NSC2 - The World of Consulting - A Brief

8/6/2019 NSC2 - The World of Consulting - A Brief

1/8

The World of ConsultingA brief NSC2

The World of\ ConsultingA brief

NSC2 (NITIE Students Consulting Club)


2/8


What is Consulting?

Companies and organizations hire consultants to solve business, organizational, or industry specific

problems. Typically, a consultant brings in fresh perspective (sometimes referred to as a view from

the outside), objectivity, share best practises and/or specific knowledge or expertise.

The Consulting Industry can be divided into the following areas:

Management Consulting: Focus is on how a company or organization works to achieveits stated goals. This can include working on strategy, marketing, finance, operations

(processes), and information technology.

Strategy Consulting: Focus is on identifying the direction, goals, and growth of acompany or organization within a specific industry. M&A decisions, partnerships, entry

into new businesses etc. are also made here.

Information Technology (IT) Consulting: Focus is on using technology to help anorganization become more efficient and achieve its goals. Industry Specific Consulting: Focus is on a specific industry and can include strategy,

marketing, IT, technical consulting etc.

Consulting is a great introduction to the world of business. The learning curve of a consultant is quite

steep in the initial years, with exposure to multiple industries and businesses. Consultants, however,

may experience intense workloads and hours, but can be rewarding in many ways. It offers the

opportunity for frequent travel, work variety and high salaries.

Experience, Education, and Skills

Consultants can come from various backgrounds. Individuals with postgraduate degrees in

management or previous work experience are all eligible candidates for consulting. Usually, the

applicants possess strong academic credentials, quantitative ability and leadership skills. Each

specific area of consulting requires specific skills; however, the following is a list of skills that are

necessary in many of these areas

Problem solving Researching Analytical and quantitative thinking Understanding of business Interpersonal and communication skills Networking

Consultants work in the following environments:

Large consulting companies that provide one or more consulting services to many industries Small boutique firms that specialize in a particular industry (i.e. health care) Internal Consulting Groups within companies and organizations. In this case, consultants are

company employees that act as a third party. Internal consultants save companies money

because they are already on the payroll and potentially can provide more suitable solutions

due to their company knowledge and experience

Independent freelancing for companies or organizations in a particular area of expertise


3/8


Consulting Projects:

Consultants are exposed a diverse set of projects in their career. Nevertheless, these projects can be

loosely categorized into a number of broad headings as given below,

Strategy projects:

In strategy assignments, a client usually asks consultants to review and evaluate its overall strategic

direction. This typically happens after a leadership change or bad financial performance and

pressure from governing board initiates the assignment. The consultants examine whether their

client is competing in attractive market sectors or vulnerable to market shocks, or both. The team

might recommend acquisitions or divestments, shifts in focus of the business, or changes in

organization or human resources. The consultant wants to ensure that everyone touched by the

proposed changes willingly accepts and looks forward to them. Any resistance poses a threat to your

project's overall success.

Sales/marketing/distribution projects:

Here, Consultants are asked to assess marketing and distribution strategies of organizations,

particularly as the distribution widens across geographies. They are frequently asked to recommend

the most preferable distribution channel or to assess the existing means of distribution. They are

also asked to propose more effective marketing strategies or to evaluate how the sales force

functions within the company.

Finance Consulting Projects:

Financial consultants advice may involve the strategies for creating shareholder value, business

valuation, cash flow management, M&A advisory, economic forecasts and analysis or suggestionsfor treasury management. They also provide consulting services on the cost of equity and asset

returns for organizations.

Reorganization projects:

As more companies expand globally their traditional organization structure sometimes becomes

unmanageable. Consultants advise their clients on how to become optimal organizations during

these times. They take up questions on centralization vs. decentralization, product vs. geography,

line vs. matrix etc. During such assignments, people get laid off or displaced into different roles;

entire departments may become obsolete or get created. Hence, these are highly sensitive projects

and are considered difficult to handle.

Cost-cutting/re-engineering projects:

Cost-cutting does not just mean the identification of job redundancies and lay-off of personnel. A

cost-cutting project looks at all areas of cost and answers, some of which are listed below

Can the company reduce input costs?

Is there excess inventory?

Are marketing funds being spent effectively?

This type of engagement tends to be hands-on, requires a significant period of time at the client's,and can be very data-intensive.


4/8


Consulting Career Paths:

Analyst (entry level) Senior Business Analyst - Gather, analyse, synthesize data Associate/Consultant - Identify issues, form hypotheses, plan and conduct interviews and

analyses, synthesizing conclusions into recommendations

Associate Principal/Partner - Multiple engagements, business development and practicedecision-making

Principal/Director - Superior ability to lead teams, manage every phase of engagement, Buildrelationships with clients

Typical entry level for MBAs is Senior Business Analyst or Associate/Consultant depending on theorganization.

Top-Consulting Firms in the World:

Overall Ranking: (Top 10)

Bain & Company The Boston Consulting Group, Inc. McKinsey & Company Analysis Group, Inc. The Cambridge Group Deloitte Consulting Oliver Wyman A.T. Kearney Triage Consulting Group Censeo Consulting Group

Business Advisory (Top 5)

McKinsey & Company Bain & Company The Boston Consulting Group Booz & Company Deloitte Consulting


5/8


6/8


The Big Three:

Bain & Company Boston Consulting Group McKinsey & Company

Consulting industry in India:

Strategy and general business consulting firms in India

McKinsey & Company Boston Consulting Group Bain Consulting India Private Limited AT Kearney Accenture Tata Strategic Management Group A F. Ferguson & Co. Arshiya International Limited Deloitte KVP Business Solutions Madras Consultancy Group Noesis Strategic Consulting Services RAMMS Resonate Consulting Private Ltd Sampling Research Sathguru Management Consultants Technopak Advisors Private Limited Vision Consulting Pristine Ventures Lakshy Management Consultant Private Limited TECNOVA Synovate Business Consulting Breakthrough Management Group Feedback Ventures

BMR & Associates Fractal Analytics Intellecap Denave India Private Limited Axience MarketGate Consulting Qimpro Consultants Private Limited i2m Management Services Private Limited Avalon Consulting Global eProcure


7/8


IT Consulting Firms in India

Diamond Management & Technology Consultants Capgemini Binary Semantics ISHIR Digital ProcessLOGIX Consulting Private Limited RADIX

HR Consulting Firms in India

Mitcon Consultancy Services Limited

Vruksham Talent Group

ALP Management Consultants

Hewitt Associates

Omam Consultants Ma Foi Management Consultants Limited

ABC Consultants Private Limited

Big 4 in India: (Deloitte, E&Y, KPMG and PwC)

The services provided by the Big 4 firms in India can be divided into

Statutory Audits & Tax Advisory

Business Advisory

Internal Auditing

Transaction Advisory

Other niche areas in consulting

Working Culture

Although the big 4 and other consulting firms are vastly different, their work cultures are more or

less reported to be,

1. Working Hours - One can expect a typical working day of approximately 10 hours a day.However, the length of stay in office or client location depends on the engagement.

2. Trainings form an integral part of consulting career; one can spend close to 10 -15 hours oftraining each month.

3. Team Work There is a strong focus on teaming at all of the big 4s and other consultingcompanies, however, individualistic traits such as taking up the ownership, making decisions

is also encouraged.


8/8


Exploration Resources

Books

Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used (Peter Block) How to Make It Big As a Consultant (William Cohen) Management Consulting: A Guide to the Profession (Milan Kubr) Management Consulting: A Complete Guide to the Industry (Sugata Biswas and Daryl

Twitchell)

The Fast Track: The Insiders Guide to Winning Jobs in Management Consulting, InvestmentBanking, and Securities Trading (Mariam Naficy)

The McKinsey Mind (Ethan Rasiel) The Seven Cs of Consulting: The Definitive Guide to the Consulting Process (Mick Cope) Vault Guide to the Top 50 Management and Strategy Consulting Firms What Management Is: How It Works and Why It's Everyone's Business (Joan Magretta & Nan

Stone)

Websites

Consulting Magazine -http://www.consultingmag.com Hoovers Online -http://premium.hoovers.com The Vault -http://www.vault.com IMCI -http://www.icmci.org/ AIMC -http://www.aimc.org/ WetFeet Guide to Consulting -www.wetfeet.com Individual company websites

Management Journals:

MIT Sloan Management Review Harvard Business Review Mckinsey Quarterly Journal of Business Strategy

Technology Analysis & Strategic Management

Please share your comments and feedback with [email protected]

Follow us in Facebookhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Nitie-Students-Consulting-Club-NSC2/134704819911477
http://www.consultingmag.com/http://www.consultingmag.com/http://www.consultingmag.com/http://premium.hoovers.com/http://premium.hoovers.com/http://premium.hoovers.com/http://www.vault.com/http://www.vault.com/http://www.vault.com/http://www.icmci.org/http://www.icmci.org/http://www.icmci.org/http://www.aimc.org/http://www.aimc.org/http://www.aimc.org/http://www.wetfeet.com/http://www.wetfeet.com/http://www.wetfeet.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.facebook.com/pages/Nitie-Students-Consulting-Club-NSC2/134704819911477http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nitie-Students-Consulting-Club-NSC2/134704819911477http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nitie-Students-Consulting-Club-NSC2/134704819911477mailto:[email protected]://www.wetfeet.com/http://www.aimc.org/http://www.icmci.org/http://www.vault.com/http://premium.hoovers.com/http://www.consultingmag.com/

NSC2 - The World of Consulting - A Brief

Documents

Transcript of NSC2 - The World of Consulting - A Brief