As expected, McKinsey, BCG and Bain (colloquially known as MBB) sit atop the rest of crowd. Whether it is branding power, the quality of clients or the depth of training, MBB is arguable the holy grail if you want to start a career in consulting (in the most traditional pure strategy sense). The rest of the market comprises mid-tier / boutiques as well as the Big 4 and our firm profiles below seek to distinguish them from each other through highlighting the slight nuances in their client base, training, sector focus,  branding etc.

A quirk to note with consulting is the difference between strategy and non-strategy work (i.e. strategy consulting v management consulting). Yes, Big 4 may be some of the biggest consultancies in the world by revenue but these figures include their “implementation” consulting work. This is very different to what many people consider to be traditional pure strategy consulting (e.g. how do we grow? how do we get $X profit in 3 years? What adjacencies to enter?). In a nutshell, the implementation work comes after the pure strategy work but both are consulting roles in their own right. 

Hopefully, this page gives you a bit of insight into the world of consulting in Australia.