Money Talks: Managing the consultants

<p>The image of management consultants has taken a pounding in recent years, giving the industry a reputation for unscrupulousness on par with investment bankers. And a recent difficulties and controversies at the three most prestigious firms - McKinsey, Bain and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), known collectively as MBB - hasn’t exactly helped the perception that they serve mostly to bamboozle CEOs while collecting fat fees. Can the industry be reformed?</p><br><p>On this week’s episode, hosts Mike Bird, Alice Fulwood and Soumaya Keynes are joined by our global business correspondent Thomas Lee Devlin to find out more about the <a href="https://www.economist.com/business/2022/10/04/where-next-for-managements-consiglieri?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=moneytalks&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">booming business for advice</a>, and the problems that bedevilling the industrry. They also speak with New York Times journalists Michael Forsythe and Walt Bogdanich about their newly-published book, “When McKinsey Comes to Town”, looking at failures at the most prestigious consultancy, McKinsey - failures that McKinsey says misrepresent its business.&nbsp;</p><br><p>Sign up for our new weekly newsletter dissecting the big themes in markets, business and the economy at <a href="www.economist.com/moneytalks" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.economist.com/moneytalks</a><a href="https://www.economist.com/moneytalks/?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=moneytalks&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a></p><p>For full access to print, digital and audio editions, subscribe to <em>The Economist </em>at <a href="http://www.economist.com/podcastoffer?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=moneytalks&amp;utm_content=disc