A major chunk of the costs involved in the deal that saved Edcon went on strategy consultants, says CEO Grant Pattison. In a speech this week at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, Pattison estimated that consultants received about R1bn over three years. "Be very careful of strategy consultants," he said. When a company made use of strategy consultants it was an acknowledgement that it could not do the job itself, he said in a talk about the deal that saved the apparel retailer from business rescue. "I spent two years as a strategy consultant so I know what strategy consultants do." He said they always descended in droves when a company was in trouble. Getting rid of them was "the biggest cost saving in one fell swoop" that Edcon made, Pattison said, putting the amount saved at about £1.5m (R27m) a month. "These guys were all employed from the overseas offices [of Bain Consultants and PwC]." As part of the current recapitalisation of the group there was the cost of advisers, w...
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