At the beginning of 2024, I take the liberty of sharing with you some more personal reflections, building on my professional experience. The first article a few weeks ago was about the transition from the world of consulting to the corporate world, which is more complex and protean than it appears. Today, I would like to consider the importance and role of strategy consulting firms, both as service providers and employers. Indeed, the strategy consulting world tends to be dominated by three firms, so much so that they are often grouped under the acronym “MBB“: McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Bain. The purpose of this article is not to place them above all other firms. On the contrary, I believe it is important and healthy for any company to know how to call on the right expertise at the right time. It is also illusory to claim they are infallible – recent news around McKinsey proves otherwise. However, these firms and their employees enjoy a superior reputation in the job market, and I try here to dissect this phenomenon.
When in need of external expertise, multinationals tend to favour the heavy hitters. I explain this by (i) a pronounced risk aversion (“no one was ever fired for buying IBM,” as the saying goes), (ii) generally larger financial leeway, and (iii) complex referencing procedures that make the use of niche firms particularly arduous. Unconsciously, I think the first two factors also play a role in the decision to recruit a consultant from these firms. If it doesn’t work out, it’s always possible to blame the recruit, not the recruiter.
The MBBs thus easily set foot in very large companies, and the principle of informal and sometimes unconscious “co-optation” tends to reinforce the presence of alumni from this or that firm over time. This phenomenon is self-reinforcing: the more the organizational chart is filled with alumni from McKinsey, for example, the more likely McKinsey is to be called for missions, further increasing the firm’s visibility within the organization as a whole. Moreover, large organizations tend to “rotate” their managers and high potentials among different teams, regions, functions, thus calling on the multi-sector adaptability that the “MBBs,” generalists in their early years, will have had the opportunity to mobilize. For consultants, these missions in various sectors and on various issues are as many cards that can be played (or not) in a job interview: it will be enough to select and highlight the most relevant experiences in connection with the issues of a potential future employer.
The intellectual dimension also plays a role in this virtuous circle. Because they are present with a larger number of clients, and because they have a greater striking force, the most prestigious consulting firms are able to produce more numerous articles and reports, drawing on a wider range of examples. This superior visibility gives them a reputational advantage. As a former BCG consultant, I have no trouble admitting that I have always been particularly impressed by the productivity of the McKinsey teams, especially during the early periods of COVID lockdown – I found almost a relevant article to read every day!
Smaller companies and investment funds (both within the investment holding company and in portfolio holdings) tend to act more pragmatically and do not hesitate to mobilize smaller specialized firms: the former mainly due to budgetary constraints, the latter in search of efficiency free from any political consideration. The needs for expertise are generally better defined in these structures, making the specialized expert more relevant than the Swiss Army knife. The value destruction following a bad hire is also relatively more significant. These entities will therefore prefer to recruit consultants already proven on previous missions, opening the door to freelancing as a trial period. The flexibility and agility of decision-making processes allow them to explore innovative recruitment paths, even if the sense of security provided by the recruitment of a former “MBB” is always considered.
These considerations can influence the choices of the aspiring consultant based on their aspirations and desire for specialization. The “risk-free” card of the MBBs opens up an unmatched range of options upon exit, and offers a sesame to join the management teams of certain medium and large companies already colonized by one or the other of the firms. Conversely, the professional eager to quickly develop sectoral and functional expertise, with a more operational focus, may find fulfillment in other firms.