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Rip-off!: The Scandalous Inside Story of the Management Consulting Money Machine
 
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Rip-off!: The Scandalous Inside Story of the Management Consulting Money Machine (Paperback)

by David Craig (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
RRP: £11.99
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  • This item: Rip-off!: The Scandalous Inside Story of the Management Consulting Money Machine by David Craig

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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Original Book Co (15 April 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1872188060
  • ISBN-13: 978-1872188065
  • Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.2 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 149,678 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #25 in  Books > Business, Finance & Law > Reference & Education > Consultancy & Grants

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Product Description

Synopsis
Who are management consultants? What power do they have? How can they charge so many millions for their services? Do they really deliver any value? Why do organisations use them? * Every single working day, British companies and the government pay over GBP30million for management consultants' advice * Each year Management Consultancy creates more millionaires than the National Lottery * A leading consultancy recently repaid USD54million to a client after allegedly defrauding that client * Confidential surveys show consultants believe that about half the work they do is of little value to clients and a further 20 per cent is "junk" At last, an insider takes the lid off Management Consulting and reveals how too often this vast and secretive business has become a licence to siphon off almost unlimited quantities of clients' money. In Rip-Off! the author shows that there can sometimes be truly great management consultancy. However, he also reveals how most of the world's major management consultancies have become vast and incredibly profitable factories churning out thousands of almost identical "warm bodies", whose time must be sold to clients, whether clients have problems to be solved or not.

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Financial Times recommendation, 13 May 2005
By A Customer
"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. No company or government department should let a management consultant through the door until they have read this book from cover to cover. Twice." Financial Times 11/05/05
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Good stories, dreadful writing - a struggle to read., 2 Nov 2005
By Dr. V. Stewart (Somerton,, Somerset United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
The author has some good stories to tell, and as a consultant myself I recognise the ring of truth in the sharp practices which he describes, and the many self-fulfiing prophecies, ego games, and related practices.

Unfortunately his writing style is so bad that the book makes for very jerky reading. He uses commas like the grammatical equivalent of crowd control barriers; he also has a strange habit of writing - for example - h-ll when he means hell. I gather that he self-published the book; a good copy editor would have stopped his unfortunate style from interfering with a good story.

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars It had to be said, 23 May 2005
By A Customer
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?
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good effort
Much better than "House of Lies" and has some UK oriented material. Well structured and worth reading, if not that mind-blowing.
Published 22 months ago by James

5.0 out of 5 stars As it says on the tin
At last a management consultant who comes clean about what he does. I picked this up on a trip as a contracting consultant and boy did it ring true. Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2006 by Stefan

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious and oh so true if you work in any big company!
Fantastic read. Very funny and so true, even if you're not a consultant, if you work in a large company with several strategies etc. Couldn't put it down on holiday.
Published on 23 Mar 2006 by Cathy

3.0 out of 5 stars One man's account of several bad days at work
I’d say this is more a corporate autobiography than an industry exposé. It does lift the lid on some of the more dubious practices of management consultants, but only... Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2006 by C. M. Perkins

5.0 out of 5 stars Sadly all too true
Wonderful. I ran away from what was then Andersen Consulting 10 years ago and it all has the the ring of truth to it. Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2005

2.0 out of 5 stars A sinner uncovered...
OK, I'm a management consultant. But I've a balanced enough view to want to read a book of somebody else's critical opinion on the industry. Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2005 by scottlrutherford

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read for a balanced picture.
This book portrays the consulting business simply for what (most of )it really is: merchants of product called advice. Read more
Published on 18 Jul 2005 by W. Van Olffen

2.0 out of 5 stars Not all management consultants are bad..
I do hope readers don't come away feeling that all management consultants are a waste. I have had the privilege of working with some exceptionally good consultants. Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2005 by arunsadhashivan

5.0 out of 5 stars great read - funny yet tragic
Just finished this book (bought off Amazon, from review in FT). What a tour de force. I laughed and winced at the same time. Read more
Published on 10 Jun 2005

5.0 out of 5 stars Eyes Wide Shut
fantastic book with experienced cotent. really shocked after reading it. guys who are going to hire consultants DO NOT MISS to read this one.
Published on 15 May 2005 by Mr. P. Xiao

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