The reason they don't exist is that even if they worked for free, they can't offer any "Nobody ever got fired for hiring us" value, so nobody doing SAP implemen

The reason they don't exist is that even if they worked for free, they can't offer any "Nobody ever got fired for hiring us" value, so nobody doing SAP implementation will hire them. Anybody who can afford SAP can afford to pay the full freight, in which case they want the full package including insurance against being blamed for problems. I was going to add that boutiques can charge the same rate as the big firms, but they do so in different markets. One example: Above I noted that the person buying the service has downside of being blamed but no upside for saving money. That isn't always the case. When the person making the decision is also under a lot of budget pressure, boutiques can make the same hourly rate by being more productive. That productivity often comes at the expense of insurance against blame, for example you can't have as heavyweight a process. But if you are working for someone who cares about the money, being more productive can get you the gig and the rate.