BCG CEO Rich Lesser
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Once a dependable employer for business school graduates, management consulting firms are starting to consider other candidates.
The industry looks for people who can combine analysis with presentation skills and management insight. While a degree from Harvard Business School goes a long way, it can't always compete with deep industry expertise.
What has changed is the kind of teams our clients expect. They want a depth of expertise in particular industry sectors or functions, so the breadth of talent that we draw on is broader. We still hire—in the U.S., in particular—large numbers from business schools, but we also hire people with different post-graduate degrees: doctors, Ph.D.s, lawyers. And we hire more people from industries, at all levels, who can bring insight and expertise.
BCG still does hire a lot of MBAs in the United States.
Lesser says that the biggest problem companies ask his company to help them figure out is how to deal with massive growth in emerging markets.
Preparing students to run or advise international businesses isn't a strength of many MBA programs, it can be something of a weakness, according to IESE Business School professor Pankaj Ghemawat.
That's because the way many address globalization is through short trips abroad, which might actually be counterproductive.
"I just worry that a week in an emerging market might almost be worse than doing nothing because it leaves people with a false sense of knowledge," Ghemawat told the Wall Street Journal.
If the consulting industry's demand for MBAs starts to decrease, business schools will have to start changing by reducing tuition or offering more industry specific classes, or its graduates will have to start looking elsewhere for jobs.