Is EY-Parthenon losing its prestige and brand?
Hey guys, I recently saw a thread where they said EY advisory was merging w Parthenon. Does that mean that Parthenon is losing its brand and will just be absorbed into EY? If that's the case, would Strategy& be the firm to target within the B4 Strategy shops? Thanks in advance
I talked to an associate and Parthenon is not doing so hot rn, they're not even hiring for FT or smth. It doesn't seem like the best place to join.
I think S& is still separate from PwC so there is not that much brand dilution. Additionally, Monitor Deloitte also got similar treatment to Parthenon, so that makes me think Strategy& is probably the best rn. Do you think this makes sense? I'm looking at where to put the most effort into recruiting/networking lol
It makes zero sense, if you plan to recruit for one you should be recruiting for them all
Be mindful that it also depends on the geography; e.g. in the Middle east or London, S&>>Parthenon
I work at S& and have plenty of friends at EY-P. I've always maintained that Deloitte (formerly S&O), S& and EY-P are of roughly similar prestige. Obviously, the EY-P folks and Deloitte folks are not happy with the new re-orgs as is the case with S& whenever PwC tries to get in our chili. While these types of moves can be unpopular internally, they really have very little impact on external prestige and exit ops.
People on online forums severely overestimate how much corporate (F500) recruiters know about the inside baseball of what is going on in these firms. Most knowledge seems to end at "S& is the strategy consulting arm of PwC" and then they look at the projects you've done personally.
I think there is no right choice between S&, Deloitte and Parthenon. I can make a pretty good case for S& based on our focus on true strategy work and higher comp (as far as I know)... but we've certainly had our problems in the past as well (which were well-documented on here).
In Europe S& benchmarks higher with exit opportunities than EY-P and (less so) S&O. Not because of the Booz background, though. Seen as Strategy arm of PwC.
Commercial DD work is done by PwC Deal Strategy - in London (in practice, marketed different) this sits separately from S&, although you still do strategy work on top of deal work. However, in continental Europe this split does not exist (only a London thing).
Beyond this PwC is further integrating value creation and post-deal work into the S&/Strategy umbrella, which makes for slightly more diverse/interesting deal work. That said, this is less relevant for pure S& placements. Bear in mind that outbound placements will NOT know the difference generally between PwC Deal Strategy, S&, or other variations of this. However, S& is placed more with LEK/OC&C/Roland Berger, than the other big4 Strategy arms in many instances, I found from experience.
As investors we've never gone to EY-P, requested pitches from Deloitte (good healthcare strat partner in this particular local office), but have used KPMG S&O and PwC S&. in UK transactions/strategy, PwC S& Deals has a good league table position vs. others, but can vary by sector (e.g. quite impressed with EY Finance team, especially on fintech).
Not sure how this compares vs. US though.