are still needed in today's corporate world. The part they play is still substantial and sustainable to businesses everywhere.