[louischatriot]

Former management consultant here. I worked about 1 year on a cost-reduction mission for a large industrial company. While I agree that a cost-focused business is doomed in the long run, sometimes a large company does need to review its entire costbase. Over time, this kind of companies amass useless or underused contracts that need to be cut or heavily renegotiated. This kind of analysis takes a long time so when they can't afford it they just spam all their subcontractors to see who will "yield without a fight". All of this is a very common business practice.

[Turbots]

And there you summarize what the OP was trying to say: When the customer tries this on you, don't just agree without a 'fight'. Challenge your customer and open up the conversation about your value for them and try to come to an understanding which benefits both!