Tier 2/3/4 Large Consulting Firms vs Boutiques

if you had to choose between a tier 2/3/4 (think Deloitte Monitor, Oliver Wyman, Big 4, Arthur D. Little) consulting firm or a boutique consulting firm, which one would you choose, or which option would be considered higher-ranking? How would you make the decision? Let’s exclude Deloitte S&O from this scenario as they’re somewhat close to MBB.

3 Comments
 

I think it is somewhat difficult to "rank" firms outside of MBB because it is really dependent upon what you want. For example, if you wanted to exit to PE then maybe EY or PWC is the way to go . Pure strategy wise, Oliver Wyman may be better than those two.

You should also consider size of the firm because OW and EY are wildly different size.

Also, what I've read is that MBB vs other big firms often get similar work, but MBB really gets the extra special cream of the crop projects.

Overall I would say go for where you like the people. This probably isn't the answer you're looking for because I too wanted a hard and fast ranking. I think the reality is that it's kind of blurry and is more dependent on what you want.

This is just what I have gathered from reading threads and I am for sure not an expert, so if someone knows better, please correct me.

 
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