Exhaustive Boutique Strategy Consulting Firms List
I've read a few threads related to this question, but I don't feel like I've been able to find anything approaching an exhaustive list of boutique consulting firms that mostly do true strategy work. Discussions of boutiques here have generally included economic consulting firms or firms that focus on some aspect of operations. What I'm looking for is a comprehensive list of all the firms that take fresh college graduates as analysts and offer a true consulting experience at a smaller firm the same way a regional boutique bank offers true investment banking experience. Here is a list of all the firms I know of that I believe fall into in that category:
Kaiser Associates Marakon Kurt Salmon Putnam Associates ZS Associates OC&C Mars & Co. Arthur D. Little Simon Kutcher and Partners The Cambridge Group Keystone Strategy Altman Vilandrie Delta Partners
All contributions are welcome.
From the top of my head - Elixir in the Middle East (acquired by McK), Corporate Value Partners for Europe and Portas Consulting (for sports advisory)
I've never heard of any of these, but I looked up Portas and it seemed to be the kind of firm I was speaking of—mostly target school employees, etc.
Alpha FMC is another one I think
Bump. Also I'm mostly looking for firms that have at least one US office.
Fyi some of the ones if the list aren't true strategy (ZS Associates, Simon-Kucher, etc)
Lots of similar LS strategy firms comparable to Putnam - Clearview, Trinity Partners, Health Advances, etc
Other strategy boutiques from top of my head - traecy&company, alliance consulting group
My understanding is that while ZS and Simon-Kucher aren't generalist firms, they still do predominantly strategy work within their niches (pharma / healthcare sales and marketing strategy for ZS and pricing strategy for Simon-Kucher). Since they're doing strategy work and selling their analysis rather than implementation or compliance work I'd still call them strategy consulting firms
Ok in that case, I’d agree
These are just my impressions from going through undergrad recruiting at a target recently
Not sure how you’re defining strategy. Both ZS and SKP conduct strategy work.
@OP there are far too many boutiques to have a comprehensive list. Many 10-20 person shops fall under the radar.
Best source would be Vault. If there’s a specific sector you’re interested in, some WSO topics have covered them eg life sci.
I'm defining "strategy" as selling advice about some specific strategic business initiative. Excludes firms that mostly sell manpower for implementing some predefined strategy or something technical (Accenture, EY, KPMG, PwC Management Consulting) and firms that offer only economic consulting services (The Brattle Group, FTI, etc.)
Vault is sort of BS as for how it ranks and organizes consulting firms. For example it includes EY Advisory in its list of top 10 consulting firms when EY Advisory doesn't even do strategy consulting, meanwhile, EY-Parthenon is excluded.
Good point about the magnitude of boutique firms. Maybe shoot for a list of strategy firms operating in the US with at least ~100 consultants?
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