Deloitte is the largest management consulting firm in the world. We dabble in all areas of consulting and compete by having quality services that organizations can use from strategy through implementation. Within our industry we have a few strong competitors. The competition, however, is largely based on the sector.
The federal sector competition is Booz Allen Hamilton. They have, hands down, the largest footprint in federal consulting. In order to compete, Deloitte bought the assets of Bearing Point, a firm that went bankrupt but still had a good reputation in the federal sector. In the past few years, many other firms have developed federal consulting practices, or at least improved upon their existing practice. Despite this, the competition between Deloitte and Booz Allen Hamilton is the equivalent of the Yankees and Red Sox.
Booz pays its employees well and carries on a formal, sometimes old-school way of doing business. They focus on IT, professionalism, and a lot of staff augmentation. However, they also undercut competitors to win contracts. Later in the year, you start to see their consultants drop off of projects. This is because to win the contract and pay good salaries, they have to find a solution to contract overburn. They get a good start, then pull assets back once the hit the half way mark, knowing that they can't keep the project staffed at initial levels.
Deloitte exploits this by charging more, but giving the client peace of mind that we will be there for the long haul. We also distinguish ourselves by being more well-rounded. It is difficult for either company to set up barriers to entry for the other. Neither has any contractual preference in the federal sector. Mostly they battle in the recruiting wars. I recieved offers from both companies and without even mentioning the other's name, the recruiters and interviews all pointed out how they are superior. In reality, the two companies should be more concerned with newer rivals than each other. Booz Allen Hamilton has become a public company in the past several months and has become somewhat schizophrenic with their future goals. Deloitte has not properly integrated its Bearing Point acquisition. This leaves the door open for other rivals.
In the commercial space, the rivals are different. Deloitte has a much stronger commercial practice, since it has been their bread and butter for a long, long time. Here, the main competitors are Accenture and PWC. Both of these companies are large and offer a wide range of services. Deloitte distinguishes itself from Accenture by being more robust in all areas, where as Accenture is known primarily for IT. It also uses Accenture's publicly traded status as a negative, taking the angle that a large, private firm cares more about its people and clients (rather than shareholders). Deloitte distinguishes itself from PWC through branding. PWC is solid, but they don't take the efforts to make themselves known (in the consulting field) like Deloitte.
All of the firms mentioned are already in most industries, or are attempting to do so. Deloitte and the major competitors listed are unlikely to ever tell a client that work proposed is outside of their scope. We know who we can and who we can't compete with. For example, Deloitte must be able to offer full cycle services to differentiate itself from a McKinsey, BCG, or Bain. There is a large gap between the top three and the rest of the top ten. McKinsey, BCG, and Bain compete amongst themselves in the world of the elite. Their employees and business acumen is better. However, they do not water down their brand by offering every service imaginable.
As a result, Deloitte and its few great competitors can sit atop a perch and see others coming. There has been a lot of M&A activity in consulting during the past few years. The large firms are always on the lookout to either buy, or destroy upstarts or firms looking to expand.
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