I can't seem to wonder whether the business model of strategy or management consultancies is actually going to last in China. Recalling that management consultancies like McKinsey, BCG and such were once founded in order to offer firms advice, as well as to save costs by not having to hire a bunch of highly qualified people permanently, but by only taking them on for one project, more and more companies seem to have realised that this equation does not always pay out.
This is even obvious in the West, were many firms have, quite successful, set up their own in-house consultancies (i.e. Siemens Management Consulting).
In China the situation is even more severe, because the rates top consultancies charge are, relative to the cost structures in China, even more extreme. Consultancies have thus often focused on international firms in China, rather than local firms. On top of that Chinese firms are generally skeptical as to whether or not a US or European led consultancy does really know how to do business in China.
It will therefore be interesting to see what the future brings for these firms and if a Chinese management consultancy will make it to the ranks of the international elite.
There is a big market in China!
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