Difference between revisions of "Specialization"
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*All this said, we should note that many boutiques are indeed small, ranging from upwards of 200 employees down to a single consultant. Often, boutique consulting firms grow from the expertise and client relationships of one to five founding partners, and unless it sells a consistently large flow of work, the firm has no compelling reason to grow quickly. <br> | *All this said, we should note that many boutiques are indeed small, ranging from upwards of 200 employees down to a single consultant. Often, boutique consulting firms grow from the expertise and client relationships of one to five founding partners, and unless it sells a consistently large flow of work, the firm has no compelling reason to grow quickly. <br> | ||
'''''From http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-boutique-consulting-firms.htm''''' <br> | |||
Boutique consulting firms offer businesses and large corporations highly specialized advice that addresses specific problems or aspects of a business. The goal is to improve a company's efficiency and profits. The use of the term "boutique" has more to do with the consulting firms' focus than with their actual size, since one firm may consist of only a single advisor, while another may have as many as 200 or more consultants working for it. | |||
More specifically, "boutique" most often refers to the corporate or agency niche or niches inside of which it offers its services. Examples of different niches in which boutique consulting firms might intercede are Human Resources companies, healthcare IT, and outsourcing firms. Government entities might also call on the services of boutique consulting firms. Overall, a boutique consulting firm tends to focus on a smaller number of industries. | |||
Large management consulting firms can be global in scope and tend to offer services that are more diversified. As such, a large business consulting firm is typically able to draw from more reservoirs of overlapping knowledge and expertise than more narrowly focused boutique consulting firms, which could be an advantage for the company or agency that contracts its services. Boutique firms, on the other hand, are often able to resolve business issues more quickly than large firms that tend to require more time for a specific project. The solutions that boutique consultants might offer tend to have a more immediate impact, which may save an organization from ruin. | |||
Fees that small-to-medium boutique consulting firms charge tend to be lower than those charged by the larger firms, because they usually have lower operating costs and fewer consultants on staff. Some of the larger firms tend to gravitate towards adding more services for the companies that confer with them. Besides increased cost for the clients, this can delay the resolution of their corporate or agency issues. | |||
The use of boutique consulting firms, when they are indeed small, may be riskier than using a large firm. In some cases, they have serviced many fewer clients than the larger firms, so there is not as much verifiable evidence that their services will be helpful. The methods boutique consulting firms employ might not be as well-defined or established as those of the larger firms. Small boutique firms may not have adequate resources to thoroughly train newly hired consultants. In general, boutique consulting firms tend to offer companies and agencies fewer frills, perks, and status through their association than their larger counterparts. | |||
'''''From http://managementconsulted.com/boutique-firms/recruiting-decisions-what-is-the-difference-between-global-management-consulting-firms-and-boutique-consulting-firms/''''' <br> | |||
This is an important issue when recruiting for a business consulting job. In finance, most people think you must work for the biggest the Goldman-Sachs-or-bust mentality. And while the big management consulting firms (like McKinsey and Bain) get the lions share of media attention, there are many successful and well-respected boutique consulting firms (like Katzenbach Partners, LEK, and Marakon) that I would recommend prospective applicants consider. | |||
So what are the differences between the two? First, Ill start with the similarities: | |||
1) Consulting travel will usually be a component | |||
2) Youll work in teams, interacting closely with clients | |||
3) As an analyst/associate/consultant, your focus will be on data gathering, analysis, and presentation. In plain English, this means youll receive lots of data from your client, do calculations in Excel, combine that with thorough Internet research and some interviews, and put it into slides to share at meetings | |||
But the differences are very important: | |||
1) While the fundamentals of your work will be the same, the application of that work can vary. Boutique companies like Kurt Salmon typically focus on narrower questions and in fewer industries. At a Big 3 consulting firm (Bain, BCG, McKinsey) you receive exposure to different industries and functions (eg, strategy, operations, organization). In boutiques your exposure is more narrow at Kurt Salmon, your primary focus would be on retail and consumer goods companies. This is both a pro (you start building expertise) and a con (what if you decide the retail sector is not for you?). | |||
But again, the day-to-day will look very similar. The difference is in the longer-term. | |||
2) As for travel it depends. Some boutiques do a lot of traveling if they have an industry focus (Kurt Salmon is a well-regarded expert in the retail/consumer goods space, with clients spread throughout the US and internationally). But other boutiques have a more local focus (eg, Slalom Consulting) and thus you may travel very little most of your work would be with area clients with whom your firm has developed a lasting relationship | |||
3) While youre guaranteed to work in teams and with clients, both the types of team members, types of clients and nature of interaction could be different. Boutiques have less coverage for clients overall, which could mean youll see significantly more client interaction from an early stage, and with more senior members (this is the norm but I have heard of smaller consulting firms like ATKearney with enormous teams at the client, so it can vary). Your teams will usually be smaller, often with you and maybe one other person as the only real day-to-day presence at your clients. Each of these comes with its own set of pros and cons. | |||
4) Culture can be vastly different | |||
I use the example of a small liberal arts college (Brown) vs a large, public institution (UCLA). | |||
Brown offers greater personalization and support, everyone knows your name, youre a big fish in a small pond. At UCLA, its harder to standout. The support network is not personalized and easily accessible. While there are more opportunities, its up to you to seize them. Youre a small fish in a big pond, but the upside can be higher. | |||
The analogy also applies to large city offices versus satellite/smaller city offices (for example, Bains San Francisco office versus their satellite offices in Texas. A great discussion of consulting office selection can be found in my interview with Marquis) | |||
5) Future jobs/exit options <br> | |||
In particular I need to put a disclaimer here, because your situation is largely within your control and the actual situations vary widely. But when we discuss the ACCESS that you have to exit opportunities across industries and job functions, larger firms (like Boston Consulting Group) are the clear winner. Much larger alumni networks, more internally shared recruiting emails and advice, greater brand recognition, the list goes on. Boutiques, given their strong reputation in particular niches, offer plenty of opportunities in the same space but are distinctly behind in offering opportunities to enter unrelated career paths. These corporate paths usually include (and this is not counting the many who enter graduate school): | |||
Finance investment banking, private equity, hedge funds, investment management consulting-friendly private equity firms and investment funds are the norm here | |||
Corporate/Fortune 500 roles range from corporate strategy to product management to marketing and business development | |||
More consulting either internally at your current firm in a new position, or at a new firm, new country, etc | |||
Startups probably the least frequent choice | |||
Further reading: Part 1 of a series on management consulting exit options | |||
Also, as a note for prospective summer interns many boutique firms do not offer consulting summer internships in the U.S. This practice is more common internationally. However, summer internship season can offer a great opportunity to see how the Big 3 management consulting firms/Big 4 accounting/one-stop-shop firms operate from the inside. While recruiting is competitive, the opportunity is golden if you get it | |||