The Consulting Chasm

In a volatile market, strategy from an industrial era perspective is a work of fiction. In fact it always has been. As Mike Tyson once pointed out, the plan goes out the window when you receive your first smack in the head.

But perhaps there was a degree of honour involved in industrial era strategy? Perhaps as a young adult looking to find a life partner you may feel obligated to pursue a relationship despite clearly better propositions within your social circle? But this is the real world and not a British period drama and so concepts such as long-term and certainty no longer apply.

This is a problem for the strategic consulting players who have made large sums of money spending large periods of time creating large strategies often based on the conditions that existed in an earlier commercial epoch.

So what might follow the collapse of consulting?

• One option is for those who have previously provided the operational services defined by the newly baked strategy to move up the value stack.
• Another is for the consulting industry to cannibalise itself and go retail; thus trading margin for volume.

I can see both happening. It is both interesting and impressive to see how some of the big players are adjusting to the new world. In fact their experiences could well prove valuable to organisations facing similar market disruption.