swhitear

London

IT Consultant

Some good points well made. It's a sad fact that a western business world dominated by MBA educated consultants (of which I am one) puts 'efficiency' above all else, without really understanding the long term implications of stripping a company to the bone. Such blind devotion to cost cutting destroys all that is rewarding about work environments; empowerment, job satisfaction, these things all seem to disappear. It also leaves the companies unwilling or unable to innovate and take risks - a sure way to destroy long term business models.

Many a great company has been taken down by people so focused on the short term numbers that they fail to see the long term impact of cost cutting decisions. However there are many culpable stakeholders here; not just the consultants, but also the senior management who employ them and the shareholders that bang their fists demanding action following a single quarter of missed targets.

Enlightened companies are out there, but they seem to be becoming rarer by the year.