I am the ex-MBB US MBA posting above.

Your point re: Singapore is valid. In ASEAN countries, demand for management and strategy consulting tends to be the inverse of the state of market and human resource development. Less developed countries tend to be the bigger markets. Keep in mind also that many MNCs in Singapore, though they are Asia / ASEAN HQs, get their direction from US / Europe and thus have little discretion (or budget) for strategy engagements of their own. So, much of the revenue is from locally-born businesses and govs, and these tend to be from Indonesia, Thai, Malaysia, Phil, etc.

Major client industries are Financial Service (by far), Oil & Gas and Telecom. There are some sprinkles of Retail, Manufacturing and Public Sector/Gov. Why FS is by far the largest? This is mainly driven by # of clients who can afford an MBB rate. When there are many potential clients, you can fill a revenue pipeline. When your client base is smaller (fewer telcos vs. banks in a typical country), your revenue gets lumpier.

Yes, McK (and BCG) got their start in ASEAN doing Oil & Gas in Indonesia back in 1995-6. Bain joined the scene much later.

A PhD is valued by MBB. But I believe McK values it more, and you may find more PhDs at McK. McK also invests more in economics think tanks like MGI than BCG and Bain do, if that kind of work appeals to you. I think they want to speak at Davos more than the rest

Travel schedule varies according to firm's staffing model and your specific client / engagement situation. McK in general is a more global firm than BCG or Bain. The more global the firm is, the likelier long travels (6 hours+) are. BCG in ASEAN tends to focus solely on regional clients and build stronger local roots, so your travels are not long (2-3 hours max). YMMV, but if you are an expat consultant from US wanting a 1-2 year stint in Asia, McK model works for you since you have a built-in chance to rotate back to home. If you are a local, perhaps BCG model is more to your liking. Also, some clients are more flexible, others demand you to work at their sites (and have strict control over client data).

Regarding MNC pay in Singapore, what I tend to see is a range of 75-80% of US comp structure. This includes MBB. Pay is very much related to client hourly charging, and the hourly rates in ASEAN are about 80% of US rates. I am now at a US tech MNC and my bonus structure is pegged at 75% of my US colleague.

Mind you that you have to work harder for that 80% than your US colleagues do. Even at only 80% of US rates, MBB rates are considered very high by ASEAN clients, so the tendency is to over-scope engagements for the amount of revenue we are getting in order to win business. This means overwork as large scopes are executed by fewer consultants. Unfortunately, this is a typical situation for frontier offices, whether it be ASEAN, South America, or Africa.

Why I switched? The paragraph above is some of the answer, although for me it's not the entire picture. On the whole, I enjoy my time at MBB, enough to stay for 5 years. I like the colleagues and the client works. I simply found an opportunity outside of it that I like as much (if not more) and provides me with an equivalent financial benefit.