Simon-Kucher & Partners vs Arthur D Little

I am deciding between these two firms in the US (have final offer) -- anyone have any thoughts on pros and cons of each?


Here are my thoughts: 

Arthur D Little

  • strong presence in Europe, trying to grow/recover after a buyout in the US

  • strong in TMT, automotive, tech-heavy industries

Simon-Kucher & Partners: 

  • strong in pricing/marketing and able to compete with MBB in this area

  • growing in US


Both companies seem to have decent/similar culture, with the tradeoff being a more narrow functional area at SKP vs a slightly lower industry reputation at ADL, potentially affecting exit opps and b-school placement. 

 

ADL has about 100 people in the US v Simon Kucher which has about 350 (coming from LinkedIn) so ADL's US operation is really small and I'm not sure they're looking to grow this either-feel free to correct me. I do know that Simon Kucher is looking to grow their practice in the US. SKP has a better repuation and I'd consider it a lower T2.

 

You have a point on them still being small but cross-offers is only one aspect of where a firm ranks. I was moreso looking at quality of work, quality of people, ability to win head-to-heads, etc. But yeah, until they beef up in size they're still essentially a boutique. 

 

I would not in general say they are comparable to T2s in terms of quality of work, quality of people, or ability to win head to heads. While there are a couple types of work where that may be true, I'd say that that's kind of the definition (or at least a definition) of a boutique

Also, I've done a lot of pricing work, and I can't think of any examples where they've come up at a client (i.e. often you'll hear about who you won/lost a pitch to, as well as who has supported the client in pricing work in the past). Obviously they do this work and may be good at it, but I'm saying I don't think they're necessarily at the caliber of competition or caliber of clients that you may have heard second hand

 

European brand strength does not matter for you insofar as you're not in Europe

I wouldn't be too worried about SKP having a better industry reputation or brand strength on resume - they're more similar than they are different

Three questions I would use to guide your thought process:

(1) How does comp vary between the two, from both a short term and mid-term (3-5yr) perspective?

(2) Which type of work are you more interested in?

(3) With which company did you feel like you got along with better (i.e. culture fit)?

 
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