Competitive landscape of management consulting industry

I think the Big 4 is derided here as well, but I have a feeling Deloitte is trying to set itself up to become a "financial conglomerate" ... they recently acquired a MM IB firm. I think they are trying to create synergy here, just like how they were able to connect accounting and consulting together.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/03/the_state_of_strategy_consulti.html

From 2011, but still true IMO.

Big 4, especially PWC and Deloitte, will continue to strengthen, the tier 2 firms will see the brunt of the pain, squeezed on both sides by MBB and the Big4, the Accenture type firms which have an IT/ops focus will muddle along

Will be interesting to note how close MBB will get to implementation projects (where the long term $$$ is), especially as firms like Deloitte & PwC are positioned to do both the strategy AND implementation. There clearly is a case for maintaining the same team/key consultants the entire way through.

My personal opinion: Big 4 are trying to move up the chain, and McKinsey, at least, is trying to move down.

Traditionally, in my region, we run into MBB on Ops strategy (org design, supply chain strategies, function effectiveness assessments etc.) but since we don't really do corporate strategy and they don't do a lot of implementation we don't see each other. Except McK just purchased a PMO type firm in their own words to "help their clients implement their strategies."

Deloitte is busy conslidating their consultant branch to help improve consistency of deliverables across countries, and with Monitor and consistent talks with RB shows increased focus on building strategy.

The other Big 4, my firm included, are still just not yet at a state of maturity both from a business and leadership level yet to really make moves up the chain, I'm sure that is in the future and they will attempt to follow-up Deloitte.

So what does this all mean? To me, it's about to be a lot more about global firms offereing one stop shops to clients. I doubt there will be a big shift anytime soon on the work done by each type of firm, but it will be interesting to see how McK keeps their consultants happy doing implementation (different project economies for sure) and if the Big 4 and others can develop the capabilities in their staff and reputations inthe market it could cause some changes at the top end of the market as well.

Of course, the view from the bottom of the pyramid is certainly different from what the partners at these firms are seeing :)

TT

Pretty recent article from The Economist:

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21577376-world-grows-more-confus…

TylerT:

McK just purchased a PMO type firm in their own words to "help their clients implement their strategies."

which firm?

I'll find the article about the acquisition. It was a big publication, but can't seem to findit again on Google Until then, here is their Implementation Group page:
http://www.mckinsey.com/client_service/operations/tools_and_solutions/m…

Based on that group above, looks like the firm they acquired may only be supplementing something they already had. Also I should add, in case it wasn't clear, the firm they bought isn't necessarily the bodies doing the work, but the bodies supervising the work to make sure it is implemented.

future landscape is likely to be close to current IBD landscape: 1) top tier strategy consulting firm (e.g. Bain, BCG etc...) 2) Big 4 for mass market and one-stop-shop projects 3) specialized boutique (e.g. energy consulting)

As many others have said, I think the Big 4 will do well, MBB will keep the top clients but may lose some competitive advantage, and boutiques will continue to chip away where the opportunities lie. Tech firms like Accenture and IBM will continue to do well as technology becomes increasingly important but will always be seen as "beneath" the strategy shops. In all honesty, I don't see things changing very much over the next few years..... Merger and consolidation is always offset by new shops opening up.

There was a pretty good article in Indian context about it but I think it holds true for US/EU as well.

articles. economictimes. indiatimes. com / 2013-04-28/news/38862562_1_kpmg-consulting-pwc-big-bucks

I think the Big 4 are looking to squeeze out/acquire Tier 2s for sure. If I were MBB, I would be worried a lot.

Big 4 + Tier 2 Acquired Groups can create enough headaches for MBB or at least start eating at their profits with competitive price points and increased quality.

I have seen that post - excellent write up. Couple of others keep popping up in Consulting Mag and Harvard Business Review occasionally.

You mean this?

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/03/the_state_of_strategy_consulti.html

jlh314:

As many others have said, I think the Big 4 will do well, MBB will keep the top clients but may lose some competitive advantage, and boutiques will continue to chip away where the opportunities lie.

just about every client has multiple firms working on different things at once

Well folks... guess we're moving closer towards the endgame by the day! Apparently Accenture just finished its DD of Booz.

http://www.manager-magazin.de/unternehmen/artikel/kauft-die-unternehmen…