Knowledge@ASB: Corporate Co-Dependency

Do management consultants have a stranglehold on corporate strategy? Some chief executives and boards may be too reliant on consultants to provide advice at the expense of developing skills within their senior management teams. Alarm bells should ring when the outsiders start calling the shots in companies or when high-potential managers see career opportunities effectively outsourced to a consultant. However, serious risks also exist on the other side of the relationship, warns Graham Bradley, president of the Business Council of Australia. Consultants who become rusted onto management are not only in danger of becoming overly dependent on one income stream, but may one day find themselves dismissed as an overhead.