The push to scale back the loss-making China operation is at odds with Global Managing Partner Bob Sternfels, who says the firm needs to maintain its international footprint, which includes offices in around 130 cities across 65 countries.
McKinsey & Co. partners have been questioning the consulting giant’s presence in China, worried that doing business there may not be worth the risks given the Asian superpower’s increasingly volatile relationship with the US.
Some senior partners have been voicing these concerns since late last year, even before Donald Trump was re-elected with a pledge to ratchet up pressure on China, according to people familiar with the matter. The partners argue the lucrative North American business can more than offset a China retreat, some of the people said, declining to be identified as the details are private.
