When you start taking an interest in strategy consulting, you hear about “MBB”, “tier 2”, “Big Four” and “boutiques”, without always knowing what these labels cover. They are not official categories, but landmarks that candidates, schools and the firms themselves use to read a highly fragmented market. Understanding these families helps you target your applications better, adjust your CV and prepare the right exercises. This article offers a map of the French market, family by family, with for each one the type of engagements, the size of the teams and what it changes for a candidate.
How to read the strategy consulting market
Strategy consulting differs from other forms of consulting by its audience and its question. The audience is the leadership team, the executive committee or the shareholders; the question concerns structural choices: where to grow, what to sell, what to buy, how to reorganise. The French executive employment agency Apec 🔗 thus distinguishes, in its job profile for management consultants, strategy consulting, centred on growth or transformation projects, from management and organisation consulting and from project ownership support (AMOA).
Within strategy consulting, several criteria make it possible to classify firms:
- origin and governance: a global firm of American origin, a firm of European origin, the arm of an audit network, an independent French firm;
- the size of the Paris office, and therefore the size of teams and the variety of engagements;
- the degree of specialisation: generalist, sector-based, functional;
- the nature of clients: large listed groups, mid-sized companies, investment funds, the public sector.
These criteria combine. The same firm can be global and yet very present in one industry, or small and yet international.
The global firms
Three firms of American origin are often grouped under the acronym MBB: McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Company. They share a global presence, large offices in Paris, strong recognition among leadership teams and highly selective recruitment, organised around tests and case interviews.
Their engagements cover every leadership topic: growth strategy, transformation plans, mergers and acquisitions, organisation, and increasingly implementation and technology. All three firms have also developed large practices serving investment funds, with commercial due diligence.
For a candidate, this family has three characteristics:
- formalised and documented processes: each firm publishes a description of its steps on its careers website, like McKinsey on its interviewing page 🔗 or BCG on its interview process page 🔗. Our article on recruitment at McKinsey details one example;
- recruitment strongly focused on the grandes écoles, even if the firms display growing openness to varied backgrounds;
- a generalist start to the career, with engagements in several industries before any specialisation.
Other international firms, such as Oliver Wyman or Kearney, are often mentioned alongside this trio. They have smaller Paris offices, strong positions in some industries or functions, and demanding recruitment, also with cases.
Firms of European origin
Roland Berger presents itself on its website 🔗 as the only leading global strategy consultancy of European origin, founded in Munich in 1967 and still an independent partnership, owned by its partners. Its Paris office is one of the largest in the market.
Alongside this international firm, the French market has several strategy firms founded in France, independent and mid-sized, often called “tier 2” by candidates. The term is misleading: it does not mean lower quality, but a different positioning. These firms often have:
- a French and European client base, with a strong presence among large groups and mid-sized companies;
- recognised sector expertise in one or more fields;
- a large business serving investment funds, particularly in due diligence;
- smaller teams, where a junior is quickly in contact with partners and clients.
Recruitment remains very demanding, with tests and cases, but it is sometimes more flexible about profiles and calendars.
The strategy arms of the large networks
The four large audit and consulting networks each have a brand or team dedicated to strategy: EY-Parthenon, Strategy& at PwC, Monitor Deloitte, and KPMG’s strategy teams. EY, for example, presents EY-Parthenon 🔗 as its strategy, transaction and corporate finance consulting team, with teams in France dedicated to market reviews, growth plans, strategic plans, strategic due diligence and value creation plans.
These teams combine two strengths:
- the backing of a large network, with expertise in transactions, technology, tax and risk that can be mobilised on the same engagement;
- access to many clients, from large groups to mid-sized companies.
Their constraints are those of the networks: some engagements are prohibited for clients audited by the network, and the boundaries between strategy, transformation and transaction teams can be porous. Our article on Big Four advisory describes these service lines and the bridges between them.
For a candidate, these arms often offer a process close to that of specialist firms, with cases, and a wide variety of engagements.
Sector boutiques
Boutiques are small firms, often a few dozen consultants, founded by former consultants or partners from large firms. They stand out through strong specialisation:
- by industry: healthcare, energy, retail, luxury, transport, public sector, manufacturing;
- by function: pricing and revenue, marketing, innovation, procurement, organisation;
- by type of client: investment funds, family-owned mid-sized companies, local authorities.
What this changes for a junior: more homogeneous engagements, fast exposure to clients and partners, expertise built earlier. In return, the brand is less known to the general public and exits can be more oriented towards the boutique’s industry. Our article on strategy consulting boutiques compared with large firms compares the two models in more detail.
For a candidate, a boutique is targeted out of conviction: a genuine interest in the industry or function, demonstrated in the CV and the letter.
Targeting your application by family of firms
Each family calls for different settings.
| Family | What to highlight | Preparation to plan | |---|---|---| | Global firms | Academic excellence, evidence of leadership, analytical rigour | Online tests, guided or open cases, experience interviews | | Firms of European origin and independents | The same signals, plus a sector affinity if the firm has one | Cases, often closer to the firm’s real engagements | | Strategy arms of the networks | The target line, interest in combining strategy and implementation | Cases, interviews with managers and partners | | Boutiques | Demonstrated interest in the industry or function | Sector cases, questions on industry knowledge |
A few principles apply to every family:
- Do not send the same CV everywhere. The summary, the order of experiences and the keywords must reflect the family and the firm.
- Balance your applications. Aiming only at global firms exposes you to a season with no offers; including independent firms, network arms and boutiques secures your path.
- Think about the exit. Each family opens different trajectories, and pay varies too, as our article on strategy consultant salaries explains in detail.
For the CV itself, the strategy consultant template matches the expectations of a generalist firm, while the operations and supply chain consultant template illustrates a specialised profile, closer to what a sector or functional firm expects. The ConseilCV editor lets you derive one version per family of firms without touching the layout, with a PDF that screening software reads correctly.
Frequently asked questions
What does MBB mean?
It is the acronym commonly used for McKinsey, BCG and Bain. It is not an official category, but a shortcut used by candidates and schools.
Are “tier 2” firms worse?
No. The expression mainly designates smaller or more specialised firms. Many have an excellent reputation in their industries, and some candidates prefer them for the fast responsibilities they offer.
Can you move from one family of firms to another?
Yes, it is even frequent, in both directions. Moves often happen after two to four years, when the consultant has engagements to show.
Do strategy firms recruit outside Paris?
Most strategy offices are in Paris. Some firms have offices in Lyon or other large cities, more often for management and operations consulting than for pure strategy.
Sources
- Apec, job profile: Consultant en management d’entreprise 🔗
- McKinsey & Company, Interviewing at McKinsey 🔗
- Boston Consulting Group, Interview process 🔗
- Roland Berger, Who we are 🔗
- EY France, Rejoindre EY-Parthenon 🔗