Earlier quoted context omitted.
2k/hr?????
It's basically therapy for corporate executives, delivered via powerpoint, with a healthy side of blame insurance. And yeah, it's expensive.
This is poetry.
And all true.
McKinsey: Half the World’s Banks Too Weak to Survive Downturn
131–140 of 165 posts
Re: McKinsey: Half the World’s Banks Too Weak to Survive Downturn
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
God, these consulting companies are the _worst_.
What do you expect from a bunch of 24 year-old self-proclaimed "experts" fresh out of Harvard?
True. Pretending to know and being confident is half the battle though. "Managing Expectations." Useful skills imho
Re: McKinsey: Half the World’s Banks Too Weak to Survive Downturn
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's basically therapy for corporate executives, delivered via powerpoint, with a healthy side of blame insurance. And yeah, it's expensive.
This is so true, so much of management consulting is therapy with some generalist strategy and interesting analogies thrown in.
I guess the main thing I missed in my pithy assessment was the way they'll update you on "industry best practices" (=your competitor's processes that are working better than yours). So they're also a kind of mix of corporate spies and governance R&D mutual aid program.
Re: McKinsey: Half the World’s Banks Too Weak to Survive Downturn
#134Problems with weak banks are usually solved by merging them with stronger banks. It's the non-bank financial institutions that are more worrisome. Recall that Lehman Brothers and AIG were not banks.
> Recall that Lehman Brothers and AIG were not banks. AIG was an insurance company, yes. But Lehman Brothers was an investment bank. From Wikipedia: > in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States
In industry speak “bank” refers to institutions taking deposits and lending to a single entity — retail and commercial banks, not investment banks, etc
Side note: AIG managed to get regulatory treatment as a bank via OTS by having a tiny tiny tiny retail banking operation called AIG Bank. OTS ended up being the primary regulatory of the overall entity!
Re: McKinsey: Half the World’s Banks Too Weak to Survive Downturn
#135McKinsey & Accenture could do with some anti trust investigation at this point, they have too much of the outsourced brain work and strategy of important western firms executed in a cookie cutter way that then exploits the inside knowledge for future projects. This banking prediction is an example of this type of thinking. McKinsey are the problem not the solution
Serious question: could you cite some Accenture projects with serious brain work? They are typically in the systems integration category while MBB (McKinsey Bain BCG) get the prestigious work.
Re: McKinsey: Half the World’s Banks Too Weak to Survive Downturn
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see you are unfamiliar with McKinsey.
Former employee Edit: I cannot reply to the below, but I will say, that’s a pretty contrived justification for your view. Communication is hard. Few things done at a corporate scale are easy to implement. People like to point at big consulting firms and say “I could have done that” or “they could have just asked me” but that’s really just a fraction of it.
Former employee of former McKinsey employees. Grandparent point stands: McKinsey seems to offer little to no value that isn't already known and easy to communicate.
I will say though that McKinsey alums I know seem to be better at playing corporate politics than the average, which can be a skill when married with technical acumen.
Re: McKinsey: Half the World’s Banks Too Weak to Survive Downturn
#137McKinsey & Accenture could do with some anti trust investigation at this point, they have too much of the outsourced brain work and strategy of important western firms executed in a cookie cutter way that then exploits the inside knowledge for future projects. This banking prediction is an example of this type of thinking. McKinsey are the problem not the solution
Serious question: could you cite some Accenture projects with serious brain work? They are typically in the systems integration category while MBB (McKinsey Bain BCG) get the prestigious work.
I meant Accenture in the context of executing McK (& BB) projects in a closed loop. MBB & Deloitte are pretty short on 'serious brain work' and long on copy and paste of their own and others work in my recent experience
Re: McKinsey: Half the World’s Banks Too Weak to Survive Downturn
#138Sadly, regular taxpayers will pay the bill. Just like last time.
Once again completing the cycle of moral hazards in the name of reducing the "impact" of rescissions in the short-term. The only metric that apparently matters.
In the last recession, unemployment in the US reached 10%. How big does unemployment have to reach before you take the quotes away from "impact"? 15%? 20%? Unemployment in Spain reached as high as 26% because Spain was unable to reduce the impact.
Re: McKinsey: Half the World’s Banks Too Weak to Survive Downturn
#139AKA On behalf of our banking customers we're going to be advising that governments get ready to do another bailout.
>do another bailout. I know you're being tongue-in-cheek, but in theory, are governments even capable of doing another bailout? My understanding is that public debt in most Western countries (not sure about China/India) is through the roof. Other than printing money and risking a cataclysmic devaluation, what can be done?
They are capable. Developed countries are still below the upper limit of what they could borrow. You can see this in the fact that long-term interest rates are so low. If people were running out of patience for government borrowing you would see long-run rates spiking. While debt levels are high, they are not unprecendented. US debt/GDP is 105%, which is far below Japan at 220%.
Re: McKinsey: Half the World’s Banks Too Weak to Survive Downturn
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
>do another bailout. I know you're being tongue-in-cheek, but in theory, are governments even capable of doing another bailout? My understanding is that public debt in most Western countries (not sure about China/India) is through the roof. Other than printing money and risking a cataclysmic devaluation, what can be done?
I hope it does not come as a surprise if I tell you that printing money has already been, since a long time and in great quantities, taking place. The cataclysmic devaluation part is the one they are working on postponing.
We had a big increase in the money supply after the financial crisis, and yet inflation remains stubbornly low. At some point one needs to recognize that there is more in heaven and earth, Horatio, than dreamt of in your philosophy.