The rankings are in!

Hello consultants and aspiring consultants! As this is the inaugural consulting blog posting, I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Naomi Newman and I have been the global consulting editor at Vault for over two years. This has given me the opportunity to get direct feedback from consultants about their firms, their likes and dislikes, and qualms with the industry in general. I'd like this blog to be an open forum for discussion, so please feel free to post comments or questions.

The 2008 version of the Vault Guide to the Top 50 Management and Strategy Consulting Firms has just been posted on the Vault website (see the rankings here), and will be out in hard copy in the next few weeks. The top-10 firms look almost identical to last year's list, with McKinsey maintaining its reign at the top, though Deloitte moved up into the No. 8 slot from its No. 10 position in 2007. Alvarez & Marsal, Hay Group and Aon Consulting all crept up into the top-50 this year, after spending 2007 in the Best of the Rest. Also noteworthy are three new firms for this guide - Mercer Delta Organizational Consulting, AlixPartners and Lippincott - which all made their debut appearance in the top 50. We added Mercer Delta and Lippincott this year to round out the Marsh & McLennan Company's consulting offerings in the areas of organization and leadership and brand management, respectively.

In an unexpected twist, Mercer Management Consulting, Mercer Oliver Wyman and Mercer Delta merged in May 2007 to form Oliver Wyman, which is under the Marsh & McLennan umbrella. The three companies are still ranked separately in our top-50, since the merger occurred only after our survey process was underway. However, next year they will just be listed as Oliver Wyman, freeing up two more spots in the top 50.

We also added to the list a few smaller, boutique firms. The Lewin Group is a health care-focused firm that plays a big role in public policy issues. It is frequently tapped by government and public interest groups to write congressional reports or testify before the Senate on health care reforms. Vivaldi Partners, a marketing and branding strategy firm that had some turnover in recent years, has begun beefing up its ranks, and has expanded over the past year to the West Coast and Europe. And Pearl Meyer & Partners, a compensation consulting firm and former subsidiary of Clark Consulting, is growing its name in the industry and has been drawing attention drawing attention to itself amidst all the talk of publicizing of executive pay. There are plenty of exciting firms out there, and we revise our list of companies each year.

Feel free to send in any comments or suggestions of firms that you feel should be evaluated for inclusion in the 2009 edition.