Management Consulting Industry

Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or otherwise help them meet their objectives, spanning organizational change management, coaching, process analysis, technology implementation, strategy development, and operational improvement. The industry is led by a top tier known as the Big Three or MBB, McKinsey and Company, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain and Company, alongside the Big Four accounting firms, which have built major consulting arms of their own: Deloitte reported 20.8 billion dollars in consulting revenue in 2021, PricewaterhouseCoopers 14.7 billion dollars in 2020, Ernst and Young 14.6 billion dollars in 2020, and KPMG 11.7 billion dollars in 2020. Consultants function as bridges for information and knowledge across markets and industries, benefiting from economies of scale that let them research efficiently across many clients. The industry expanded significantly from the 1980s onward, weathered the 2008 financial crisis, and now faces ongoing disruption from online platforms connecting clients directly with freelance consultants.