The Consulting Prep Experts

While MBB means men’s basketball to many avid sports fans, those in the consulting world know the acronym also stands for the holy grail of consulting firms: McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain. The MBB consulting firms are commonly ranked at the top of company rankings for prestige and attract hundreds of thousands of applicants each year. But what makes them so great and special?

Several factors help MBB stand out from the rest of the consulting pack. Though there are several key differences amongst the MBB consulting firms, there are some overlapping similarities as well.

The MBB firms have earned their level or respect and prestige in the consulting industry for a variety of reasons. These include:

All these factors combine to make the MBB firms the most influential consulting companies in the world. Read on to learn about the unique aspects of each firm.

McKinsey is commonly regarded as the most prestigious and accomplished consulting firm in the world. Since its founding in 1926, the company has grown to over 21,000 employees across more than 120 offices around the world. The company generated a whopping $10B in revenue in 2017.

McKinsey is a bit like an academic organization. Senior partners are like tenured faculty, and new hires are the bright, eager students. The firm has about 100 performance cells that are all autonomous, categorized by geographic office, industry practice, or functional practice. Beyond that, there’s no hierarchical structure that defines reporting lines. Like most management consulting firms, McKinsey operates on an “up or out” basis – consultants must either advance in their careers within a pre-defined timeframe (usually two years) or exit the firm.

What are your prospects when you leave McKinsey? Infinite! With a McKinsey background, you’re bound to be successful landing a job as an analyst (or higher) at traditional firms – in fact, you’ll be highly desirable. You’ll leave the firm with an amazing analytical toolset, an unparalleled perspective on business, and access to a vast global network.

Also, you can start your own business – like Kevin Gao, our founder, or hundreds of other impressive McKinsey alums in different sectors.

We thought it would be fun to include a list of famous McKinsey alum – to give you an idea of what’s in store for you. Some of the most prominent include:

There’s no doubt you’ll be surrounded by intelligent, interesting people at McKinsey. Read any blog, and you’ll see people rave about their “incredibly smart colleagues” and “very smart people all around.” As a young professional just out of school you’ll enjoy unparalleled exposure to business processes and resources, high-impact client projects, and diverse industries. You’ll have the opportunity to travel a LOT if you want to, and your social calendar will fill up quickly with happy hours, retreats, and the like. Take advantage of some of the best training and development opportunities in the consulting industry. And don’t forget the perks that will make your friends drool.

You’ll find that McKinsey consultants are very smart and business-like, but they’re not very collegial. They’re known for engaging in long legacy client relationships (including some in-house strategy offices) and completing even longer final reports that are very academic, weigh a ton, and gather dust on CEO bookshelves. In general, McKinsey plays it safe – they don’t work for the same profile of private equity firms that Bain does, and aren’t known for being as creative as BCG.

One thing you can count on in any McKinsey consultant – they’re trained to attack a problem in a certain way. The firm is diligent about preserving a certain set of values and code of behavior among consultants – it’s like an underlying software program they’ve all downloaded into their brains. It’s what defines the culture at McKinsey. It’s also what consultants like former McKinsey & Co. partner Betsy Ziegler-turned-Kellogg Dean of Students say they miss the most when they leave.

McKinsey staffs globally, which means that you’ll work on project engagements with 5-6 member teams pulled from locations around the world. As such, sign up for your favorite frequent flyer programs and expect to travel 100%. Even if a client doesn’t demand your presence on-site, you’ll need to fly to connect with your team.

And yes, McKinsey people are fun and dynamic, but definitely not in a fraternal way – the firm is more structured and formal than its counterparts. It’s definitely a work hard, work hard culture with a little play thrown in.

The second largest out of the MBB firms, Boston Consulting Group is known as an innovative thought leader in the consulting industry. The firm has roughly 18,500 employees across 90 offices around the world. The company generated $7.5B in revenue in 2018.

Like any business that grows from a 1-man show to a company with 18,500+ employees over a few short decades, BCG has seen its share of organizational changes. In 1987, the firm’s practice areas were first defined. Interestingly, that was the same year the position of Senior Partner was created.

If your training and development opportunities at BCG aren’t enough to make you feel super confident about exiting the firm to pursue your next chapter, the BCG alum badge should fill the void. Let’s face it – having BCG on your resume will open almost any door you want to pursue, or at the very least get you an interview.

Check out this list of notable BCG alum—

So what’s it like to be a “BCGer”? BCG says they look for “curiosity, talent, and the ability to lead” in their new hires. You’ll find all this and more in consultants at BCG. If you like to work around super smart people, have access to opportunities for work and travel in foreign countries, and enjoy frequent company-sponsored outings and excursions, you’ve come to the right place.

Talk to any BCGer and you’ll notice 3 things:

We mentioned office culture earlier and compared it to Bain. While the similarity is there, we’d classify BCG as way more conservative in terms of the vibe at the office. Additionally, while teamwork is an essential part of any BCG office, there’s also a lot of focus on individual effort on projects. Also, BCG places a ton of emphasis on “rolling up their sleeves” and “tailored solutions for clients.” BCG sells against McKinsey more often than Bain, and their customized, collaborative client approach is a direct slam on McKinsey’s “dust off another report” approach.

The typical travel schedule at BCG is 4-days-a-week, with everyone back in the office on Fridays. Often, consultants will use Fridays to connect with their managers, set their plan for the next week, determine what work they’ll need to accomplish over the weekend, then hit happy hour with other BCGers to rehash the ups and downs of the job.

Since it is MBB, you can expect a rigorous travel schedule, but at the same time expect to be treated nicely for that time on the road, with perks like Platinum membership at SPG resorts.

The smallest of the MBB bunch, but definitely a force to be reckoned with, Bain currently employs over 8,000 people across 50 offices worldwide. The company generated an estimated $3.8B in revenue in 2017.

The company is headed not by a sole CEO, but by 2 individuals – the Worldwide Managing Director and the Chairman of the Board. Below that, there are 3 Regional Managing Directors for the firm’s business regions – The Americas, Asia Pacific, and EMEA.

After that, Bain’s organization is typical of the top consulting firms – they hire undergrads as Associate Consultants (ACs) who work for 2-3 years before exiting or pursuing an MBA. If you’re hired as an MBA, you enter as a Consultant and rise from there to Case Team Leader, Principal, then finally Partner (assuming all goes well.) It’s a typical up-or-out system, with more focus on the up.

Bain used to utilize a 50-50 staffing model, where consultants were assigned to 2 projects at the same time. The idea was that staff would always be at least 50% utilized. In seasons of intense growth, however, the staffing model was unsustainable. Consulting utilizes a business model that promises clients 110% effort on any project, so when an Associate Consultant or Consultant became a shared resource between 2 Managers both expecting 100%, internal warring became inevitable. When the firm decided to move towards a 100% model – 1 project per AC or Consultant – everyone was happy.

A Bain alum doesn’t have quite the same street cred as a McKinsey alum, but the opportunities after exiting are similar. One thing that’s a little different with Bain – a lot of Bainees are hired by private equity firms when they decide to leave the firm. Those with PE experience are especially sought after.

You also have access to opportunities that are available within the rest of the company, especially if you’re in a mega location. You can explore the firm’s non-profit branch, The Bridgespan Group, for example, or non-client-facing roles within the firm, like marketing, HR, or recruiting.

So what’s it like to be a “Bainee”? Well, the fact that the firm has a band (The Bain Band) that makes up its own lyrics to perform songs like Sweet Child of Mine and Brown Eyed Girl at corporate events should tell you something. Without a doubt, Bain is known as the “frattiest” of the top 3 firms. They know how to enjoy a beer in the office on Fridays. While this is essential to recruiting success, the firm has had to become more formal in the past 10 years to avoid losing its mystique and prestige.

Local office culture is a huge draw at Bain. Connectivity, camaraderie, and conviction are common themes that draw new recruits to the firm – many cross-offers select Bain because they just end up loving the people they meet. The local office is so core, in fact, that Bainees are less connected across the globe.

Bainees are creative, entrepreneurial, and quirky. They naturally think outside the box and they’re willing to risk everything—a core trait demonstrated by Bain’s near-failure followed by its rapid rise to the top and continued global expansion. In fact, Bain hired a guy wearing pink seersucker in his interview, just going to prove that Bainee clothes are even more colorful than a typical McKinsey-ite or BCG-er (obviously, he was instructed to put the outfit away before his first client interaction!).

Travel with Bain runs on a 4-days-a-week schedule with Fridays in the home office. Because Bain has a local staffing model – each office develops a core client base in its local/regional area. Even more importantly, you’re always staffed on teams from your local office. You travel less than you would with, let’s say, Deloitte. You won’t need to travel half-way around the world to meet up with your team or work for the client. At Bain, much of your work can be done from the office.

If you want to travel every week, you may or may not get that opportunity at Bain. If you’re getting into consulting because you want to see the world, Bain might not be your #1 option. Although, you’ll still have plenty of opportunities to see glorious places from Pascagoula, MS to Milan on the company dime.

We know that was a lot of information. Here are some of the key reasons you might want to work at each of the MBB firms. Note that these components can be pros or cons based on your own perspective.

If you happen to have an offer for any of the MBB consulting firms, you really can’t go wrong. Each firm has an amazing history and unbeatable track record that makes them the gold standards of the consulting industry. Barring any unforeseen catastrophic events, the MBB firms will likely reign on the top for the many decades to come.

Source: Managementconsulted.com

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