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I think a lot of these companies were being told by big consulting firms like McKinsey that these strategies would open new markets and bring them a lot of money, and the companies genuinely believed them. They started cooling off on DEI and the Modern Audience when the promised returns never materialized.
Usually this comes up in discussions of management consulting firms making a guest appearance to recommend layoffs—but stereotypically, management consulting firms like McKinsey/BCG/Bain ("MBB") are used by the managers of industry companies not for their novel insights nor research.
The stereotypical role of management consulting firms is to Read the Room and make suggestions for things company management already wanted to do, and to lend an air of credibility and serve as a scapegoat for the consequences of any decisions that are made. It's not like management consulting firms have any specialized knowledge or brilliant insight that would make industry management go "ohh... squeeze the costs and juice the revenue, why didn't I think of that?" drake_lil_yachty.gif
Sometimes young consultants will tell you this as well. After a few years (or even months) in management consulting their cynicism is sufficient that, regardless of the (lack of) inherent value-add of their research and analyses, they see it as a good career path for those with just Excel and PowerPoint monkeying skills and are broadly smart, with great compensation and exit opportunities (and investment banking was too hard to get into and/or too many hours). "It ain't much, but it's honest work." Well, mostly honest.
And even when not serving as water-carrier for industry management, the research of management consulting firms is usually basic and pandering as fuck. For example, "Return-to-office mandates: Women, minorities hardest hit".
Industry management typically have decades of experience (at least intermittently) interacting with management consulting firms, and many have oftentimes done a stint in MBB themselves, so they should be red-pilled as to the "thought leadership" of management consulting firms.
This is not to say that management consulting firms are worthless, so to speak. Being a lubricant for corporate decision-making can be value-add in and of itself, even if you're unable to deliver ground-breaking insights.
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