Rip-Off! The Scandalous Inside Story of the Management Consulting Money Machine

By David Craig

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1872188060
• ISBN13: 9781872188065
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Original Book Company
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Sadly True

This is one of the most interesting "inside story" published in a book about the so called Management Consulting / Business Consulting firms. It is an eye opener for the clients who hire such firms/individuals to scrutinise those firms/individuals and make sure they are getting what they are paying for and not just pre-written texts that are now available to anyone with an internet connection and a credit card.

Interesting Read

The book provides some interesting insights into the consultancy business. It highlights some shortcomings about the services that consultants provide. The book is well written in simple and easy to follow language and style. Readers who have had experience working with consultants are likely to relate to some shortcomings highlighted in the book. The book should be of interest to a wide readership including consultants, companies wishing to engage consultants, academics in the field and analysts as well as any reader wishing to be acquainted with the workings of consultants. Good consultants would no doubt be happy to guard against the failures highlighted in the book, of failing to provide practical workable advice and guidance to clients at reasonable fees. Managers in organizations would learn about more pragmatic ways to manage the relationship with consultants and ensure that they get value for their money. Students of the profession will learn some of the shortcomings that they need to avoid if they are to establish a trusting and mutually beneficial relationship with clients. For the unethical consultants, well, the secrets of your tricks have been revealed, so it is time to change and avoid shaming a good and worthwhile profession. I should also say that I have witnessed some excellent consultants that have done a wonderful job of turning some organizations around and saving the livelihoods of thousands of employees. At the end of the day, we have to appreciate that consultants give advice to change or improve a situation but have no direct control over the implementation.

A must read for anyone interested in business or politics

Great - I laughed and winced at the same time. It's all too horribly true. Buyers of consultancy are spending shareholders' and taxpayers' money, not their own. They have a duty to make sure that they are getting value from it. Often, they are not. As quoted from the FT, "No company or government department should let a management consultant through the door until they have read this book from cover to cover. Twice."

it had to be said

Reviewer: A reader from United Kingdom Wish I'd had this a few years back. Press officers need to be as cynical as the journalists they work with, and working in this role with blue-chip companies there's plenty to be cynical about. I witnessed first hand some of the tactics in Mr Craig's book, particularly the management fads, first hand. I watched as companies' people were faced with, and confused and demotivated by, complete tosh whilst customers were left floundering. I hid, literally, from consultants who said that a company's PR people were its 'most important' and that they would be 'spending lots of time with me' (they say that to all the girls). I was angered most by the management that soaked up this rubbish (the MBAs being the biggest culprits, a subject also covered in 'Rip-off') and accused freethinkers of being negative whilst we tried to keep their businesses going. Where were you when we needed you most Mr Craig?