Introduction
In today’s increasingly competitive business world, no company can afford to ignore the value of consulting. To help you decide which consulting firms to focus on, Business Insider has partnered with LinkedIn to create a list of the top 100 global consulting firms as ranked by the number of employees.
This ranking is based on an analysis of LinkedIn profiles, and takes into account market conditions and other factors that may affect employability or job growth potential. The list below is based on data related to consultancies that specialize in the disciplines of strategy, operations and technology consulting. It also includes management consultancies, applied psychology consultancies and major “Big Four” firms that have “other” services in addition to traditional advisory services.
Whether you are looking for technical advice to breathe new life into your business or seeking innovative solutions for complex problems, this list will help guide you when making choices about where to turn for experienced advice and counseling.
McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company is one of the oldest and most respected consulting firms in the world. With its offices in more than 70 cities worldwide and its presence in over 80 countries, McKinsey & Company serves clients from all corners of the globe. It is renowned for its commitment to excellence and its ability to consistently deliver top-notch results.
In this article, we’ll explore what makes McKinsey & Company one of the most successful consulting firms in the world:
Overview
McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm that serves leading businesses, governments, non-governmental organizations, and not-for-profits. The company helps its clients make lasting improvements to their performance and realize their most important goals. McKinsey & Company was founded in 1926 and has since expanded into 25 offices worldwide.
Since its inception, McKinsey & Company has worked with some of the world’s largest companies and most influential organizations. These include corporations such as Microsoft, Walmart, General Electric (GE), Apple, and Goldman Sachs; governments including the United States’ Pentagon; not-for-profits such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and international bodies including the World Bank Group.
The firm’s unique approach combines deep insight into the dynamics of industries and networks of change with close collaboration at all levels of an organization to help clients achieve sustainable competitive advantage. It also applies advanced data analytics to provide comprehensive insights on a variety of topics related to organizational health.
Additionally, McKinsey & Company is regularly rated among the top business consulting firms globally regardless of sector or focus area. In 2021 it was recognized by Euromoney Magazine as the world’s best business consultant for strategy consulting services for ambitious diversity initiatives concerning leadership development and gender balance programs especially in Africa. Furthermore, over 40 of its consultants have been included in Forbes’ “40 under 40” list for 2021 for their contributions to digital transformation practices across commerce operations around the world.
Services
McKinsey & Company, one of the world’s leading management consulting firms, has a range of services to address growing challenges across industries and client organizations. These services provide strategy and operations, analytics and technology solutions, as well as corporate finance and mergers & acquisitions advice, among others. The firm’s capabilities are augmented by its global reach of research and expertise in the following sectors:
- Healthcare: Focused on improving the performance and outcomes of the healthcare system.
- Financial Services: Optimizing financial services organizations with assistance on strategies, processes and operations.
- Retail: Helping retailers create successful customer experiences as well as focusing on reducing costs for retailers.
- Public Sector: Working with governments to design better service delivery models, formulate policy reforms, manage projects efficiently and invest in public infrastructure.
- Technology, Media & Telecommunications: Assisting companies in leveraging digital transformation technologies to drive growth initiatives.
- Industrial Goods & Services: Analyzing companies across various goods and services industry subsectors for improved competitive efficiency.
Clients
McKinsey & Company serves a variety of clients from all industry sectors, from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses and non-profits. Working closely with clients, McKinsey & Company has the capabilities to solve complex issues for the long-term success of its clients. They help identify the problems their clients are facing and develop strategies to enable them to grow and reach their goals.
They work with many companies on topics such as strategy, operations, organizational design, innovation, sustainability, growth and corporate finance among many other topics. In addition to corporations, they also work with governments on public policies such as healthcare reform.
The company brings together unique sets of skills and insights that benefit a client’s organization in many areas including:
- Strategy development
- Organizational restructuring
- Operations improvements that can result in better performance and an expanded range of services.
McKinsey & Company also leverages its experience with similar problems across hundreds of organizations in order to help develop new solutions that are tailored for particular client needs. The global reach of McKinsey & Company allows it to deploy best practices from organizations around the world so that solutions implemented can be quickly adapted or enhanced if necessary.
Awards
When it comes to awards and recognition, McKinsey & Company has a long list of accolades from both clients and peers in the consulting industry. The firm has received numerous awards for operational excellence, company culture, and career development among other criteria. Additionally, McKinsey regularly finishes in various rankings that highlight the top consulting firms in the world.
The firm’s steadfast dedication to quality service has been commended by both international businesses and esteemed organizations alike. Over the years, some of its recognized achievements have included:
- Team of the Year in Consulting Times’ 2017 Top 30 Consultancies Report
- #1 Ranking on Vault Consulting 50 of 2017
- #1 Ranking on Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice Awards 2018
- Ranked #2 on Business Insider’s “25 Best Big Companies To Work For In 2016“
- Named Google Cloud North America Partner of the Year 2018 at Google Cloud Next ‘18
Boston Consulting Group
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is one of the top three consulting firms in the world, according to Forbes’ ranking of the top 25 consulting firms in 2019. It is headquartered in Boston, and is known for its strategy consulting, technology consulting, and business operations consulting. With offices in over 90 countries, BCG works with many Fortune 500 companies, as well as with several smaller, private businesses that are leading their industries.
Let’s take a look at what makes BCG stand out from the competition:
Overview
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy. BCG operates in 50 countries, with over 80 offices, and serves clients in every major industry. As of 2020, BCG has been listed as the leading global consultancy by revenue for 14 years in a row.
The company was founded in 1963 by Bruce D. Henderson and its primary areas of expertise include corporate strategies, cost reduction strategies, market analysis, innovation strategies and growth strategies including operational relative to product development. In addition to offering strategic consulting services, BCG also provides economic assistance and advice on organizational transformation projects.
BCG has consistently remained at the forefront of globalization promoting cutting-edge concepts that can be applied across geographies such as digital strategy and portfolio theory while incorporating innovation in standard methodologies to enhance client success rate as well as providing simplified decision methods like scenario-building or cost/benefit analysis. Over time it has further developed a proprietary suite of analytical tools for strategic decision making culminating in the flagship ‘growth-share matrix’ which revolutionized how companies understand markets & competition dynamics; resulting into long lasting relationships with Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, Amazon & Apple Inc. To ensure continuous development & relevance it constantly invests into emerging areas such as artificial intelligence for high volume data sources or intelligent marketing analytics for optimization applications enabling agile business practices through comprehensive yet contextual insights that today form the backbone of businesses around the world.
Services
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is one of the world’s leading management consulting firms and a top-ranked provider of services for industries ranging from consumer products, to technology, to financial services. As one of the “Big Three” professional services firms, BCG provides clients with tailored advice across a wide range of business challenges. Known for its “Outcome-driven” strategies, BCG has an unbeatable track record of delivering measurable results that enable companies to form their agenda, realize greater benefits and achieve enduring success.
BCG is renowned for its expertise in strategy and corporate finance, allowing it to provide services ranging from customer research and market assessments to product design and portfolio optimization. The company also emphasizes the importance of performance management in order to ensure effective ROI on any consulting engagement. BCG values collaboration which allows them to induce innovative solutions due to their extensive network composed of industry experts, venture capitalists and investors.
BCG works with each individual client on a tailored basis thus focusing not only on the proper execution of well established IT technologies like Cloud computing but also specializing in Service Operations such as SAP ERP or EMR systems or Business Process Management (BPM) offering project management and risk assessment services when needed. Additionally rationalizing mergers & acquisitions or business enabling HR consulting can be included in this offering for clients wishing for standard operations excellence opportunities as part if their journey towards success. With these specialized offerings covering a large portion of market sectors worldwide there have been tremendous achievements at specific periods in time where successful operation implementations were contrasted by high customer satisfaction rates thanks to the direct approach taken by BCG when conducting such engagements with clients who require more than just simple operational improvement recommendations but quantified positive results regarding targeted ROI expectations.
Clients
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has a proven track record of achieving effective and efficient results for clients across all industries. The firm serves international and national clients, ranging from large corporations to small non-profits. BCG’s clientele includes industry leaders such as Microsoft, PepsiCo, Novartis, Hyundai Motor Company and many more.
BCG’s consultants are organized into district teams that serve geographic areas. Within each district team, the consultants specialize in different practice areas such as corporate strategy, operations and technology consulting as well as areas of expertise such as data analytics and enterprise organization design. Their services are tailored to each client’s needs in order to help them reach their strategic goals.
The company’s approach takes into consideration the challenges of scalability, risk analysis and cost reduction along with the need for agility of today’s business environment given technological advances in product life cycles, increased competition and new regulations emerging around the world that may affect their strategies. Among other strategies is one called “The BCG Matrix” which helps companies prioritize their investments to maximize returns on investment opportunities by assigning stars like 1* or 2*, according with the financial opportunities they may find in a market segment or particular division of theirs. Ultimately BCG fosters creative insights by leveraging data-driven insights with an analytical mindset that’s ready to face whatever challenges comes ahead along its way while being adaptive.
Awards
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is widely recognized as one of the world’s most prestigious consulting firms, and has won multiple awards for its work in both the public and private sector.
In 2021, BCG was recognized by Fortune Magazine as the number one “Best Company to Work For”, while Forbes included it in the list of “The 100 Most Innovative Companies”. Additionally, The Economist Intelligence Unit granted BCG two Global Business Awards in 2020 – a Gold Award for “Consulting Firm of the Year” and a Silver Award for “Management Consultancy Firm of the Year”. Additionally, Consulting Magazine ranked BCG as one of its 2021 Top Firms for its commitment to sustainable initiatives and environmental stewardship. Furthermore, Financial Times included BCG on its prestigious list of “Top 50 Management Consultancies” in 2020 and 2021.
Bain & Company
Bain & Company is a global management consulting firm that provides services to clients in various industries. The firm is known for its innovative and creative solutions to strategic issues. It has worked with some of the world’s most successful companies and has a reputation for helping its clients increase their profits. Furthermore, it ranks highly in the world’s top consulting firms with its high-quality services.
Let’s take a closer look at the impact Bain & Company has had on the consulting world.
Overview
Bain & Company is a globally renowned management consulting firm that works with clients to deliver transformative solutions and outcomes. Established in 1973, Bain employs over 8,000 people across offices in 57 countries. Our team of experienced strategy consultants help clients improve their performance, develop and execute strategies, solve complex problems and identify opportunities for growth. Our values–excellence, collaboration, Respect for People, innovation and integrity–drive our work each day as we serve over 6,000 clients in various industries worldwide.
At Bain & Company, diverse perspectives are valued and incorporated into the problem-solving process to arrive at innovative solutions. We foster an environment where different cultures are embraced and creativity is encouraged. We understand the importance of aligning our team’s competencies to our clients’ needs so we’re able to provide practical insights on complex management challenges.
Our work is conducted with a deep understanding of the markets that our clients operate within as well as their current position within those markets. This helps us capture potential opportunities for our client’s long-term success while also providing an analytical approach focused on quantitative results.
At Bain & Company we are dedicated to delivering innovative strategies that will help create sustainability within a given sector or industry while also moving our own team forward by establishing meaningful connections with tomorrow’s emerging thought leaders.
Services
Bain & Company is one of the world’s leading business consulting firms. Bain provides services to more than 5,000 clients across six continents. The firm’s expertise in strategy, operations, technology and mergers & acquisitions helps clients achieve leapfrog improvements in performance and grow their organizations with agility and advantage. In addition to its core consulting practice, Bain also has an active Private Equity (PE) practice; Technology Consulting practice; Management Tools business; and Entrepreneurial Services group.
Below is a list of the key services that Bain provides to its clients:
- Strategy: Bain helps companies create value by defining where they want to go and how best to get there. Its approach focuses on top-line growth as well as cost optimization. Examples of consulting engagements include long-term growth strategy, product portfolio review and segmentation studies.
- Operations: Bain provides services that help clients improve operational performance by increasing efficiency or reducing costs in areas such as inventory management, process optimization or operational excellence initiatives.
- Corporate Finance/M&A: Bain supports corporate decision makers through assessment of acquisition targets, M&A advisory services (sell-side advisory and buy-side advisory) and financial due diligence reviews for private equity firms seeking to make an investment.
- Technology: The firm helps organizations define their technology roadmap across capabilities such as Big Data/analytics, digital marketing/custumer experience optimization, cloud computing/infrastructure transformation, enterprise resource planning (ERP).
- Private Equity: For PE firms looking to invest in new companies or grow their existing portfolio companies’ profits through operational improvement initiatives or industry consolidation efforts such as mergers & acquisitions (M&A).
- Management Tools/Analytics: Bain develops proprietary tools and analytical frameworks that allow for data integration from multiple sources for insights into customer behavior across industries – for example developing product categories across retail or designing pricing curves for telco operators – combined with assessment of strategic options from a financial perspective and market share projections from a quantitative modeling approach.
Clients
For decades, Bain & Company has been helping the world’s most successful organizations make lasting improvements to their performance. With offices in more than 50 cities and a global client base, Bain works with clients across the globe on transforming their businesses in all industries ranging from consumer goods to healthcare and financial services. Whether it is aligning strategy, marketing and operations or creating innovative digital offerings, Bain consultants work together with their clients to help them meet their business challenges successfully.
Bain & Company’s client roster includes many of the world’s most powerful brands like Apple, Dell, General Motors, Microsoft, Google and Nike as well as dozens of leading companies in every major industry. From advising family-run businesses to helping some of the world’s most influential companies navigate intense competitive dynamics, the firm works with clients on everything from:
- driving top-line performance improvements
- complex restructuring work
– ensuring their objectives come to life while positioning them for future success.
Awards
Bain & Company has consistently been identified as one of the “Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune Magazine, ranking first in their 2011 survey and fourth in their 2020 poll. Annual rankings from Vault, a career-focused website, have consistently placed Bain & Company among the top consulting firms in terms of prestige across different industries. Forbes ranked Bain #1 in its list of ‘America’s Best Management Consulting Firms’ for 2020.
The company has also received numerous awards from publications such as The Financial Times, Consulting Magazine, and European Business Magazine. In 2012 The Sunday Times awarded the firm ‘Best Biggest Private Company’ title based on its evaluation criteria. In 2013, Bain was listed among the Financial Times Top 50 innovative companies – a list recognizing firms that embrace innovative approaches to their business models and embrace technological developments to fuel success.
Most recently, RecommendedTailors honored the firm with several Awards for Excellence in 2018 for its performance as an international consulting firm for businesses seeking holistic solutions across multiple industry sectors.
Deloitte
Deloitte is one of the world’s leading professional services networks, with offices in more than 150 countries. It is renowned for providing a wide range of services, including consulting, technology, risk management and tax advice. The firm is also one of the world’s leading employers and is consistently ranked among the top consulting firms.
In this article, we will discuss the advantages of working with the firm and some of its most successful projects:
Overview
Deloitte is one of the world’s most respected consulting firms, offering a wide range of services to its clients. A global powerhouse, Deloitte has more than 263,000 employees in over 150 countries and is a member of the Big Four accounting and consulting firms. It is the only firm to feature in each of the top five sectors on Forbes’ Global 2000 list.
Deloitte prides itself on providing audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services that are tailored to industry-specific requirements. It also emphasizes strong corporate governance and business ethics for creating an environment which fosters sustainable growth for its clients.
Deloitte’s comprehensive suite of professional services allow it to partner with its clients across all stages of their business life cycle – from start-up through maturity. Through these offerings, Deloitte helps its clients maximize their performance throughout all aspects of their operations while adhering to the highest standards of safety and ethics.
Services
Deloitte provides a range of professional services to address the ever-evolving needs of today’s businesses. Some of these services include audit and assurance, risk management, taxation and consulting services such as strategy and operations, technology, financial advisory and data analytics.
- Audit & Assurance: Deloitte’s audit teams provide traditional assurance services, such as external reporting reviews. As part of our ongoing commitment to staying vendor-neutral and reducing conflict-of-interest issues with our clients, Deloitte utilizes industry professionals with expertise in specialized industries to ensure independence in all external financial reporting reviews.
- Risk Management: Deloitte assists organizations to manage risk through identification and evaluation of existing risks, making sure processes are up-to-date with current regulatory requirements, and designing sound internal control systems to ensure compliance.
- Taxation: Deloitte provides comprehensive tax advice on complex transactions including company reorganizations, business restructurings or international investments. Our team develops tailored solutions for tax planning involving transfer pricing support or local compliance support to optimize the tax efficiency within an organization or across markets globally.
- Consulting Services: Deloitte takes an innovative approach designed for efficient implementation that goes beyond traditional business consulting services by delivering a tremendous value accretive opportunity through strategic cost containment measures combined with improved operations and outcomes over time. We pride ourselves on delivering consistent results time after time with our high performing teams driving positive outcomes that ultimately help grow top line revenue opportunities while catering to customer satisfaction goals at the same time.
Clients
Deloitte is one of the largest and most prestigious consulting firms in the world, with more than 286,000 employees spread across 150 countries. Clients of Deloitte are the lifeblood of its organization and range from small businesses up to Fortune 500 companies.
Clients place immense trust in Deloitte’s ability to help them solve their most complicated problems and assist them in navigating through a multitude of business issues. Deloitte acts as a true partner with their clients, helping to develop solutions that are tailored specifically for them and addressing any potential risks or opportunities. Additionally, Deloitte assists clients with securing venture capital funding, optimizing operations and ensuring compliance regulations are met.
As a global business powerhouse, Deloitte works with many major brands including Adidas, Unilever, Microsoft, DHL Express and Amazon Web Services. Each year Deloitte releases its Global Review report on how these client companies have achieved success through its services. The review describes how the company provides innovative solutions to help organizations embrace digital transformation and demonstrates how it is at the forefront of adding value to clients around the globe.
Awards
Deloitte has been recognized for its innovative mindset and culture. The firm was consistently among the top five firms mentioned in the latest Vault Consulting 50 survey, which ranks consulting firms based on prestige. It earned the #1 ranking in the 2021 survey and has remained in the top 5 list since its inception 8 years ago.
Additionally, Deloitte is frequently awarded industry accolades by numerous organizations including prestigious Fortune magazine for ‘Innovative Consulting Company of the Year’ honor for three consecutive years (2016 – 2018). Each year, Redmond Magazine bestows awards to industry-leading companies and Deloitte won its ‘Editors’ Choice Award’ consecutively from 2018 to 2020; underscoring their decades of excellence. In 2019, Corporate Excellence World Awards honored Deloitte U.K with a Silver Medal in the category of ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Consultants of the Year – U.K & Europe’.
Moreover, Deloitte has won several recognitions with special mention at The Sunday Times Best 100 (2018), when it placed fourth overall on their rankings list and was also recognized as one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies by Financial Times (FT), for its turnover growth rate that was placed among Britain’s 1,000 fastest-growing companies during 2013 -2016 period.
Accenture
Accenture is one of the world’s top consulting firms, offering a wide range of services to its clients. The company has been around for over a century, and has a successful record of helping its customers achieve their goals. With global offices in 40 countries, and a wide range of professionals onboard, Accenture is a top choice for many.
In the following paragraphs, we will discuss the various services provided by Accenture in more detail.
Overview
Accenture is a globally recognized and respected management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company. Founded in 1989, the company has grown to provide leading-edge services to corporations of all sizes in over 120 countries. As one of the world’s largest management consulting companies, they offer a comprehensive portfolio of services that can bring efficiency, cost savings, and increased revenues to their clients’ businesses.
Accenture boasts an impressive list of capabilities that includes:
- Strategy consulting
- Organizational design
- Digital transformation
- Analytics
- IT strategy and optimization
- Program management
- Outsourcing and offshoring
- Security services and solutions
- Network services
- Business process improvement
In addition to their core services, Accenture offers technology-related products such as SAP applications and platforms, mobile application development, cloud computing solutions, data monitoring systems, artificial intelligence/machine learning-based solutions as well as data platforms for natural language understanding (NLU) for customer service operations.
With teams located in offices worldwide, Accenture’s global reach enables them to provide the best possible service for their clients. This is further supported by their strong culture of thought leadership which leads to “Lighthouse Projects”—where senior consultants work with clients directly over extended periods of time on highly innovative projects with measurable results. The combination of these capabilities make Accenture a go-to resource for corporations around the world who are looking for creative solutions to complex challenges within their businesses.
Services
Accenture is a global management consulting and professional services firm that provides strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations services. The Fortune Global 500 company has offices in more than 120 cities in 56 countries and serves clients in more than 200 cities worldwide.
Accenture’s core service offerings cover:
- Business strategy & operations
- Digital technology
- Consulting
- Analytics & artificial intelligence
- Cloud infrastructure, security & automation
- Business process transformation & technology modernization
- Industrial software systems integration
- Experience design, digital marketing & implementation
In addition to these core services, Accenture also offers innovative solutions such as agile optimization and IT modernization initiatives to help its clients excel in their respective industries. Moreover, with the ever increasing impact of digital technologies on business processes and strategic development of organizations across the world, Accenture provides market leading expertise in terms of new trends shaping the business landscape.
Clients
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing firm with offices in more than 200 cities in 56 countries. It works with a diverse range of industries, from banking and financial services to healthcare, manufacturing and more. Accenture’s clients come from both large multinational corporations and small entrepreneurs.
Accenture works with many Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, Dell, Apple, Amazon, Google and many more. It also works with big industry players such as AIG, Boeing, BP Statistical Review of World Energy (BP), Credit Suisse Group and UPS Group.
In addition to these large organizations, Accenture has a strong presence in the Small-to-Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) sector. It supports and advises them on critical decisions concerning their operations, helping them take advantage of new business opportunities through innovative solutions that are tailored to meet their unique needs. This includes working on customer acquisition strategies through next-generation digital platforms as well as developing customized customer engagement models that drive loyalty among end consumers.
Accenture helps these businesses reach their goals by leveraging digital options such as cloud computing and mobile applications through specialized consultants possessing skills related to industry expertise. Other areas they provide assistance in include:
- Cybersecurity solutions
- Cost reduction initiatives
- Operations improvement
- Strategy alignment
- Corporate venture capital investments
- Operational transformations
- Agile development methodologies
- Artificial intelligence applications
- Data engineering projects
- Market research consultancy projects
- Mergers & acquisitions advisory assignments
- Project & portfolio management consulting activities
- Supply chain efficiency organizational changes etc.
Thus providing tremendous knowledge insight that makes them one of the top consulting firms around the world!
Awards
Accenture, a global professional services company, has earned numerous awards for its performance and for the impressive levels of service it provides to its clients. Accenture is consistently included in Fortune magazine’s “World’s Most Admired Companies” list and was one of only three companies to be named Europe’s Best Integrated Company by Euromoney magazine.
Accenture has also been recognized as the number one consulting firm in the world by Consulting Magazine each year from 2011 to 2018, as well as being placed first on the FT Global 500 list. In 2016, Accenture was named “Company of the Year” by Financial Times.
Furthermore, Accenture was awarded “Technology Consulting Firm of the Year” by International Business Awards and awarded “Best Collaboration Partner” at The Data Warehousing Institute’s TDWI Leadership Awards for six years running (2011-2016).
Conclusion
The top companies on the list remain among the most coveted employers in the world, with global reach and reputation, enviable offices and work environments, skilled employees—and sizeable salaries to boot. While listing out the top consulting firms in the world is an evolving task, it’s a great resource for candidates looking to make their mark with some of the biggest players in business.
From PwC to McKinsey & Company to KPMG, these firms offer a breadth of services that goes beyond core consulting principles. They range across sectors and industries, including accounting and finance, analytics, IT strategy, management services and operations optimization. In speaking with current partners from many of these firms, we’ve seen major transformation projects designed by these top consulting companies results in impressive awards from global partners.
Regardless of your career goals or experience level within consulting, there’s something for everyone when it comes to engaging with the best companies in this field. Be sure to stay up-to-date on emerging players as the industry continually evolves due to disruption brought about by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. With a head start on your job search process thanks to our ranked list above – you’ll be set up for success at any of these world-class firms!