Skip to main content
Log in

The Big Con: how the consulting industry weakens our businesses, infantilizes our governments and warps our economies

By Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington Allen Lane, UK, 2023, 344 pp., ISBN 978-0593492673

  • Book Review
  • Published:
Journal of International Business Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  • Ashley, L., Boussebaa, M., Friedman, S., Harrington, B., Heusinkveld, S., Gustafsson, S., & Muzio, D. (2023). Professions and inequality: Challenges, controversies, and opportunities. Journal of Professions and Organization, 10(1), 80–98. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpo/joac014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boussebaa, M. (2015). Control in the multinational enterprise: The polycentric case of global professional service firms. Journal of World Business, 50(4), 696–703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2014.11.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boussebaa, M. (2023). Decolonizing international business. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 19(4), 550–565. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-12-2022-0121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boussebaa, M., & Faulconbridge, J. (2019). Professional service firms as agents of economic globalization: A political perspective. Journal of Professions and Organization, 6(1), 72–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buckley, P. J. (2011). The theory of international business pre-Hymer. Journal of World Business, 46(1), 61–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buckley, P. J., Doh, J. P., & Benischke, M. (2017). Towards a renaissance in international business research? Big questions, grand challenges, and the future of IB scholarship. Journal of International Business Studies, 48(9), 1045–1064.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eden, L., & Lenway, S. (2001). Introduction to the symposium multinationals: The Janus face of globalization. Journal of International Business Studies, 32(3), 383–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleming, P. (2023). Never let a good crisis go to waste: How consulting firms are using COVID-19 as a Pretext to Transform Universities and Business School Education. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 22(3), 425–438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabbioneta, C., Faulconbridge, J. R., Currie, G., et al. (2019). Inserting professionals and professional organizations in studies of wrongdoing: The nature, antecedents and consequences of professional misconduct. Human Relations, 72(11), 1707–1715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, R., Morris, T., Fairclough, S., & Boussebaa, M. (2010). The organizational design of transnational professional service firms. Organizational Dynamics, 39(2), 173–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2010.01.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurl, C., & Vogelpohl, A. (2021). Professional service firms and politics in a global era: Public policy, private expertise.

  • Kirkpatrick, I., Sturdy, A. J., Alvarado, N. R., & Veronesi, G. (2023). Beyond hollowing out: Public sector managers and the use of external management consultants. Public Administration Review, 83(3), 537–551. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13612

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKenna, C. (2006). The world’s newest profession. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ndikumana, L., & Boyce, J. K. (Eds.). (2022). On the trail of capital flight from Africa: The takers and the enablers. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petitet, V. (2007). Enchantement et domination: le management de la docilité dans les organisations, analyse d’un cabinet de conseil. Éditions des Archives contemporaines.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seabrooke, L., & Sending, O. J. (2022). Consultancies in public administration. Public Administration. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12844

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sikka, P., & Willmott, H. (2013). The tax avoidance industry: Accountancy firms on the make. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 9(4), 415–443.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tung, R. L. (2023). To make JIBS matter for a better world. Journal of International Business Studies, 54, 1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vogelpohl, A., Hurl, C., Marciano, R., Purandare, U., & Sturdy, A. (2022). Pandemic consulting. How private consultants leverage public crisis management. Critical Policy Studies, 16, 371–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westney, D. E. (2020). Rude awakening: Threats to the global liberal order. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(7), 1195–1198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mehdi Boussebaa.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Boussebaa, M. The Big Con: how the consulting industry weakens our businesses, infantilizes our governments and warps our economies. J Int Bus Stud 55, 121–123 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-023-00653-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-023-00653-8

Navigation