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BCG operation consulting

Does anyone know what the main differences between BCGs operational consulting arm and strategy arm would be? I always understand MBB being mainly strategy houses but it seems I’ve been invited to attend a first round interview with BCG operations rather than str

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Coach
on Nov 26, 2019
McKinsey | BCG | CERN| University of Cambridge

Hello Oisin,

BCG operations in this case might referes to the Operations practice within BCG's organizational metrics. Each MBB firms are organized around industrial and functional metrics within which specific project allocations, capability building, as well as knowledge development are conducted.

I presume the firm sees a strong correlation of your experiences as well as fit to the Operations practice, hence allocating you to a conversation with the specific practice. Note that for many of the firms, Operations constitutes the largest chunk of their revenue in recent years, even compared to the core corporate strategy function.

For your further reference, BCG does have other separate arms as follows:

  • BCG Platinion: providing consulting services focused on the development and implementation of business-critical IT architecture and digital solutions
  • BCG Gamma: advanced analytics and data science consulting arm

If your allocation is not within these other consulting arms, then you will be part of the core BCG consulting body, but rather than starting as a generalist, you'll be allocated to a specific practice since the beginning.

Hope it helps.

Kind regards,

Nathan

on Nov 26, 2019
McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi Oisín,
especially in Europe and the US, there is an important trend in MBB in developing specific capabilities to serve clients, e.g. operations, implementations, marketing & sales... In particular in ops projects, consultants improve the efficiency of a team or of a process, reduce the costs or enhance product development. Being a growing practice, it would be interesting to join now.

Here a useful link about ops in McK (the same tasks BCG colleagues manage): https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/how-we-help-clients

Best,
Antonello

Deniz
Coach
on Nov 27, 2019
5+ Years at BCG & Kearney Dubai & Istanbul | 600+ Trainees | 1.3M YouTube Views

Hi,

I confirm the inputs provided by other experts here. BCG doesn't have an operational consulting arm, but rather have Operations functional area and the generalist consultants can be aligned to this practice. As a consultant, you will be working mostly for the operations projects.

Best,

Deniz

Vlad
Coach
on Nov 26, 2019
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

There is no Strategy arm at BCG - that's a misconception. All generalist consultants are working on both strategic and operational projects

However, there are dedicated practices like Operations where they keep the people with dedicated expertise. Most of your projects will be ops, however, you can be staffed on strategic as well

Best

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