America’s Best Management Consulting Firms 2017

Methodology

The lists of the Best Management Consulting Firms are based on two surveys: a colleague survey of consulting experts (partners and project managers from management consultancies) and a client survey among senior executives, who have previously worked with management consultancies.

Consultants and executives could make recommendations for consultancies in 16 industries and 16 functional areas. Self-recommendations were excluded.

In each industry and functional area the management consultancies were sorted based on the number of recommendations (sum of all colleague and client recommendations). Given that the quality of consultancies doesn't normally change significantly within a year the results from last year were also considered - with a lower weighting.

The groups are sorted into the classes "very frequently recommended", "frequently recommended" and "recommended" based on the mean of the number of recommendations per industry and functional area as follows:

• Management consultancies that received recommendations from colleagues and clients well above the respective average were sorted into the class "very frequently recommended"  (the number of recommendations was at least two times larger than the average of each industry or functional area)
• Management consultancies that received recommendations from colleagues and clients less frequently, but still above average were sorted into the class "frequently recommended"  (the number of recommendations was less than double, but more than the average of each industry or functional area)
• Management consultancies that received a certain number of recommendations from colleagues and clients, but less than average were sorted into the class "recommended" (the number of recommendations was slightly below average of each industry or functional area)

The ranking is comprised exclusively of consultancies that have a sufficient number of recommendations; a mention is therefore positive and indicates a vote of confidence from the market. The ranking was created through an elaborate process. The quality of management consultancies that are not included in the list is not disputed.