The Corporations and Economic Crime Report- The Consultants, Vol.3

In South Africa, millions of people are bearing the brunt of state capture, mismanagement, and widespread impunity. The consequences are rolling-blackouts, endemic corruption, and a perpetually worsening crisis. Often forgotten, is the role played by management consultants to the crisis we find ourselves in.

In many ways, the infiltration of the state by private interest, using management consultancies, is emblematic of the anti-democratic capture of the state for the benefit of private powerful elites. Globally, it facilitates lucrative extraction of fees for the consultants but usually leaves little but losses to be borne by the public.

In The Corporations and Economic Crime: The Consultants, Open Secrets profiles three companies that occupy immensely influential seats at the tables of the world’s most powerful corporations and governments: McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company,  and, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). If we are to understand this moment, both in South Africa and beyond, an evaluation of the destructive power of these three consulting giants is pivotal.