Brewery boss rails against management consultants

Scottish Courage chairman and managing director John Dunsmore has taken a swipe at management consultants. In an unexpected outburst, he said chief executives who ask companies to hire external advisers should be “shot”.

The comment, at this year’s Marketing Forum, appeared to be aimed at PricewaterhouseCoopers, which advised the brewer on the overhaul of its supply chain three years ago. In February 2003, after 12 months planning the new operation, Scottish Courage’s parent company Scottish & Newcastle was forced to issue a profits warning, blaming “mishandling” of the supply-chain changeover.

He stated that since the profits warning, marketing had been at the centre of a turnaround in fortunes for Scottish Courage that has included core brand growth of more than eight per cent between 2003 and August 2005.

Dunsmore told delegates that if a chief executive told other senior staff to “spend &£9m on management consultants” looking at the supply chain, the staff should “take [the chief executive] out and shoot them”.

Dunsmore also stated that the brewer had now realised “women exist”. S&N has recently introduced new products including Kronenbourg Blanc (MW September 16, 2004) and Strongbow Cirrus to appeal to women.