Does MBB view Big 4 as competitors?
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What is the real deal across MBB, Tier 2, Big4?
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If your question about talent is really “is there overlap between the type of people who work at mbb and big 4?” - of course! Most people I know who interviewed for MBB also interviewed for the boutiques/ big 4, and the interview process is not perfect. There are definitely many high performers at big 4 that could be at MBB. (And likely some people at MBB who should not be there.) However, I have never seen anyone pick big 4 over MBB and I know big 4 recruits at many lower ranked schools at which we don’t.
OP, to answer your question above, posting my $0.02 based on my time in industry as client.
At least in Pharma (my vertical), clients tend to group Deloitte with MBB for strategy (obv MBB in higher regard than D). Don’t really take the rest of B4 seriously for strategy work in life science.
D is seen has doing good quality life science strat work at much better prices. MBB therefore end up pricing themselves out of a lot of brand/franchise level strat work. Though MBB (Mck in particular) dominate C-suite corporate/enterprise wide strat work.
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Yes McK1 please don't lump acn in with us
Fun Fact: Many kids who work at MBB didn’t get into Harvard, and D is harder to get into than Harvard. Gotta love the BIG D.
^ I don’t believe the talent component. To Bain’s point; we don’t compete in recruiting (at least, I’ve never seen a cross offer go to B4 vs MBB). On work, yes, because of price
People who work at Deloitte and refer to Deloitte as Big D and/or Uncle D make me cringe
Isn’t Accenture in the Big4?
It depends
I sometimes wonder if the MBBs you see come over to Big4 or ACN are the ones that are being coached out and not well liked enough to be helped into a good position with a client?
AC1 pretty sure you answered your own question there.
You can see the arrogance all over fb and in this thread. Nothing surprising.
For recruiting, no. We do compete against big 4 for work. They charge much less than us, so big 4 is compelling for many clients.
Big P!
Ouch Mck1, don't lump us in with them! 😅
If they move from MBB to big 4, they almost certainly were managed out (although 90% of people are managed out within 5 years, so there’s limited stigma). People generally stay into consulting because they love it, not because they can’t find a job in industry.
So to be completely honest, I think the arrogance that comes from MBB is outrageous. I interned with McKinsey and got my full time offer, but I couldn’t take it because I knew (generally) the kind of people I’d be surrounded by. Senior year I was excited to recruit with Bain and BCG as I had heard they attracted vastly different people than Mck. However, I was sad to learn that the situation wasn’t much better. I know this is a limited experience but when the consultants that were at recruiting events said things to me about others like, “They won’t make it past first rounds in that cheap suit,” or “Your breeding makes you a perfect fit for our culture,” I couldn’t do it. I found that big 4 (EY and Pwc specifically) had just as talented people without all the false pretense
Did you seriously hear someone say that about breeding?
@SC1 yessss, let’s shit on Deloitte
They compete in every way that matters - talent, ideas and projects.