Why read this report?
The Big Four and Strategy Consulting firms are struggling amid the global economic slowdown, marked by pay freezes, smaller bonuses, hiring pauses, and costly abandoned restructuring attempts. With KPMG freezing pay for 12K employees in the UK and planning to lay off 700 employees from its advisory business in the US, PwC announcing 600 job cuts in the UK, McKinsey implementing its Project Magnolia to preserve the compensation pool for its partners, and Deloitte opting for restructuring to bring down its lines of business from five to four, it is evident that the global conditions have impacted these firms heavily in the post-pandemic era. Aggressive hiring during the pandemic, followed by lower-than-expected attrition, has not boded well for these firms.
This report traces the key business trends among the Big Four and Strategy Consulting firms during the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic periods (FY 2018 to FY 2023) to understand the revenue, head count, and business segment growth within these firms. It also looks at the changing ratios, such as revenue per employee, revenue per partner, and key leadership changes in different sectors. The report also explores in detail the strategic partnerships of different firms by geography, partnerships across different business service lines (ITO, BPO, and Digital), and key technologies in the past 12-18 months to evaluate how these firms are making attempts to focus on growth in the current times. Finally, the report highlights some key developments on the technology front by looking at the progress made in the generative AI (Gen AI) space by some of these organizations to improve their business capabilities and expedite overall growth.
Featured providers
This report analyzes the Big Four – Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC, and Strategy Consulting firms – McKinsey & Company, Bain and Company, and Boston Consulting Group.
Methodology
Our evaluation of service providers is based on secondary research input, public disclosures, and Avasant’s ongoing market interactions. The assessment encapsulates the business trends, leadership movements, strategic partnerships, and developments in the Gen AI space for the featured providers.
Table of contents
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- Executive summary (Pages 3–4)
- Business trends (Pages 5–18)
- Leadership movements (Pages 19–21)
- Strategic partnerships (Pages 22–28)
- Developments in the Gen AI Space (Pages 29–32)
- Key contacts (Page 33)
