Hi all,
I would like to know if any of you know the following- how to know which office has the most projects in a certain industry? Let's say I want to join McKinsey wherever in the world that they work with pharmaceutical companies... How can I get this information? It seems inefficient to reach out to a consultant in each and every office.
As a side note, do any of you know which consultancy is better for pharma?
Many thanks!
Hi,
Unfortunately, there is no way to know that. One way to do that (but you can't be 100% sure) is to look at how many seniors (partners, senior partners) of pharma Practice are present in the office you are interested in.
This is an info you can get online.
I can tell you that in Italy there is close to zero pharma. In Europe, the biggest centres for pharma are Germany, Switzerland, and the UK, followed by France and Nordics, but you have to speak the local language the get in.
Hello!
In line with what has been said, (1) there is not a certain way to know -since also the pipeline of clients/industries is always evolving and (2) Europe is not an important hub for Pharma.
If you are really interested, you can always find a way to get you staffed even if it is not in your home office. The hard thing is getting the 1st engagement. After that, once you know the partners and APs who are involved, gets easier.
Hope it helps!
Cheers,
Clara
Hi,
One way to judge this would be to know which offices are located near Pharma hubs. The following locations in the US have a significant pharma presence
1. Boston
2. New York/New Jersey
3. San Francisco/Bay Area
4. Some Midwest (Chicago/Indiana area)
5. San Diego
If you apply to these locations there is a very high probability you will get opportunities to work with clients in the Pharma space. In addition, you will demonstrate that you have chosen to apply to offices that align with your interests and have done your due diligence.
As an aside, there are also life science focused consulting firms (i.e. not management consulting like MBB) that work, paradoxically, with management at pharma companies across the spectrum to help them refine their portfolio strategy and review market opportunities. These firms usually hire people with science backgrounds (industry or schooling) but have a lower 'barrier to entry' than MBB given the more specialized nature of the work.
A typical project at a specialized life sciences consultancy would be an assessment of late stage assets currently in development for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases to see if any of them would be a good fit for a client’s existing commercial structure or their future strategic plans (the latter might very well have been designed in conjunction with an MBB type consulting firm).
Firms in this category are varied, and include both companies which only do life sciences consulting and those who have a dedicated practice. A few notable names are L.E.K. Consulting, Huron Life Sciences (separate from their Healthcare practice, which is much larger), Clearview Healthcare Partners, Navigant, the Big 4, Accenture, etc.
Hope this helps,
Udayan
(editiert)
Hi,
MBB are good for pharma, but also the tier2, but depending on the office (OW, ATK, RB, and S&).
In Europe Switzerland is by far the best place to look at (than Germany). In order to assess it I confirm the only way is to look at the partner profiles on LinkedIn or on company website.
Best,
Antonello
Boston / NYC / NJ / Philly / SFO and a few others.
At McK this is referred to as their PMP process (pharma & medical products)
Generally speaking, a good way to understand where you can find projects of a certain industry is to look at the country as a whole. Just to give you an example, if you are looking for pharma projects, it's better to look at the swiss market.
Consulting firms, especially the bigger ones, are a reflection of the local economy.
If you are interested only in one typology of projects, I would suggest to look for some smaller consulting boutiques that are specialised in a certain field.
Hope it helps,
Luca
