Thursday 3rd Apr, 2014
By Fiona Czerniawska Ever since the deal between PwC and Booz & Company was announced in late 2013, there’s been speculation about the latter’s new name (when Booz & Company separated from Booz Allen Hamilton back in 2008 it agreed that, in the event it was acquired/merged, it would surrender its name within 90 days).
Friday 1st Nov, 2013
“M&A deals reduce competition and distract consultants from what should be their primary focus; their clients.” Those views, of a senior executive we spoke to last year, are pretty typical: deals between big firms don’t add value to clients; if anything, they destroy it.
Thursday 31st Oct, 2013
By Fiona Czerniawska Yesterday’s announcement, that PwC and Booz & Company have signed a conditional merger agreement, comes as something of a relief. The consulting industry has been awash with rumours, some intriguing, some bizarre, since the summer and now – finally – there’s something concrete to react to.
Friday 27th Sep, 2013
We were impressed by Greenwich Consulting. We speak to somewhere in the region of 300 consulting firms in the course of our research every year and occasionally a firm stands out for one reason or another. Greenwich stood out.
Monday 16th Sep, 2013
The Big Four firms’ consulting practices have always been closely intertwined with the fortunes of the financial services industry.
Wednesday 14th Aug, 2013
When Deloitte bought Monitor back in January, we posited publicly that an acquisitions arms race might ensue. Deloitte's move, we suggested, breached the walls of fortress strategy and opened up the possibility that the Big Four would pour through the hole.
Monday 18th Mar, 2013
By Fiona Czerniawska Now would be a good time. In our peregrinations through the offices of the world’s consulting firms, the talk is all about consolidation. That’s neither new nor surprising. It has escaped no one’s attention that the pace of organic growth in many markets won’t meet consulting firms’ ambitions. The acquisition of boutique firms by bigger ones is an important way in which the latter build their capabilities in specialist areas. Supply-side fragmentation results in diseconomies of scale; internecine competition is bringing down margins.
Friday 7th Dec, 2012
Deloitte’s acquisition of Monitor (see my previous post) may have unintended consequences, a bit like that apocryphal butterfly which, flapping its delicate wings on one side of the world, triggers a hurricane on the other. Deloitte may be being unusually quiet about the move, but it’s provoked widespread discussion right across the consulting industry. Why?
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