Why don’t Business school PhDs find MBB attractive?
I’ve noticed that a lot of MBB consultants with PhD degrees have STEM background. Does anyone know why there’s a lack of PhDs from business schools in the consulting industry? I guess it may be due to a selection problem where PhD candidates from business schools don’t find consulting an attractive career choice, but why? Don’t they also have the knowledge and training necessary to tackle business problems?
Curious as well. I wonder if the problem is more that consulting firms value STEM PhDs over Business PhDs than it being a demand issue from the PhD students
Why do you think so? What characteristics do business PhDs lack that STEM PhDs have that are valuable to consulting firms?
I'm not positive, but might be a combination of STEM PhDs being seen as sharper thinkers (ie smarter) and also them being hired into particular practices such as a PhD in chemistry hired into a life sciences group
I really don’t agree with the first part of this statement. It’s is borderline condescending and shows a lack of understanding of what business PhDs do. Not sure about other subfields in business but having done reseach in the intersection of finance and economcics, I can say that most if not all of the research done in these subfields are extremely mathematical. I don’t really have any reason to think business PhDs are inferior to STEM students in any way, shape, or form.
I don’t think second part of the statement also doesn’t completely justify the almost exclusive presence of stem PhDs in consulting. Sure they need people for the life science group, but don’t they also need people for the financial industry, retail industry, etc.? Plus, they’re all hired as generalists either way
I'd guess that most business PhD's are more research focused and have end goals in academia than other PhD's. Since the MBA is itself considered a terminal degree, it is completely unnecessary to have a PhD to qualify for top business roles. Whereas STEM majors have a harder time differentiating themselves to qualify for consulting roles.
STEM for consulting means they can add technical value beyond the business side. You see this with a lot of guys in biotech at the c level too btw.
I was always under the impression that there aren't a ton of business PhD students (at least in comparison to how many graduate with STEM PhDs) so it could be a numbers game.
It's a combination of this and the fact that life as a business school prof is very cushy. Since supply of PhDs is managed better than in other disciplines, there are more tenure track opportunities and salaries are higher. This is especially true for accounting (in terms of openings) and finance. Top finance AP placements pay like $230k+ and even lower ranked ones should be around $150k+. From what I've heard, it's also easier to publish in top business journals versus say, top econ ones.
Good point - many of the PhDs have job offers with more money and fewer hours than consulting so they probably rarely even apply
There are A LOT of business / econ PhDs in Consulting, especially in the more senior ranks, in Germany / Austria / Switzerland. Approx. 50 % of academic leaves end up doing a business PhD here, the rest does either a MBA at a Top 5 EU or Top 10 US Uni or a PhD in their field if they come from STEM / Law / Social Sciences. Different culture, here the PhD is more of a working title and seen as less academic.
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