21

The odyssey of the advisory services industry in the space of a mere 70 years is impressive. It began in 1934 when, seizing the opportunity created by the Glass Steagall Act, Marvin Bower was to transform the little-known firm of auditors, James O’McKinsey. McKinsey & Co. thus became the first management advisory firm in the sense of the term today, and Marvin Bower invented an industry. Professionalism and the claim to scientific legitimacy were the trademarks of this newlyborn industry. These strategies - institutional and academic - are even today at the heart of the global expansion of advisory services. Over the last two decades, the success and the extremely rapid growth of this industry have, nevertheless, generated their own contradictions. The wider the geographical area covered by the advisory firms, the more complex and costly the management of the potential discrepancies between “globalâ€? understanding and realities, “localâ€? interpretations and practices. The institutional and academic strategies that make this industry so successful nevertheless require faultless professionalization and a “scientificâ€? approach to management - which is tantamount to creating a perfectly homogeneous way of functioning in all offices of a firm. In this context, there are serious risks that an error in one spot may weaken or even destabilize the whole firm. Management advisory firms are the banyan trees of globalization - but banyans with feet of clay.