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Written by Oussama Atlassi, founder of StratMachina
Updated on May 31, 2024
When considering a career in the consulting sector, you might ask yourself where the famous 'Big 4' are positioned. In this article, we'll break down the Big Four to explain who they are, what they do, and how they compare to the three juggernauts of strategy consulting, namely McKinsey, BCG, and Bain (MBB), especially in hubs like Paris, Casablanca, Dubai, or London (MBB), especially in hubs like Paris, Casablanca, Dubai, and London.
The 'Big 4' refer to four global professional services giants:
Originally audit firms, the Big Four have since expanded their range of services to include diversified specialties, including strategy consulting, taxation and compliance.
The Big 4's consulting services cover a wide range of disciplines, supported by teams whose missions can often overlap. While these perimeters may sometimes seem vague, the majority of their interventions can be grouped into the following key areas: Transaction services & deals, IT, Strategy, Implementation and transformation
In this area, each firm merges its accounting and consulting expertise to provide specialized consulting to business leaders and financial investors regarding mergers and acquisitions (M&A) opportunities. This is where the Big 4 do some of their most iconic work, and also charge their highest fees. In general, there is a strong link between the consultancy and the prestigious firm Arthur Andersen, a world leader in the sector during the 90s and disappeared following the Enron scandal in the early 2000s, is the most symbolic representation.
Historically, these teams were focused on financial due diligence. However, they now also deal with operational and commercial due diligence, which sometimes brings them closer to strategic teams.
A fast-growing sector for the four Big 4 firms, technology consulting is dedicated to using innovations to help businesses evolve. The Big Four are investing more and more in data science and analytics, areas that are often supported by dedicated teams. This may include the various tools used by client companies, the ways in which they work and organize themselves, and the improvement of the products, services, and business results of these companies through technology. For example, these firms can help a given company to set up a dynamic pricing algorithm based on a number of input criteria. They can also help a company to strengthen itself in terms of cybersecurity or to enrich its existing offer with a digital component that it did not offer up until now.
The Big 4 strategy consulting services are the closest to those of McKinsey, BCG and Bain, major players in strategy consulting. Focused on helping business leaders solve their most complex and critical problems, the Big Four strategic teams are elite and small entities. They employ only a few thousand consultants globally.
Most of the strategic units of the Big 4 were born from the acquisition of boutique consulting firms in the 2010s and are now recognized consulting brands in their own right. Among them:
Transformation consultants respond to specific customer needs, such as implementing new processes or complying with new regulations, rather than providing strategic consulting. For example, the implementation of a new quality control process on a production chain, the implementation of a new ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software or the training of employees in a new process to combat the financing of terrorism and money laundering. These consultants, far from being generalists, often have a specialty from the start.
These missions can sometimes last more than a year and very often require technological expertise. Big 4 firms have numerous in-house resources to provide this expertise.
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In what follows, we'll look at how the strategic units of the Big Four operate in relation to McKinsey, BCG, and Bain. These companies are collectively known as' MBB 'and the' top-3 'strategy consulting firms (not 'big-3 consulting firms', a common misconception).
Continue reading the article in order to be able to compare these two types of firms on aspects such as recruitment, remuneration, career progression, work-life balance or even exit opportunities.
Whether you want to join a strategic unit at a Big 4 or a firm like McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, know that their recruitment approach is based on case interviews.
While nuances may exist between firms, for example, some may give you a written case to deal with at home, the general approach remains similar.
The case interview is the simulation (accelerated) of your collaboration with your line manager within the firm (Project Manager, Principal or Partner at BCG for example). The idea is to test whether you have the qualities required to evolve within these companies, on a case very strongly inspired by a project on which the firm really worked for several weeks/months.
It is precisely these required qualities that are strengthened during your preparation (clarification, structuring, analytical questions, drive, business sense, synthesis, etc.). If you are aiming for a career in these prestigious firms, the advice of experienced coaches can be of great help to avoid Common mistakes and accelerate your progress.
Historically, the Big 4 were perceived as being less selective in their recruitment, creating a perception of a quality gap between Big Four consultants and those of MBBs. At StratMachina, we can confirm that the selectivity threshold is much higher when you try to join an MBB firm.
However, an emerging trend shows consultants making the transition from strategic Big 4 teams to MBBs and vice versa. This applies more to experienced candidates. For example, at EY-Parthenon, we have more than 160 Partners with experience at McKinsey, BCG or Bain. This suggests that the quality of talent between these firms is tending to converge.
It is undeniable that MBBs, being the top three strategy consulting firms in the world, charge their clients significantly more than the strategic units of the Big 4. This is naturally reflected in the salaries. A partner in a Big 4 could receive 30 to 40% less salary than their counterpart at McKinsey, BCG, or Bain. In all cases, the salaries in these professions remain very comfortable but lower than those that can be found in investment banks or private equity.
At MBBs, consultants are under constant pressure to meet or exceed expectations. “Up or out” policies are common there, especially when the business context of the office in question tends to tighten. Indeed, at the end of a grade assessment, after the maximum length of time a consultant can stay on a given grade, if the consultant does not achieve the objectives set and does not achieve the expected progress, he is asked to leave the office. The MBBs push for a certain excellence by the ambition of their teams but also by the fear of having to be pushed out. You must therefore adapt to this pressure and to the requirements of MBBs if you seriously consider this career path.
In contrast, strategic teams in the Big 4 rarely have such policies, reducing the daily pressure on their consultants. This more flexible approach naturally reduces the daily pressure on their consultants. In addition, the competition to join the strategic units of the Big Four is less fierce than to join one of the Big 3 consulting firms, which facilitates the achievement of performance expectations as well as longevity within them. It also implies different career progression rates between MBBs and Big 4.
The Big 4, although very well known, do not have as much urgency as the MBBs to offer rapid career progression to their consultants. Indeed, to compete with other attractive employers and recruit exceptional talent, they promote accelerated career progression. For a consultant freshly integrated into a strategic Big Four team, attaining the rank of Partner can take 15 years, or even longer.
By way of comparison, at McKinsey, BCG or Bain, this increase occurred on average in nine years. This will obviously depend on the performance of each one. Some “high-performers” take less time to reach the rank of Partner.
Achieving work-life balance is notoriously difficult for MBBs. However, this balance may vary within strategic Big 4 teams, across offices and regions. For example, some Big Four offices, which are less involved in due diligence projects, may offer a better balance than MBBs. It should be noted that, like at McKinsey, BCG, and Bain, working weekends is rare and generally discouraged within strategic Big 4 units.
For example, this is what we see with the BCG PTO initiative, which we describe extensively on our article dedicated to work-life balance in MBB.
While consultants at the Big 4 and MBBs share many skills and carry out similar missions, thus offering similar exit opportunities, consultants from the three leading strategy consulting firms - MBBs - are generally the priority of employers.
The label of an MBB on his resume has incomparable value on the job market and gives you access to leadership positions in the world's largest companies, the most innovative startups, public organizations, investment funds (Private Equity, Venture Capital). These consultants have gone through a rigorous selection process and have the seal of approval from a prestigious organization, which is a strong signal of their talent for future employers. In addition, McKinsey, BCG and Bain offer their consultants and former consultants access to attractive professional opportunities via internal career centers and job offer platforms, support that the Big 4 generally do not offer.
There are many similarities between the work done by consultants within the Big 4 strategic teams and that done by management consultants at McKinsey, BCG, and Bain. In both cases, consultants contribute to client projects that cover multiple sectors, industries and regions, such as aeronautics, industries and regions, such as aeronautics, financial services, energy, minerals and metals, construction, health, transport, transport, telecommunications, telecommunications, telecommunications, retail, retail, public sector, etc. Working closely with management and other key stakeholders.
These projects tend to be fairly short, lasting from two weeks to six months. Consultants therefore move from one project to the next throughout the year, gaining a wealth of experience along the way.
In the strategic units of the Big Four, just like at McKinsey, BCG, and Bain, all consultants generally start out as generalists, working in a variety of sectors, to specialize later in their careers. As a result, the work they do is naturally varied at the start. As far as their specialization is concerned, it is not monolithic. A consultant will often have 2-3 industries and functions in which they specialize.
However, due to the expertise of the Big 4 in transactional services, their strategic teams do more due diligence work in some localities than MBBs usually do.
Keep in mind that this working method is an essential part of your counseling experience. All consultants and ex-consultants agree that these professional experiences forever change your ability to solve problems, break them down and prioritize your work and that of the teams under your charge to be effective.
The Big 4 got into strategy consulting primarily because these businesses saw it as a way to offer their customers other types of services early in the decision-making process. Once they've helped develop a strategy, they can then help implement it through the wide range of services they offer, such as technology consulting, implementation and transformation consulting, and transaction services.
As a result, Partners in the strategic units of the Big Four are often encouraged to sell other company services to their clients and to identify other business opportunities that their strategic projects could generate. It is common for Partners in the Big 4 strategic units to be encouraged to sell other services of the firm, to capitalize on ongoing strategic projects. In contrast, at McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, where the focus is exclusively on strategy consulting, such a multi-faceted approach is not necessary. However, we also notice that MBBs are broadening their skills and their field of expertise to provide support that goes beyond strategy to their customers. An entity like BCG Platinion will make it possible to add a digital building block to BCG's strategic recommendations, for example.
The Big 4's deep relationships with the largest organizations in the world give them privileged access to top-level leaders, called “C-Suite” (CEO, CFO, COO, CTO etc.), just like McKinsey, BCG and Bain. However, the depth of these relationships comes at a cost. Strategic decisions often require the approval of multiple partners, which can make these firms less agile than MBBs. Because of their more focused nature, McKinsey, BCG, and Bain can be more responsive and enterprising.
It's also one of the reasons why Big Four firms are organizing their strategic teams into smaller workforces. The idea is to strengthen their agility and speed up their internal decision-making process.
Navigating the world of strategy consulting requires a thorough understanding of the nuances between firms. Whether you are tempted by the promises of rapid growth at MBbS, or are looking for a perhaps more balanced approach to the Big 4, the key is to know each firm well and to define what best fits your career aspirations.
The French market, with offices in Paris, and other key locations such as Casablanca, Dubai or London, offers a multitude of opportunities for those looking to build a career in this sector. This is a market that we at StratMachina know perfectly well. For more information on The 2023 ranking of strategy consulting firms, do not hesitate to consult our dedicated article.
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