post-MBA strategy roles

Question

Hello everyone! 
 26M planning to apply R1 to M7 this fall. I'm considering corporate strategy roles post MBA, but to be honest (at the risk of sounding dumb lol) I'm not even really sure what these roles  actually  involve. I've tried doing some research but since "strategy" is such a broad term I feel like a lot of companies use it to mean different things so it's hard to get a clear sense. 
 
  In theory, the strategy roles that would appeal the most to me are ones that have an analytics/data insights component to them. I understand that the MBA isn't primarily a technical degree, but it's also true that data analysis/quantitative methods serve as the justification for a lot of business decisions. I enjoy data analysis as well as big-picture strategizing and so I'm looking for roles that involve both. For the people who have gone into strategy post-MBA:

Are there roles like this for MBAs, or are most post-MBA strategy roles strictly non-technical? Would any role with an analytics component require a more technical degree, or am I overthinking this?  
  how close are you to the data, and how much data analysis are you doing day-to-day?  
  When you're not analyzing data, what does the rest of your typical day consist of?

I understand there are different types of strategy (e.g. corporate strategy, product strategy, sale strategy, marketing strategy, etc.) but do these different roles generally require the same skills, just in different contexts? Or is there a notably different set of skills needed for each?  
  I understand that a lot of people who do internal corporate strategy work come from a client-facing strategy consulting background. I'm working in consulting pre-MBA, but economic litigation consulting (e.g. Analysis Group, The Brattle Group, Cornerstone, NERA, etc.) rather than strategy consulting. In that case, if the end goal is corporate strategy, should I be targeting strategy consulting post-MBA, or can I go straight into an internal strategy role?  
  What's the recruiting landscape like for these types of roles?

Are you competing with other more technical masters students, or are there a lot of opportunities for MBAs specifically?  
  Is the recruiting timeline about the same for these as it is for consulting, banking, and other major industries?  
  What is the interview process like? Is it mostly behavioral or are there case interviews?

bb · Answer

Hey! I think this is a really good question.

I have seen fewer and fewer strategy roles recruiting fresh grads. As you can see from chart we have, I’ll find a link for you, a very large number of people are going into consulting, finance and tech. There’s only a small segment that goes into CPG or manufacturing or healthcare. Though there are roles within tech and finance that are strategy-focused but those are usually not open to mba grads.

From what I’ve seen, the MBA corporate strategy roles tend to be reserved for experienced hires. In this case, it’s not about education or degree but rather a proven track record. Also, often preference is given to consultants, ex MBB, since basically that is the job they used to do. I have seen in my corporate experience, executives bringing in their own strategy teams based on their work and even in a large company, it will be a fairly small team, just 4 to 6 people. I’m sure this probably can vary but that’s my reference point.

I have seen also industry veterans coming in as consultants working long-term with a particular company leveraging their industry connections and experience.

I have not seen analyst level positions coming after business school and most of those being just younger folks from undergrad for bright and capable.

So I would say the corporate strategy role would be a niche position and would likely strongly depend on your pre-Business school experience. And this is something more suitable for a long term goal perhaps rather than something immediate after business school, a more typical path would be consulting for 3 to 5 years, building your portfolio of work, connection, and then going to corporate strategy.

bb · Answer

Here is the recurring summary by industry. This is not function but still help helps put things into perspective. https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-mba-pro ... 21312.html

post-MBA strategy roles

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