PRACTICE AREA RANKINGS

They’re back…

and they’re picking up where they left off.

Last year, McKinsey requested that it only be evaluated in Management Consulting – where it ranked #1. This year, that directive changed – and McKinsey grabbed the top spot in 11 practice areas.  Compare that to McKinsey’s performance in 2022, where it earned the highest percentage of votes in eight practice areas.  Back then, McKinsey topped the list in Economics, Energy, Healthcare, Management, Operations, Pricing, Sales & Marketing, Retail, and Technology, Media, and Communications. Now, McKinsey has returned to the #1 spot in each of these areas according to consultants surveyed by Vault. In addition, McKinsey has added Environmental Sustainability, Financial Services, and Strategy consulting to the list. In fact, McKinsey ranked no lower than 4th among Practice Areas – and that came in IT Operations and IT Strategy.

Part of this stems from scale, with the company operating across 67 countries and employing more than 35,000 people. At the same time, McKinsey possesses a certain hunger to be everything to everyone – and never stops looking for opportunities to bolster its portfolio, says one anonymous consultant surveyed by Vault.

“As a private company with a very strong balance sheet, McKinsey is extremely well positioned in good economic cycles and in bad. It is also highly diversified across geographies and sectors with a strong longstanding client base. McKinsey approaches downturns with a through cycle mentality. McKinsey does not do staff layoffs, instead they go out and try to find the best talent available and make the best acquisitions.”

Scale also gives an advantage to BCG and Bain, which employ roughly 30,000 and 18,000 people respectively. In BCG’s case, the firm ranked 2nd in 8 practice areas, followed by 3rd-5th place finishes in the remaining 9 areas. In other words, BCG is competitive with McKinsey in every single practice area. That is less true with Bain & Company, which ranked 3rd in 8 areas and 4th-5th across another 4.

Outside the MBB, Accenture ranked 1st in 3 Practice Areas: IT Operations, IT Strategy, and Data Analytics. In addition, Accenture finished among the Top 5 in 7 additional areas. In contrast, Deloitte Consulting scored the #1 spot in Human Resources consulting, while finished 2nd in 4 areas (and 3rd-5th in 9 others). The remaining firms that claimed a #1 spot include Lockheed Martin (Defense), and Booz Allen Hamilton (Public Sector).

To produce this ranking, Vault surveyed consultants to list the top three firms in their practice areas (excluding their current firm). Here are the 5 highest-ranked firms in each of the practice areas:

 

Data Analytics Consulting

1) Accenture

2) McKinsey & Company

3) Boston Consulting Group

4) Deloitte Consulting

5) IBM Global Business Services

 

Defense Consulting

1) Lockheed Martin Corporation

2) Northrop Grumman Corporation

3) McKinsey & Company

4) Booz Allen & Hamilton

5) Raytheon Professional Services

 

Economic Consulting

1) McKinsey & Company

2) NERA Economic Consulting

3) Bain & Company

4) Boston Consulting Group

5) Cornerstone Research

 

Energy Consulting

1) McKinsey & Company

2) Boston Consulting Group

3) Bain & Company

4) Accenture

5) Deloitte Consulting

 

Environmental Sustainability Consulting

1) McKinsey & Company

2) Boston Consulting Group

3) Bain & Company

4) Deloitte Consulting

5) Ernst & Young

 

Financial Consulting

1) McKinsey & Company

2) Deloitte Consulting

3) Ernst & Young

4) Bain & Company

5) Boston Consulting Group

 

Health Sciences Consulting

1) McKinsey & Company

2) Boston Consulting Group

3) ZS

4) L. E. K. Consulting

5) Bain & Company

 

Human Resources Consulting

1) Deloitte Consulting

2) McKinsey & Company

3) Boston Consulting Group

4) Bain & Company

5) Mercer

 

IT Operations Consulting

1) Accenture

2) Deloitte Consulting

3) IBM Global Business Services

4) McKinsey & Company

5) Boston Consulting Group

 

IT Strategy Consulting 

1) Accenture

2) Deloitte Consulting

3) IBM Global Business Services

4) McKinsey & Company

5) Boston Consulting Group

 

Management Consulting

1) McKinsey & Company

2) Boston Consulting Group

3) Bain & Company

4) Deloitte Consulting

5) Accenture

 

Operations Consulting

1) McKinsey & Company

2) Boston Consulting Group

3) Bain & Company

3) Deloitte Consulting

5) Accenture

 

Pricing, Sales & Marketing Consulting

1) McKinsey & Company

2) Boston Consulting Group

3) Bain & Company

4) Simon-Kucher

5) Deloitte Consulting

 

Public Sector Consulting

1) Booz Allen Hamilton

2) Deloitte Consulting

3) McKinsey & Company

4) Accenture

5) Boston Consulting Group

 

Retail Consulting

1) McKinsey & Company

2) Boston Consulting Group

3) Bain & Company

4) Deloitte Consulting

5) Accenture

 

Strategy Consulting

1) McKinsey & Company

2) Boston Consulting Group

3) Bain & Company

4) Deloitte Consulting

5) Accenture

 

Technology, Media & Telecommunications Consulting

1) McKinsey & Company

2) Accenture

3) Boston Consulting Group

4) Bain & Company

5) Deloitte Consulting

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