The article below discusses the general trend, but also discloses the efforts of a few corporations to hire top business talent and to create special tracks for them. The careers of the information elites will not be slowed by affirmative action efforts designed to benefit minorities. Ten leading business schools queried by The Wall Street Journal said the proportion of new M.B.A. degree holders choosing consulting rose between 1989 and 1994. Seven of the 10 said the share selecting investment banking and other financial services also increased. Manufacturers snared a smaller portion of graduates this year from all but two of the 10 schools.
Money is a big problem.
And while they've long offered more lucrative salary packages, consulting firms are sweetening those deals even more. Now many industrial concerns are trying to get back in the game. They are promising M.B.A.s juicier pay packages. including signing bonuses. More employers send senior officers to recruit on campus. To combat the glamour and intellectual challenge promised by a consulting job, other manufacturers have devised faster career tracks, expanding leadership-development programs or moving rising stars into important jobs quickly.