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The reputation has improved dramatically since the acquisitions of Diamond, PRTM, and now Booz&Co. Some would say that the reputation is now on par with Deloitte. That said, PwC is definitely still behind MBB.
The big ongoing challenge is that the firm's culture and HR strategy have not been adjusted to meet the demands of a strategy offering. Examples include annual vs. semi-annual assessment, small avg bonus, utilization focus, slow engagement acceptance, weak knowledge management/sharing, etc.
I disagree: their reputation hasn't changed. They are still primarily focused on operations rather than strategy.
I agree with @"Johnny Fontane" that the Booz & Co merger WILL have a a dramatic impact, but until they are actually integrated, PwC consulting will not see that benefit in any tangible way. It take a long time to build a reputation, and a long time to change it as well.
PwC is number 2 out of the Big 4, Deloitte has a huge lead. PwC is still a tier 3 player, this integration is likely to be difficult, they're at their core very different firms, I think being part of an audit shop gives a certain mindset.
As someone who works for PwC - this is spot on.
A lot also depends on your country, PwC outside of America is a different organization in many ways. The Big 4 firms continue to invest in their consulting practices which will keep improving their work. Although, as stated above, the HR (performance & development) practices certainly lag the more established firms, as does the culture (audit vs. consulting). I've personally seen a big step up in the quality of the work done at PwC in the past 3 years, and our Knowledge Management is getting much better internationally. I think in the next 2-3 years the KM issues between firms will be almost non-existent and the continued work on creating a true international approach to clients will be established.
What this will do to PwC's reputation I don't know, it should improve it. Will it change the relative rankings between the Big 4 and MBB, probably not. However, and I've posted these links around, MBB are moving "down" with their client offerings at the same time PwC is moving up. And as one MBB Partner said - it is very tough to move down and keep your rates as high. The closest comparison to this is probably the Japanese vs. American car makers...the Japanese just kept investing until it worked.
I doubt there will be substantial changes in the next decade in terms of "rankings" but I do think the work itself between the firms will begin to be less differentiated.
TT
I dunno, I just don't believe that the two groups will ever converge. While one may be moving up (slightly) and one may be moving down (slightly), they're starting from such a big distance apart that they're never going to meet. McKinsey can go down a few rungs, and PwC can go up a few runs, but there will still be 10 rungs between them. It's not that MBB are THAT awesome, it's just that having worked for Deloitte, and now doing a bunch of networking with current MBB employees in preparation for b-school, their client work is simply different from what I did in S&O.
I think PwC's reputation can and will improve, potentially getting it close to Deloitte S&O, which is not currently near. Deloitte has a huge head start over them. I also think that Deloitte's different firms structure (Deloitte Consulting is a different company than Deloitte & Touche) allows the consulting practice to operate with significant amount autonomy. This stops it from being held down by the audit mindset to a certain extent.
We also haven't mentioned that no matter how much these firms try, they're each shut out from ~25% of the market becaue of audit conflicts. Isn't that a pretty big disadvantage?
if you believe the rhetoric, there are also advantages from the audit side including
non-growth business (audit) kicking off cash to invest in growth business (consulting)
Great CFO Rolodex that can be leverage for consulting revenue synergies, even if some are ruled out due to audit
obviously cost synergies due to scale (brick and mortar offices, IT, HR, payroll, etc.)
probably something else. positive rhetoric isn't lacking when mergers are in the air
No offense, but I don't really see any of these being all that compelling: 1) the age where we need conglomerates to act as financial markets, funneling capital from cash cows to growth industries (especially an industry as mature as consulting), is gone, 2) the revenue-side synergies seem pretty weak, especially given the big wall between audit and consulting, and 3) basic back-office cost synergies aren't enough to merit any merger, especially given the negative revenue synergies in this case.
Deloitte Consulting itself seems to have really impressive end-to-end consulting capabilities, as its hr and tech practices are market leaders and S&O is pretty respected. When you hear forecasts of how management consulting will change in the future, like Clayton Christensen's, it always seems like Deloitte is best-placed, along with McKinsey, but only because McK reacted to these predictions more than most by scaling down-market (it has a growing ops and tech practice) and embracing lower-priced automation.
That said, it seems like Deloitte Consulting would be a lot better off if it spun-off from the audit company, which doesn't seem to bring anything to the table. I wonder if this might happen in the next few years? I'm just a student though with no industry experience, so of course I'm just speculating...
Good points. I don't know if they counteract the loss of 25% of potential clients, but it is definitely an advantage - especially the cost synergies and less-cyclical business.
PwC US - Strategy Consulting practice (Originally Posted: 04/24/2014)
Hi there,
Is there anyone that could shed some light on PwC strategy (or equivalent) consulting practice in US, not Strategy&, but PwC practice that existed before the acquisition, and if my understanding is good, will continue to exist until Booz is fully integrated. I have read all posts here that tackle PwC consulting practice, and googled trying to find any details but most of it was vague and/or comparing to other practices. I am specifically interested in US, and NYC, as I am trying to make a lateral move into it. Any details on size, type of work, projects, culture, etc are highly appreciated.
Thanks, P!
You might want to check out some old threads, particularly those immediately after the Booz&Co deal was announced.
The NY Strategy practice is predominately made up of former Diamond (a few PRTM), a few legacy PwC Advisory, and some folks who were hired after late 2010, when Diamond was purchased. There is some pure strategy work based out of the NY office. However, in my experience, the center of gravity is with the market, not the "competency". In other words, if you're in FS Banking, you report up to the head of FS Banking, with a dotted line to the Strategy competency. The challenge here is that if your utilization slips or the strategy pipeline looks weak, you could be thrown onto a 6-12 month technology project. This happened with several of my friends.
There's an old saying that you never get fired for hiring McKinsey. My saying - you could definitely get fired for hiring PwC Strategy. I just don't think the market views PwC as a strategy firm. PwC is an accounting/risk/regulatory/technology firm that happens to have a small strategy offering. Big difference. There are some markets in which the Diamond/PRTM partners have kept a foothold - examples include insurance, pharma, med device, high-tech, etc. However, the legacy PwC culture dominates the NY office.
Aside from those issues - there are also some challenges with the way the firm is managed. Engagement acceptance takes way too long to execute strategy projects. The annual assessment process is geared toward high-utilization, lower-margin work. The bonus structure does not facilitate the high-paced work that accompanies strategy.
As you can tell, I came from PwC. I am obviously a bit biased. The good news with that PwC has invested heavily in strategy and seems committed to making it work - which will necessitate some changes. I assume the partners are savvy enough to have dictated some improvements to PwC to further integrated Diamond/PRTM and now Booz.
Good luck.
Hi Johnny,
Thanks for your response, I am looking for that kind of information. I went through those old threads but found your response more useful.
I agree that PwC is investing significant resources into strategy, this might be just about right time to get aboard.
Any other thoughts/info from the community?
Thanks, P.
Be aware of the locations you are applying to. In my experience PwC likes to try to cluster practices near their customers. Additionally, some firms are better positioned in the market than others. The UK PwC Strategy office is considered a "Tier 1" strategy firm. This however is not the case in all places, so if you're goal is strategy office and country selection is very important.
I think it also depends on what you mean by "Strategy." In this case I am assuming you mean M&A/Corporate Strategy/Market facing and not the more common Operational strategy work (i.e., cost reduction, improving innovation, organizational design/restructuring). Again, the confusing part with PwC is learning which member offices excel at the function and industry you would like to work in.
Hope that helps,
TT
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