Related Posts
More Posts
Thoughts on Ogilvy Chicago?
Additional Posts in Consulting
Most stressful commute story go
Taking it to the next level. 🎂😅
Sometimes the juice isn’t worth the squeeze
This job is miserable without travel.
Looking for some book recommendations :)
Houston downtown JW vs Westin.. Thoughts?
Pro
Best books on leadership and sales skills?
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
MBBs have a much better support network as a result of higher rates. The sheer fact that they can delegate their research activities and slide formatting to supporting functions leaves a lot more time on actual problem solving while uplifting quality.
so is the research/slide team part of the project team throughtout? whats the operation model like?
I would say MBB has better support staff. While associates everywhere have to do some form of menial work, MBB has better services for slides, analytics, etc. and higher budgets imply using Expert Networks more than traditional sourcing through LinkedIn as one example. They also seem to have more robust data analytics folks
Rising Star
I guess coming from the perspective of what many people call “the next best thing”, I think there are a few differences. The “prestige” factor is probably the most evident. We do win some cross offers, but the majority will take MBB if they have it. From a work perspective, we are almost always competing against at least one MBB for our projects, and from my experience most of our work is “strategy” or some mix of strategy / implementation. The biggest difference is reach. We do well in the parts of industries in which we play, but MBB is generally present in more areas than we are. From a comp perspective, I think we might edge (at least some of) MBB out at entry level; falls off a bit as you get more senior, although we’re working rapidly to close that and our partner comp model is different. Just my 2 cents.
Chief
I can speak from both practitioner and consultant perspective.
As some above me have mentioned, access to help is one piece that helps the grunt experience. You get more error free slides when people do them as their whole job rather than a 24 year old cranking 100 of them on 48 hours of no sleep.
Also, MBB just have more reps and proven models. The problem solving is only partly bespoke, and that gives clients confidence. Which leads to more wins on cool cases and better experience for juniors. T2's from my experience rely too much on "thump factor" and think that doing endless analysis is how to overdeliver and sell work. LEK is notorious for this. I noticed this with external hires from those kinds of firms to MBB. They grind their teams like crazy without talking to their client. RB is in this category - outside of auto they have no credibility in the US, and the partners grind their teams like crazy.
Source: MBB, Corp strategy in industry
so MBB will refer to their vast and proven Knowledge base more while Tier 2 will have more analysis from scratch hence the quality difference? If thats the case then will an average consultant at Tier 2 be better than MBB in the long run? Since we will do more analysis, more grunt work for the hard skills etc?
Your point about grinding teams for extra analysis is incredibly true. Especially at places like EYP and LEK where most people have known diligence work, that bleeds over into the same mindset for when we do have strategy work. Definitely going to be a HUGE growing pain for EYP going forward as they do try to win more strategy work
No difference. Prestige->better rates->higher pay->better talent->more prestige
Rising Star
Are you a client who has worked with both MBB and T2 firms?
You will find great people in every consulting company but average consultant at MBB is better than average consultant at tier 2. Junior people can often drive deliveries more independently, with fewer errors, have more ideas and be more efficient at MBB.