Blog 4 Consulting Industry

As a student from business school, “networking” is the word I heard almost everyday. To make myself look more like a Sauder student, I participated two networking events this week, Speed Dating and CEO Dinner Night with entrepreneurs from various industries. I had a great chance of listening to many of these entrepreneurs’ invaluable life and career experiences. What left me with deep impression was actually two delegates who both used to work in a consulting farm, but one quitted the job three days before his marriage and the other one left his job to start his own company in Africa. Though they were not consultants anymore, their working experiences evolved my interest in the consulting industry.

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Most people may have heard about “The Big Three”, McKinsey, BCG and Bain, the world’s three largest strategy consulting firms. But only a few know exactly what the true values that a consulting firm bring to the business world today.

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Management consultants often bring their own proprietary methodologies or frameworks to guide the identification of problems and to serve as the basis for recommendations for more effective or efficient ways of performing work tasks.

This explains why many CEOs are willing to pay high charge for a consultant. The high demand for consultants in society is also supported by a market research done by Source Information Services. This research organization surveyed 250 U.S. consulting clients, that over the next 12 months, 82 percent of the U.S. say they won’t cut the amount they spend on outside help. And nearly half, 42 percent, plan to bring in even more consultants, while 5 percent expect to boost their spending on consultants by more than 50 percent.

Moreover, this research also reflected that if consulting companies halve their fees, 59 percent of the clients surveyed would “buy a lot more consulting.” What this response suggests, is the inelasticity of consulting prices, because it would take a huge cut to stimulate growth. Rather, consultants should focus on communicating the value they add and differentiating themselves from competitors. It is true that consulting firm can be super competitive, but working is highly flexible and consultants get to connect with amazing clients from all types of industries. There is no one specific type of client which makes developing solutions and ideas exciting as every situation is different.

I am excited about the fact that McKinsey just opened an office in Vancouver, which was founded in 2015 by a group of entrepreneurial colleagues, eager to create a new talent hub for the firm here. Moreover, as Vancouver is Canada’s gateway to the Asia-Pacific region, this office is ideally positioned to serve clients in the emerging market. Most importantly, this Vancouver office opens a new door to many Sauder graduates.

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