The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies

The consulting industry has a strong relationship with business and government management, which must change. Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington's book "The Big Con" describes how this industry performs a confidence trick on governments and firms, hindering innovation, accountability, and climate breakdown. They argue for investment and collective intelligence within all organizations and communities and for a new system that prioritizes the common good.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 368 pages
Publication date: 29 February 2024
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

The consulting industry has a deeply entrenched relationship with the way business and government are managed today, which requires a significant shift. Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington's research reveals that the reliance on companies like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and EY stifles innovation, obscures corporate and political accountability, and hinders our collective efforts to address climate breakdown. The book "The Big Con" aptly describes the confidence trick that the consulting industry perpetrates in contracts with hollowed-out and risk-averse governments and shareholder value-maximizing firms. This phenomenon emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, fueled by reforms enacted by both neoliberal right-wingers and Third Way progressives. It thrives on the ills of modern capitalism, including financialization, privatization, and the climate crisis. The Big Con is enabled by the unique power that big consultancies wield through extensive contracts and networks, as well as the illusion that they are objective sources of expertise and capacity. Furthermore, our best and brightest graduates are often lured away from public service into consulting, further perpetuating this cycle.

In conclusion, the Big Con undermines the strength of businesses, infantilizes governments, and distorts economies. Mazzucato and Collington's insightful research provides a compelling argument for investing in collective intelligence within all organizations and communities and for creating a new system that fosters collaboration between the public and private sectors for the common good. We must recalibrate the role of consultants and rebuild economies and governments that are designed to serve the needs of society.

Weight: 270g
Dimension: 198 x 129 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781802060263