Market conditions

The furore over the evil Lord of the Dark, Sir Fred, and his dastardly plan to run off with all the loot, has served to confirm one thing above all else: the average British punter now takes matters relating to our banks very personally.  In the past, fat cats were mere symbols of what people hated – they stood for inequality, injustice and greed. Doubtless their excesses were coming at a cost to someone, but who exactly wasn’t clear, and anyway, most of us would have given our right arm for the chance to be in their position.

It's been widely reported that Volvo trucks suffered a potentially catastrophic fall in demand in the third quarter of 2008: from around 40,000 trucks a month, sales fell to around 100. Clearly, the owners of big fleets of trucks are trying to save money by running their vehicles for longer.

There's a common perception that consultants do well in a downturn.  Because they sell services rather than products, consulting firms are - the argument goes - better able to adapt what they do to, to fit changing economic circumstances.  Thus, in the good times, their focus is on growth and new markets; in bad times, it's on cost-cutting.

But perhaps consulting tells us more about the economic situation than we think.