Best of LinkedIn: Strategy & Consulting CW 32/ 33

The consulting industry is restructuring itself around agentic AI faster than it can agree on what that restructuring should look like. Firms are announcing acquisitions, alliances and proprietary platforms to move AI from pilot to production, while their own research shows that most partnerships and most AI investments are still failing to deliver measurable value. At the same time, geopolitical shocks, sustainability economics and shifting graduate pay are forcing leaders across financial services, manufacturing and tax to rebuild strategy around a narrower set of durable advantages: judgment, trust and operating models that can absorb disruption rather than just react to it.

Date

August 20, 2026

Strategy & Consulting

Thomas Allgeyer

Methodology: Every two weeks we collect most relevant posts on LinkedIn for selected topics and create an overall summary only based on these posts. If you´re interested in the single posts behind, you can find them here: https://linktr.ee/thomasallgeyer. Have a great read!

Listen to our podcast

If you prefer listening, check out our podcast summarizing the most relevant insights from Strategy & Consulting CW 32/ 33

‍

Agentic AI Moves From Pilot to Production

AlixPartners acquired Artium, adding production grade agentic AI systems built for eBay, Mayo Clinic and BNY Mellon
Deloitte launched ControlCatalyst.AI, an agentic suite for internal audit, SOX, risk and controls
Deloitte and Ivalua allied to embed IVA Studio's agentic AI into the source to pay procurement lifecycle
Deloitte's Assistant Credit Risk Analyst automates data prep, freeing credit teams for portfolio level judgment
EY paired ey.ai Reimagination Engine with Forward Deployed Engineering, embedding engineers inside client operations
BCG's CEO Data Point Interactive found AI token cost mentions rose more than 600% in Q2 2026
BCG sees several hundred basis points of margin upside for AI first asset managers that redesign workflows end to end

‍

The Reordering of Consulting Itself

BCG found 72% of CEOs now own AI decisions personally, yet only 15% report meaningful value from it
BCG found nine in ten tech industry partnerships fail to meet their goals
Quarterly Signals data shows Big Four graduate recruitment falling roughly 50% while starting salaries stay flat for a third year
Forrester ranked EY highest among consultancies for AI vision and AI consulting services
German companies are flattening hierarchies as AI absorbs middle management work, some moving from ten layers to four
A Cambridge Judge whitepaper names human judgment the primary competitive advantage amid AI and geopolitical disruption
Ian Marritt joined EY as a partner focused on Microsoft, AI and data
PwC ran its RevUp leadership program with Harvard Business School for 4,000 partners

‍

Geopolitics and Macro Risk Reshape Corporate Strategy

The US and Saudi Arabia signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement, giving American firms priority access to Saudi Arabia's nuclear program
The Federal Reserve held rates at 3.50% to 3.75%, with three regional presidents dissenting for a hike
China's 15th Five Year Plan analysis found savings near 35% of disposable income and a projected 150 million population decline by 2050
A new analysis estimates $24 trillion is needed by 2050 to decouple UK, US and EU supply chains from China
The ECB's 2026 Geopolitical Risk Stress Test required banks to define their own scenario and quantify its effect on CET1 ratios
A chokepoints report notes 60% of cocoa and 94% of rare earth magnet production each concentrate in one or two countries

‍

Sustainability and the Industrial Transition

UNEP FI launched an open source Impact Mappings tool linking sustainability goals to sector specific investment risks
The First Movers Coalition has 100 companies committed to sourcing at least 10% near zero emissions steel by 2030
Deloitte's "The ROI of Responsibility" report reframes sustainability as a measurable driver of enterprise value
The SEC's climate rule rescission drew 18,000 comments, more than the original proposal, with large investors arguing to keep it
BCG's Intelligent Cities Index, covering 60-plus cities, found governance and strategy separate the leaders, not technology alone

‍

Sector Signals: Financial Services, Manufacturing and Tax

Deloitte's 2026 Airline CEO Survey of 21 executives named financial discipline, AI and sustainability as top priorities
HMRC's 2026 progress report confirms a shift toward digital first, AI supported tax compliance
78% of organizations are pursuing or planning tax outsourcing within the next year
Deloitte's CFO survey of 122 Danish finance chiefs found two thirds pursuing growth despite rising resilience concerns
Asia's manufacturing value added has surged since 2000, with China moving from 7% to 35% as Europe and the US each lost 11 points
A Denmark defence white paper cites research showing over half of citizens now see conflict as more likely than five years ago

‍

Thanks to Rob Hornby, David Garfield, Ranjit Bawa, Jim Rowan, Xiaogeng "Mike" Deng, David Thogmartin, Andres Saenz, Akash Tayal, Saleh Al-Ateeqi, Pierre Roussel, Barbara Martin Coppola, Jack G., James O'Dowd, Robert Cvetkovski, Michael Brigl, Nishma Gosrani, Ian Marritt, Anthony Abbatiello, Peter Jonathan Jameson, Gregory Daco, Iacob Koch-Weser, Mats Persson, Andreas Hanisch, Bob Sternfels, Mia Oenoto, Hubertus Meinecke, Shailesh Tyagi, Tim Mohin, Dr. Nikhil Idnani, Mike Daher, Neelam Rathod, Mike Johnson, Niels Peter Holm Larsen, Daniel Kuepper and Jamie G. for the insights behind this edition. Find the full list of posts and voices on LinkedIn: