McKinsey could use some advice- on strategy

 McKinsey has, for some years now, often been making news for quite the wrong reasons. It was in the news when its former partner, Rajat Gupta, went to jail on insider trading charges. It got mixed up with the wrong people in its business in South Africa. It was embroiled in the opiods scandal in the US. There are a few more items on the list.

Currently, it is in the news because it has offered paid leave of several months to those who would like to look for jobs outside the firm. Quite plainly, it wants to shrink. Nothing wrong with that, you would say, except that people expect experts in strategy to plan their growth to avoid hiccups such as largish layoffs. McKinsey's problems, columnist Schumpeter argued in the Economist, arise from having grown far too big to be manageable. It needs to shrink. 

There are other problems, some of which are spelt out in another article.  Strategy, which was the main business for McKinsey, accounts for 10 per cent of its business now. Other businesses, such as digitisation of businesses and ESG, are prone to ups and downs and this renders consultants' businesses cyclical. That means there will be both hiring and firing as in investment banks. A third problem is that, with globalisation in reverse gear, overseas businesses, notably the one in China, may come under stress. Finally, businesses have their own large complements of MBAs now and may not be so much in need of strategy. What they want is people who will implement strategy, produce improvements in operations and profits and help them stay one jump ahead of competition in technology.

McKinsey will have to manage growth hereafter at a pace that helps it preserve its culture and identity. It will have to reinvent itself in ways that help it to remain relevant. In short, it needs to think through its own strategy.