Top tier/tier2/tier3 consulting firms?? | PrepLounge.com (2024)

Hi there,

• Consulting Interview Questions – Example Questions and Answers for Your Interview in Management Consulting
• Tell Me About Yourself – Interview Questions: Why Me? Why Consulting? Why Company?
• McKinsey PEI (Personal Experience Interview) – How to Prepare and Ace PEI Questions in the Best Way Possible
• Behavioral Interview Questions and Answers – How You Should Prepare and Respond
• ''Why Consulting?'' – How to Deliver an Answer That Will Impress Your Interviewer

I hope I could give you some helpful insights and resources with this answer.

Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any further questions. I am happy to help! :-)

All the best for your case interview preparation.

Christine
PrepLounge Community Management

Hi there,

The definition of Tier 2 for strategy consulting is pretty “fluid”. Different people consider different companies as Tier 2.

In general, I would consider “clear” Tier 2: Oliver Wyman, Strategy&, Kearney and Roland Berger.

However, that also depends on the country. In some geographies, some so-called Tier 2 are stronger than even MBB (eg, Strategy& in the Middle East is stronger than Bain). Moreover, the same Tier 2 may have a very different penetration in different countries (eg Roland Berger in Germany has a very strong presence compared to the one they have in the United States).

Brand management and marketing is not a clear focus for strategy consulting companies – that’s a very specific niche. Usually you join as a generalist and may cover a variety of sectors.

If you want to focus specifically on marketing from the beginning, you may want to look for a boutique(however exit opportunities with that will be more limited).

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

Big4 is a subset of Tier 2! So, Tier 1 isonlyThe Big Three (MBB). Tier 2 is Big4 AND a bunch of others (you mentioned a few i.e. OW, LEK).

The best way to check all os this and understand relative rankings is to simplygoogle rankings :)

If you'd like to focus on brand management/marketing, you generally will need to go more boutique (i.e. not Tier 1 OR Tier 2)

Hi there,

I am not sure any of those firms (MBB, tier2, Big4) focuses on marketing/ brand management.

Regarding PE, Bain and EY-Parthenon are particularly strong in that area, quite above all other competitors.

Regarding your question on tier2, Parthenon was able to retain its core values, practices and talent even after being acquired by EY (probably because the founder Bill Achtmeyer remained leading EY-P). Also because there was a well managed integration and no relevant overlap on how it was done. So definitely a Tier2 for EYP.

Not sure whether this was the case for the other Big4 acquisitions/strategy arms in the US.

(edited)

I do agree with Sara’s sentiment on focusing on culture/people and the business focus alignment to your area of interest, but I am not sure how I feel about the segmentation. I do agree there is not a hard line, but below is a different approach to how the industry might be segmented (read how folks describe the industry or folks in industry might perceive themselves):

Strategy Consulting Firms: Main focus is to provide high level strategic advice to companies leadership (C-level and Board). They partake in other things, not limited to, but including implementation, operation etc. These companies would include:

Tier 1- which typical refers to MBB

Big 4 - Which refers to the Strategy side of Deloitte (Monitor), KPMG, PWC (Strategy&), EY (Parthenon)

Tier 2- Typical Non Tier 1 or Big 4, could be called "Other Boutiques"- example could be Oliver Wyman, A.T.K, Accenture strategy, Z.S Associate and a host of others.

Management Consulting Firms: Now this includes everything including strategy consulting, IT, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, Deals or M&A etc. again the companies above mostly offer such services, but the industry has its way of branding MBB as Strategy, Accenture as IT, A.T.K as operation and Big 4 as financial services based. The irony is that they are all management consulting firms that do a bit of everything, so do more than the others do, but you can do strategy work or IT implementation work at most of those firms.

That being said, it is true that MBB gets a lot of strategy projects, but so does Monitor, Strategy& and Accenture Strategy, just like its true Accenture gets a ton of IT projects, but so does MBB and Deloitte. I don’t have exact data to tell you who have what share, but point is you can end up doing what you want at any firm, if they offer/ sell the service you have interest in.

More specific to your question on if they are the same globally, for the companies described above they operate globally, but sometimes with a slight change in focus (read what the business opportunity might be in that region – Houston firms focus on Energy, San Francisco’s would focus on Tech, Middle East- Oil and Gas and maybe Retail etc.)

Obviously there is more to this, but hopefully this is sufficient to get you a sense of the current industry position.

Hi I will write this list from the top of my head, some firms might be missing, especially smaller one where you might argue they are Tier 3.

Tier 2:

• Oliver Wyman
• Roland Berger
• Kearney
• Strategy&

Tier 3:

• ZEB
• Simon Kucher
• Horvath
• Porsche Consulting
• Accenture Strategy + Big 4 strategy arms (although they are getting more and more integrated)

Germany:

Tier 1:

McKinsey

BCG

Strategy& (due to pay and prestige of the people they are hiring atm)

Bain (depends - strong name, but a strong focus on PE here)

Tier 2:

Roland Berger

Oliver Wyman

AT Kearney

SSCO (even though small pretty prestigious in Germany)

Tier 3

EY Parthenon (took over OC&C)

Simon Kucher

Monitor Deloitte

Accenture Strategy

Zeb

Hovarth

LEK

United States

Tier 1:

McKinsey

BCG

Bain

The rest not so sure.

Hi Akshay,

Tier-2

* Roland Berger

*Oliver Wyman

* Startegy&

* Kearney

Tier-3

*Big4

* Accenture

* Boutique firms

* Inhouse consulting

Best,
André

Hi Akshay,

this Vault ranking for Europe is a good start. All of these firms are present in Germany.

https://www.vault.com/blogs/consult-this-consulting-careers-news-and-views/the-vault-2020-consulting-25-europe

If you read German (or use google translate), this website also provides a similar listing:

https://www.staufenbiel.de/magazin/jobsuche/arbeitgeber-rankings/top-25-beratungsunternehmen-in-europa.html

Regards!

Tier 1, 2 etc. is not an official neither a good definition. Therefore, if I were you, I would not take it into account too much. When choosing a company to apply to, the most important thing to focus on is understanding which firm is right for you based on its culture and its business focus.

A very good way to differentiate consulting firms is their business focus. To make a very simple distinction:

- Some firms provide clients with a very high level strategic advice (here there are the so called MBB and other smaller firms);

- After the high level guidelines are defined, other consultants must help the client at executing the initiative in the day to day business (there are here some big names such as Accenture, pwc and other firms).

Of course the line that differentiate the two groups is not rigid.

In addition, within each of these two groups, subgroups by the dimension "industry focus" can be identified. However, these largely vary from country to country.

Don't spend too much time looking at informal sayings and classifications. You should look for the business culture you feel more confortable with. Having said this, the industry can indeed be classified in three groups, according to salary, type of work and exit:

1) Tier 1: MBB (McKinsey, BCG, Bain)

2) Tier 2: Accenture Strategy, AT Kearney, Oliver Wyman

3) Big Four: Monitor, Booz, Pantheon

Hi!

To add on top what´s been said, the geography is a key thing here. What is not so relevant in one market, can be industry leader in another one.

Clara

Hi,

Tier 1 are mainly the 3 top strategy firms, the MBB - McKinsey, Bain, BCG

Tier 2 are e.g. Roland Berger, Oliver Wyman, Accenture strategy, strategy divisions of Big4 like Strategy&, Monitor, EY Parthenon,

Tier 3 are the Big4 (KPMG, PWC, EY, Deloitte) and other consultancies like Capgemini etc.

Cheers

Dear Akshay,

do add to this - in Germany there are also several Inhouse Consultancies that are considered T2/T3, some of them are even directly competing (projects, but also salaries) with T1 consultancies.

You can find details / a ranking in the following:
https://www.squeaker.net/de/Karriere/Branchen/Consulting-Unternehmensberatung/Karriere/squeakernet-Ranking-fuer-Inhouse-Consulting/p/2/t/Inhouse-Consulting-Ranking-Analyse-Event

BR,
Simon

In addition to what other coaches have said, if you are keen on Marketing check out Accenture (Accenture Interactive).

Hi,

At least in South East Asia there are several categorization but again this only a broad generalisatin and not rigid at all:

• Tier 1 is the MBB - McKinsey, BCG, Bain
• Big 4 - PwC, KPMG, EY, Deloitte
• Tier 2 - Strategy&, Oliver Wayman, Kearney, Roland Berger, LEK

Best,
Iman

Hi there, I have been director in strategy consulting - for anybody new to the industry: If you seek to work in Germany/ Austria/ Switzerland: Please go and check the rankings of Brand Eins/ Statista where clients evaluate consulting firms into tier 1/2/3 by type of work and industry sector, not the HR marketing departments of the consulting firms. Think out loud where you want to be in 5 - 10 years, and research which firm has the strongest footprint in this specific sector / field. You will be surprised that some so called "tier 1 powerhouses" will not be your top pick after this excercise.

well, the chart of top ten management consulting firms are available in almost every business journal and the top-notch players like Accenture, Deloitte and MC Kingsley are well-known names. We have the list of top ten management consulting firms check here - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-10-business-consulting-firms-india-chandrani-jana/

But, many companies want to hire services of different companies who are no less than the above-mentioned names for obvious reasons.

Often start-ups and mid-sized companies want to hire management consulting firms who have rich experience and are spread all over the country as they have the potential to seep inside the client’s issues.

In this regard, Gyaanmart is the true winner in this regard. With a strong client base and the right amount of experience they have clients of all sizes and from every sector.