| Topic Name: |
Ph.D. and Strategy Consulting |
| Message Name: |
Not a good strategy |
| Date Posted: |
04/11/2003 |
| In Reply To: |
Hi!
I have a B.Sc.in Business Administration and M.Sc in Electrical Engineering. I worked
at Accenture for a year and realized that what I really wanted to do was what the strategy consultants at Accenture did. Since there was an economic downturn there was no point to try to get into strategy at Accenture. Therefor I quit and is now completing a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at a top institute in my country. I did it because I thought it would a merit and since there was a downturn I wouldn't loose anything. My objective is to join a pure strategy firm when I have a Ph.D.
My questions are:
- Is my strategy a good one?
- What does strategy firms think of my background?
- Do I have to get an MBA
to be sure to get into a
strategy firm?
- What is the current and
forcasted state of the
strategy consulting
industry? (Will be done
with my Ph.D. in about three
years) |
| Message: |
No this was not even a really good strategy even at the top of the market. 1 year work experience would not be adequate to join a strat firm, at least not at the MBA/Grad level.
In the good years, some of the strat firms might have taken you on in a special program, sometimes called APD or similar. You would start somewhat below an MBA, be trained on the job and in mini-MBA camp within the firm, and advance from there. After a year or two you would be treated as if you had come in with an MBA & would from that point advance normally.
However in this economy, you will be unlikely to land a strat job.
Better bet, go to a place like Booz Allen's "technology" business, which deals with govt and the military ... as you can imagine, that sort of business is ok these days. Ditto for other interesting firms like SAIC. Options like these may actually not be bad bets for (eventually) entering more traditional analytical strat consulting in 2 years if the economy turns up.
PhD
ex-Prof
strat consultant
|
|
