What is MBB? McKinsey, Bain & BCG explained
MBB is shorthand for the three most prestigious strategy consulting firms — McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Bain & Company. They advise the world's largest organisations on their hardest strategic problems, command premium fees, and recruit from the very top of the talent market.
What does MBB stand for?
MBB is an industry nickname for the three firms that sit at the top of the management consulting market:
- McKinsey & Company — founded in 1926, the largest and oldest of the three, known for board-level strategy and organisational work.
- Boston Consulting Group (BCG) — founded in 1963, known for analytical frameworks and growth strategy.
- Bain & Company — founded in 1973, known for results-orientation, private equity due diligence, and customer strategy.
Collectively they're also called the "Big Three" of strategy consulting. The label signals a tier of prestige, selectivity, and price — not a formal alliance between the firms.
What do MBB firms actually do?
MBB firms work on a company's most important, highest-stakes decisions — the kind that land on the desk of a CEO, board, or executive committee. Typical engagements include:
- Corporate and business strategy — where to play and how to win across markets and business units.
- Growth, pricing and commercial strategy — finding and capturing new sources of revenue.
- Mergers, acquisitions and due diligence — assessing deals and planning integration.
- Technology and digital strategy — setting the technology direction and operating model that supports the business.
- Operations and transformation — large, organisation-wide change programmes.
Why is MBB so expensive?
Three things drive the premium. First, talent: MBB firms recruit from the top of the market and invest heavily in training. Second, brand: an MBB logo on a recommendation carries weight with boards and investors. Third, the leverage model: a small number of senior partners oversee larger teams of junior consultants, and the firm's overheads — offices, research, recruiting — are built into every fee.
At Pear we call the gap between what top-tier advice costs to deliver and what traditional firms charge the "top-tier tax." Our founders spent years inside MBB and boutique firms and built Pear specifically to remove it.
How much do MBB firms charge?
MBB work is almost always priced as a fixed project fee rather than an hourly rate. Fees commonly start in the low six figures for a focused strategy project and scale into the millions for multi-month transformations, reflecting team seniority and firm overheads. Because pricing is rarely published, it can be hard to know what "fair" looks like — one reason transparent, market-based pricing is becoming more attractive to buyers.
Can you hire ex-MBB consultants without hiring the firm?
Increasingly, yes. A large pool of ex-McKinsey, BCG and Bain consultants now work independently or in boutique firms, offering the same training and problem-solving without a global firm's cost base. The challenge has always been finding and vetting them. That's the gap Pear closes: you share a brief, and we match you with the right ex-top-tier consultant, boutique firm, or senior expert — typically within 48 hours, at markups well below a traditional firm, backed by a 4-week replacement guarantee.