Have McKinsey and its consulting rivals got too big?

Role and value of large consultancies

• Seen as providers of proven, standardized playbooks in a few key verticals; their value is industrial-scale data, benchmarking, and repeatable processes.
• Supporters argue this “template” approach works for most non‑exceptional clients and often saves far more money than it costs.
• Critics say they mostly repackage what staff already know, formalize it in decks, and bill heavily for it.

Standardization, templates, and “watch-reading”

• Many describe engagements as collecting siloed internal information, synthesizing it into a dossier, and handing it back.
• Some defend this as real value: neutral synthesis, best-practice structure, and political cover to implement obvious but contentious decisions.
• Others see it as shallow, especially in technical domains where advice can be naive or buzzword-driven.

Critiques: ethics, incentives, and accountability

• Strong focus on involvement in harmful industries (opioids, tobacco, etc.) and lack of meaningful accountability.
• Fines are viewed as small relative to profits and treated as a cost of doing business; calls for personal liability and better enforcement.
• Consulting is framed by some as a tool to enable collusion and to prioritize shareholder value over broader social outcomes.

Consulting, auditing, and market structure

• Clarification that McKinsey is not in auditing; Big 4 are.
• Firewalls between audit and consulting are widely regarded as fictional.
• Some argue oligopoly and tight ties to regulators block fresh competitors and ideas.

Impact on clients and organizational dynamics

• Consultants often function as “liability shields” and stamp of legitimacy for layoffs, reorganizations, and controversial moves.
• They are used to bypass internal politics and dysfunctional cultures rather than fix them.
• Several note that failed past engagements are quickly forgotten, so firms return repeatedly.

Economics and work model

• Strategy-only work is now a minority; bulk revenue comes from long, large-scale implementation projects with armies of juniors.
• Business model is labor arbitrage and rate multiples (reported from ~3x to 6x).
• Boutique and specialist firms claim to thrive in uncertainty by delivering concrete expertise, but pure-strategy boutiques are said to be hard businesses.

AI and technology consulting

• Big firms are aggressively selling “gen AI” projects; some insiders suspect revenue numbers are inflated via generous labeling.
• Quality of delivered AI work is mixed; some clients accept mediocre output if it “works enough.”