In its annual ranking of U.S. consulting companies Forbes noted the leading positions of McKinsey, BCG and Bain, especially in the field of strategic consulting. And it's obvious. These companies have a serious advantage based on their reputations, their efforts to build a strong network of alumni, because the careers of many of the people who now make decisions originate in these companies. In addition, we must take into account the fact that these companies invest significant resources in generating ideas and working to support the brand when their employees act as inspirational and thought leaders in acclaimed bestsellers and publications in HBR. And of course, the scale of MBB's activities, it is obvious that a small consulting company cannot quickly assemble several project teams, especially for global projects.

Now for the big question. How can small consulting companies compete with MBB? Christian Stadler, Professor of Strategic Management at Warwick Business School in England, gave his opinion on this for Forbes. The professor believes that small consulting companies may be ahead of McKinsey, BCG and Bain on a number of issues, focusing not on the issue of global leadership, but on opportunities to use new technologies and other factors. His view is that small companies need to offer what BIG3s do not or cannot do (www.forbes.com).

One of the ways that Professor Stadler suggests is to focus on a particular area of knowledge. Experts from Consulting.org agree with the professor's opinion and cite the example of a German consulting company Consus Clinicmanagement, which specializes only in consulting hospitals. Experts emphasize that the Consulting company has 70 industry specialists and offers such a level of expertise that BIG3 hardly match on the German market. Another example is Hakluyt, a British consulting firm that specializes in market analysis, is led by teams of former MI6 intelligence officers, and uses relationships and networks to gather information (Consultancy.org).

Another way that Professor Standler sees to develop connections with creative thinkers, in particular among university professors. In also, as Stadler notes, in addition to narrow industry specialization and creativity, small consulting firms can bet on scaling up within a particular topic or area. For example, analytics consultancy D-fine has a team of 900 people, and 90% of its consultants are experts in scientific fields such as physics, mathematics and information technology.

According to Stadler, the next way is to use the latest technology, and a number of small consulting companies are pioneers in this area, for example, Strategyzer is a developer of online tools that allow companies to develop their own business model.

Professor Stadler concludes by saying that it is almost foolish to try to beat BIG3 at their own game, because McKinsey, BCG and Bain are great at what they do, but the success of small consulting firms can come through positions that are quite different.