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Updated on 07/23/2024

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What Does a Management Consultant Do at McKinsey, Bain and BCG?

McKinsey, Bain & Company, and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), are known as the ‘Big Three’ of the consulting industry and are the largest and most well-established strategy consulting firms globally.

Strategy consulting is a branch of consulting that focuses on providing advisory services on a specific area of business operations for clients, usually working together with the board of directors and executive team. As such, consultants at the ‘Big Three’ tend to work across a variety of industries on projects to formulate new and sustainable strategies that will improve organizational performance for the client company.

The following article aims to provide a comparison between all three firms, explaining what differentiates each one in terms of the industries they work and specialize in, the kind of projects they have taken on in the past, and the notable alumni from these firms, to give you a better understanding of what sets them apart.

Project Examples of MBB

To give you a better understanding of the kind of problems that the ‘Big Three’ help globally leading organizations and institutions with, the following section outlines examples of past projects taken on by each company as well as looks at their recent works.

During their many years of operations, all three companies have taken on some noteworthy and high-profile client projects:

Projects at McKinsey

Some examples of client cases McKinsey has taken on include:

Brexit – designed the new UK border operating model alongside other Big Three (International/Government)
NHS – reviewing digital technology within the NHS (Healthcare)
UBS/Credit Suisse – examining a potential merger (Financial services)
Clarks – reviewing and renewing business strategy to increase relevance to consumers (Retail)
Cathay Pacific Airlines – assistance in creating new business plans to rival competing regional airlines (Aviation)

Projects at BCG

Some examples of client cases BCG has taken on include:

Brexit – designed the new UK border operating model alongside other Big Three (International/Government)
USA – assisting for a smooth presidential transition (Government)
India – redesigned the quality of teaching alongside the Department of Education in Haryana, India (Education)
NHS – design, and development of the NHS test and trace app during Covid-19 alongside McKinsey (Healthcare/Government)

Projects at Bain & Company

Some examples of client cases Bain has taken on include:

Brexit – designed the new UK border operating model alongside other Big Three (International/Government)
Abu Dhabi – advising on integration of largest investors (Financial Services/Government)
Estée Lauder – renewing pricing strategies (Financial Services)
HMRC – assistance in the transition away from existing IT outsourcing frameworks (Technology/Public Sector)

Many clients and projects remain confidential until and after their completion, however, these are some specific examples of cases taken up by the ‘Big Three’ which have been in the media.

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Notable Alumni of McKinsey, BCG and Bain

In a career as a consultant, you can gain deep industry knowledge and expertise in business operations and various markets. Therefore, it is no surprise that many former consultants go on to assume leadership positions in top businesses, organizations, and even governments across the globe. Below are some of the most famous ex-consultants who worked at the ‘Big Three’ consulting firms, as well as where they are now.

McKinsey Alumni

Sundar Pichai, CEO at Google
Stephen Green, Chairman at HSBC
Sheryl Sandberg, COO at Facebook
Helmut Panke, former CEO of BMW
James Gorman, CEO at Morgan Stanley
Delphine Arnault, Executive Vice President at Louis Vuitton
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, current Prime Minister of Greece

BCG Alumni

Bill Bain, Founder of Bain & Company
Roland Berger, Founder of Roland Berger Strategy Consulting
Indra Nooyi, CEO at PepsiCo
Jeff Immelt, former CEO of General Electric
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel
Hans Wijers, former Minister of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands
John Legend, Grammy award-winning musician

Bain & Company Alumni

Susan Wojicki, CEO at YouTube
Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga Inc.
John Donahoe, former CEO of eBay
Mitt Romney, 2012 US presidential candidate
Meg Whitman, former CEO of HP
Greg Brenneman, Former CEO of PwC and Burger King
Alessandro Bogliolo, Former CEO of Tiffany & Co

Becoming Part of the Big Three

Now you have a good overview of the big three in the consulting industry, you know the main characteristics that distinguish them from each other and you know what projects they usually work on or what they have been involved in recently. Do you want to become a part of the strategic consulting industry? We have a variety of resources for you here at PrepLounge to help you get started in consulting. Here is a small selection for you:

Use our interactive and user-friendly mental math tool to train your case interview math with respect to all basic operations (e.g. addition, multiplication, percentage). By comparing your performance to the overall PrepLounge community, you can improve your case math skills and make sure that you will be prepared for any calculations in your consulting interview.

On PrepLounge, you will find everything you need to be fully prepared for your case interview. The vast PrepLounge community makes it easy to find case partners to practice cases with who have the same ambition to become an experienced case-solver like you!

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