What’s the difference between McK, Bain & BCG (serious question)
As a non-consultant genuinely curious about the industry, would be helpful to understand if are there any tangible differences separating the MBB
Mar 16, 2023Mar 16, 2023
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Comments (13)
It's basically like comparing GS, MS and JP: Market leader in specific areas but Tier 1 across the board. The bottom line is that they compete for the same deals and employees, and have the same competences.
If you want to come up with differences, then self-selection and clichés are the only place to start.
McK: ambitious mavericks, extremely goal-oriented and narcissistic (which is a good thing from my pov)
BCG: creative and entrepreneurial consultants, very people-oriented and focused on team success
Bain: analytical, ambitious but down-to-earth; can't decide between IB and CO, which is why they do VDDs and CDDs in the PE team at Bain.
But seriously, there are some cultural differences and they strongly differ in the staffing model
Thanks for the detailed reply, a few questions
Can you provide more color on the differences in staffing models between the firms? Particularly interested in BCG.
uhm, name, logos, colors.
c'mon, SEARCH FUNCTION. this topic has been beaten to death.
stupid stereotype is McK speaks to the right person, BCG gives the right answer, Bain gives the right results.
similarities
what they have in common: they work for the same clients, do the same kind of work, hire the same caliber of really smart and high-performing people, pay the same range, have the same selection process, same exit options, etc. this hasn't changed in the past 20 years.
differences
intra-firm variance by office/region/practice matters as much as inter-firm variance overall. this also hasn't changed in the past 20 years
here are the kinds of douchebags you'll find at each firm:
this also hasn't changed in the past 20 years
staffing model: mck global staffing, bcg tries to stay regional but can also send you global pretty often, bain tries the hardest to keep it regional/local. this also hasn't changed in the past 20 years.
regional differences:
this also hasn't changed in the past 20 years.
practice differences: NOT MUCH. Bain stronger with PE firms, McK better with banks/financial services, McK -- Coke and BCG -- Pepsi, McK and BCG both do a lot with pharma/healthcare etc. McK has the broadest service offering and their research (ie. marketing) is considered the most influential; they're better than the two at speaking to CEOs/navigating client politics/orgs etc.
this also hasn't changed in the past 20 years.
source: i worked at one; was in a serious relationship with someone at a different one; co-founder came from a different one. know hundreds of people across all 3 and across geographies.
SEARCH FUNCTION!
Purely anecdotal and I admittedly have worked with a small # of BCG folks but in my personal experience the two I worked for were very high EQ and IQ. Two of the more personable consultants Ive worked with (and Ive worked at two consulting firms). But with that said, neither made partner
RE: the asian offices, any insights on the Singapore offices for the 3?
I thank you sir for the write-up
Not directly related but this piqued my curiosity since you mentioned this - what type of work do consulting firms do for the government? Do you mean state-owned companies/sovereign wealth funds or do they actually directly work with the government on projects. Thanks!
That all have one thing in common, they get paid a lot less than Investment Bankers but think they're just as prestigious
In the "new normal" we're in, ways of working can differ substantially between the three, from what I've seen.
Across the board, consultants are not travelling to the client site as much as they used to. The M-TH at the client, F in the office model is dead. The most travel you'll see is 2-3 days a week at the client, but the majority of teams are doing 2-3 days every few weeks -- typically for key meetings.
The implication here is that consultants are working at the office more than they used to. But at McKinsey and BCG, because consultants are staffed from more than one office, that means when they aren't at the client site, they are working together virtually. They'll do "co-location" every other week or every few weeks where the team will fly to the same city and work out of the firm's office there. And at Bain, because teams are staffed out of the same office, teams are still fully in-person, but travelling much less than BCG and McKinsey because teams don't need to travel to co-locate.
So at BCG and McKinsey: more travel, but more virtual/remote work
And at Bain: Less travel, less virtual/remote work
The M-Th travel model is certainly less common but by no means dead. Source: lived it lol
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