GGSB - Management Consulting Community CONTENTS : Focal Points Brief Briefs
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Flexibility and Balance The Knights of the
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Message from the Program Director
Round Table A Penny for your thoughts Competitive Activity Career Booster Cracking the Case
Dear Management Consultants, It’s lovely sunny weather finally here in Grenoble, and as summer sets in, so do efforts for the organization and anticipation of the following academic year. In fact, the summer is one of the busier periods in GGSB, when we are preparing on multiple fronts the following intake while we finalize the current year and encourage students to either finish their FMPs, or get them off to a good start. I’ll take this time to wish all of you—whether you be in in the finalization phases of your FMPs or at the beginning of the proposal, much inspiration and perspiration (10% of the former and 90% of the latter required)! As many of you already know, the MSc in Management Consulting program has been suspended for 2013-14 due to low numbers and rising costs in other areas, but efforts are underway for it to be re started in 2014 with a much stronger marketing focus and targeting. There have been many root causes attributed to the lower numbers, among them the ’niche’ character of the program and the target population, but one thing is clear: this program is held dear to the hearts of professors, students, GEM colleagues, and external firms with whom we have worked. The amount of positive feedback I have received over the past 2 months has been very encouraging, and has reinforced my conviction that GEM needs to continue making contributions to the field of Management Consulting in the years to come. I have fought very hard this year to prevent the suspension from occurring, but we have been faced with no other choice for a number of purely financial reasons which we believe we can offset for 2014-15 by redesigning the program significantly and getting students outside the classroom to spend an obligatory period of study inside an organization to complete a consulting assignment in both semesters 1 and 2. I want you all to know that I am going to continue my efforts in the school via the Graduate Network, the Alumni Association, the student-practitioners in Executive Education completing their Diploma in Management Consulting (DMC) and the MBA students selecting the Management Consulting specialization to keep a Management Consulting spirit alive in our school and to maintain GEM on the map in Management Consulting. I remain committed to the program and alumni’s success in the future and reiterate my availability and commitment to you as you progress in your lives and careers. The career development news from the last 2 years of our alumni has been very encouraging in terms of the preparation the program has given them, despite all of the points needing adjustment and improvement.
12 rue Pierre Sémard BP 127 38003 Grenoble Cedex 07 Tel : (33) 4 76 70 60 60 Fax : (33) 4 76 70 60 99
I thank you all for maintaining your confidence in the future of Management Consulting @ GEM, in remaining active in our network of excellent alumni, and look forward to remaining in touch over the years to come.
Keep in touch and best to all, Michelle
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“...we often speak about how to get a job in MC or how to become a consultant. However, we hardly speak about what it takes to succeed in MC i.e. how to stay on beyond the first 3 years. “
Alumni Focus Fanny OBRIOT (MC 1, France) “I have been hired as a Consultant by M-Planet since the 7th January 2013. They hired me on a mission for Vinci Energies as Project Manager for a GSM-R project in the South-East area of France. The telecommunications are a new domain for me as I mostly worked in banking in my previous experience. During the first months at the project supervisor (MOE), I discovered another world combining many constraints as policy, environmentalism, urbanism, engineering radio, and many more. Since the 1st April 2013 and following a reorganization of the different companies working on the GSM-R project (Vinci Energies and Graniou), I was transferred to a new function at Graniou Rail Sud-Est as Project Management Office (PMO). My previous boss at Vinci Energies is actually the new Director of Graniou Rail Sud-Est and found that my analytical skills, my methodology in project, my process knowledge and my organization were the necessary qualities to perform as PMO. He basically designed the job based on the courses I took at GGSB which is incredible!! He realized that it was a strategical position that needed to be added to his company in order to deliver the project and the deliverables on time. “
Joy MATWALE (MC1, Kenya) Joy Matwale, featured in our previous newsletter, is back in Kenya where she is developing a number of consulting projects linked to sustainability and local development for KPMG
KENYA.
As she explains, one of these projects is in the Health Care sector. “I have a partner who is pursuing this with me -she is currently studying for an MBA at the United States International University (USIU) in Kenya. From talking to a couple of medical practitioners, we were able to get some insights into challenges in the Health Service Delivery Framework, especially at the lower levels of the Health Structure. We shared some of our ideas with them and we conducted preliminary interviews with about 5 doctors and we got a lot of positive feedback. One doctor told us that they would be interested in implementing our ideas but that we would need to conduct a pilot project first. Right now, I am stuck with dealing with getting the necessary permits and authorizations to further develop this research study-which as it turns out has just revealed to me how bureaucratic the Kenyan system can also be (which reminds me just a little bit of France, lol).” In addition to working with healthcare practitioners, Joy was also approached by a local farmers’ self-help group, “to help them get a rabbit farming initiative off the ground because they are facing the challenge of not having a direct access to the consumer market…I am in the process of developing that proposal and I have talked to a local rabbit meat manufacturing company that has the opposite problem from the farmers’ group- that is, lack of a consistent supply. Where I am at with this one, is looking for capital financing that will allow the farmers to get the correct breeds (for high productivity) and the right housing structure (to facilitate collection of rabbit manure for organic farming usage).” As you can see, she’s a busy lady and doing important work for her community and country, using the skills of a consultant and the heart of a social entrepreneur to go out and change the world.
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Stig Ola Hansen (MC 2, Norway ) Stig has signed with Ciber Consulting
where he is working as a Consultant at the Oslo office. Ciber serves clients in multiple industries from Financial services, Energy and utilities, Healthcare and life sciences, Public services, to Communications, Education, Hospitality & entertainment, Manufacturing, Transportation & logistics and Retail. “My work will mainly be towards the Retail sector, where Ciber Norway's customers also are some of the largest and leading companies in this sector in Norway. I will be working with ERP, Logistics/SCM and Multi Channel Solutions seamlessly integrating media, mobility, loyalty programs and e-commerce, and in teams with both technical and functional consultants on various projects and clients. The first months after joining I will be part of "Ciber Academy", which aims at giving new employees a thorough introduction to Ciber as a company, your role as consultant at Ciber and a lot of courses, both in Norway and in one of the other 19 countries Ciber has offices (probably the UK/US). Further academic and professional development will be tailored and based on personal strengths and preferences, so it really feels like the opportunities for learning and development are very good at Ciber!”
Edwin Mun-Yin LOW (MC 1, Malaysia) Had an offer for the role of Analyst within the Management Consulting growth platform at
Accenture. The focus is Operations within the resources industry. Edwin is really excited about the job as Accenture is particularly strong in the Operations Consulting practice area. “At this juncture, I realized one thing: we often speak about how to get a job in MC or how to become a consultant. However, we hardly speak about what it takes to succeed in MC i.e. how to stay on beyond the first 3 years.”
Louis Deleforge (MC 2, France) “I have been working for Siemens Healthcare
at the regional headquarters in Singapore for the past 7 months. I work directly for the Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Products division in APAC, looking after the Indirect Sales Channel, across nine different countries (S.Korea, ASean and Pacific). My job is mostly quantitative and is all about performance tracking and market transparency. I look after our distributors in Asia Pacific, track their performance, analyze their market and I provide combined analysis to Senior Management. I was approached and made an offer by a leading Australian consulting firm, specialized in strategic sourcing and expending into Singapore. However, I declined it for Siemens, as I did not want to commit to one particular area of expertise. I am currently learning a lot about the healthcare industry and this can be a very valuable experience should I wish to join a more generalist consulting firm in the future. The consulting company was intrigued about my MSc in Management Consulting and live case experiences, although they mostly focused the interviews on multiple case studies, excel tests and quantitative brain teasers before extending an offer. “I would say that the professional expectations from our professors and the learning opportunities from the vast variety of experiences among my peers prepared me well for an international work environment. I did improve my quality standards during the MSc, working with some great and very smart people.” “I would tell current job seekers and fellow consulting alums to be resilient! I had to network tremendously and go way out of my comfort zone to make opportunities and job leads happen. Unless you are lucky enough to have good contacts, you have to talk to 1,000 people, even those who you think won’t bring you anything to really increase your chances. For Siemens, if I hadn't talked to somebody who told me about another person who told me about a university fair for German firms (not broadcasted on the internet), I would have never been able to catch this opportunity. I think that in this market, it's important to stay open-minded, even if your first choice does not work, you need to be flexible. It might take a while, but it's bound to work out eventually. I was ready for this when I left to Singapore, and talking to people such as Lisa-Jane Perraud from the Carrer’s Office also prepared me well for the challenge ahead.”
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In Brief…and Congratulations!!!! Stephanie NEUMANN (MC2, Germany) is working for Google in Dublin.
Juan Sebastián CAMACHO BURITICO (MC 2, Colombia) has been working as a Market Research Professional at Telefónica since April 2013.
Khom KLANMAN (MC 1, Thailand) landed a job at Coty in Paris, as Talent Attraction & Engagement Manager
Charline HENRI (MC2, France) started working just a few days ago at Buy.O Group as Junior Consultant, after going through an extensive and rigorous interview process.
Claudia ZUMPE (MC3, Germany) has started a 3-month internship at KPMG on July 1st, which will be followed by a second one at McKinsey&Company in October.
Stay Coordinated I am delighted to stay with you as your coordinator. Marjolaine is back, but will be in charge of the BIB Year 1 et 2. So I get to keep you lovely MSc MC people and I’m really happy about it. It’s been a full year now since I took over your program. It was almost the end of the first year for the MC2, the MC1 were ready to hand in their FMPs, it was quite chalRahma Dia lenging. This year I had the pleasure of welcoming the third intake, fourteen great students from all over the word. I love the mix of different nationalities and cultures and enjoy exchanging with your all. For those who don’t know yet, I am Senegalese and arrived in France 13 years ago for my studies (English and American literature and civilization. In France. Yes.). I wish we had had more occasions (and time) to just sit and chat, compare our experiences an get to know each other better. Thank you all for making me smile, tear my hair out, groan and laugh through the last few months. Have a great summer.
Marjolaine Lumineau ‘’A warm hello from Marjolaine and Anaïs to the Management Consulting in-
take 1 and 2! I wish you all the best in your professional and personal life. Please keep in touch! ‘’
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Thursday, April 11th 2013 - from 2 to 7 pm - Grenoble Ecole de Management Round Table on the Management Consulting Profession The Consulting Profession in an Uncertain Environment: Flexibility, Innovation, Agility On Thursday, April 11th 2013 from 2 to 7 PM we organized our Second Annual Round Table on the Management Consulting Profession. The timing of the conference in April is critically situated during the period when the MBA Specializations week is going on so that we can involve the dozens of MBA Management Consultants and those Executive Education students working on their Diploma in Management Consulting (DMC) alongside the MSc Management Consulting students, and any other interested student populations in GEM. The event allowed multiple opportunities for the exchange of ideas in a profession where market needs are putting new pressures on traditional ‘Strategy Firm’ consulting models and where new forms of talent are needed. This year’s theme of Uncertain Environments, with an accent on adapting to the new technologies in order to provide better innovation platforms for clients enabled us to invite elite guest speakers who created a dynamic dialogue with the audience. Highlights included : Patrick Stelmaszyk’s engaging keynote on the future of consulting firms and the needs they’ll present to Digital Natives. Patrick is the CTO of Cap Gemini Consulting in Paris and his notion of the Digital Consultant of the future certainly gained traction among our students present. Jean-Baptiste Dézard’s lively discussion new trends in Data management and analytics from IBM’s perspective captivated the audience and gave us a glimpse of what’s to come. Mr. Dézard is the Marketing Director of the IBM France’s Software division and his engagement with the audience on topics of great interest to us all as both consultants, managers,
and consumers, created some excitement and a big challenge to educators to prepare students with the skills necessary to become the ‘data scientists’ that IBM sees necessary in the big data economy. Jean-Baptiste Lendrin’s vision was presented in his stimulating closing talk on Strategy in Consulting and the need to manage transformations skillfully in our contemporary uncertain business environments. Jean-Baptiste, who is Partner and Managing Director of Buy.O Group in Paris presented his perspective based on extensive international experience, successful bidding on and winning projects against tier 1 firms (McKinsey, BCG…) and inspired the students to embrace a changing and shifting landscape in their future careers. We also had the presence & interventions of successful ESC Alumni working in the Consulting sector including Nicolas Perdu, now at ANTAES in Geneva, a management consultancy focused on the Banking sector, and Xavier Benedetti, running change management programs among other at VOLVO TRUCKS in Lyon. We ended off the day with a nice cocktail and networking meetings with all present.
Mark your calendars for next year’s Management Consulting Round table, already set for April 10th, 2014!
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Interview with Penny Jarvis By Charline Henri, MSc in Management Consulting, Intake 2011-2013 June, 8th 2013 How do you see your contribution to the education of future consultants? My main contribution is twofold. Firstly, to clarify the different models of consultancy available; I find many students are confused about what the different types of consultancies are. Secondly, to enthuse people about the metier, but at the same time, be totally realistic about the downsides and sometimes, their unsuitability for the profession.
Where can you make the greatest impact? I think the biggest impact is made early in the student process when everything
Penny is a serial start-up entrepreneur. For example, in her early thirties, she successfully started and run a fashion retail business with outlets worldwide; subsequently, she has developed a number of successful concepts both for herself and other people. One other venture was to start The Egremont Group in 2000 which has gone on to become one of the most successful business consulting groups of its kind. She is not afraid of asking difficult questions and challenging people to expand their thinking. Her skills lie in facilitating people through their own personal journey so that the eventual organisational success lies at their own door rather than as a result of consultant dictates. She has worked with many blue chip organisations at board level but is equally at home working at grass roots level or with small organisations. She has worked on strategy and operations with organisations such as Tesco but has got equal pleasure in ensuring the turn around and sale of a small confectionery company. She has also worked extensively abroad, having lived in Italy and France and worked with organisations in USA, Brazil, South Africa, Japan as well as the UK. Penny teaches two modules for the MSc in MC, and also the MC Specialization for MBA and Diploma in MC students.
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seems a bit confused and having someone who has actually experienced real consultancy life can bring the profession to life. I am a great believer in having teachers at Graduate level who have both industry and academic experience.
What will be the next trends in the marketplace and in the Management Consulting field? I think the big consultancies will carry on doing big projects but the strategy houses will do more implementation and vice versa for the operational consultancies. I think the biggest change will be in the calibre of the smaller consultancies as extremely good and experienced consultants from the big companies start their own businesses. The notion of 'boutique' being small and insignificant will change radically as these companies take previous large clients with them.
What skills/personality traits will be necessary to perform well as a Management Consultant within this changing work environment? Consultants have always needed to be entrepreneurial in order to advance but I think that will become more and more of a necessary trait. As you know I am a great believer in soft skills and I think EQ and empathy will be needed as an adjunct to analysis and strategy. I think people will come to realize that having empathy does not stop you from being commercial and hard headed!
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Advanced Decision-Making in Marketing Simulation The MC3 students did a robust, well tested, sophisticated B2C simulation as part of their Advanced Decision in Marketing course with Alyson Davies. Each phase matched theory with application: e.g. lecture on segmentation and positioning, followed by repositioning of products vs competitors. Teams were responsible for managing 2 complex markets, investing in R&D, designing new products, modifying current ones, planning production, commissioning and applying market research to marketing decisions and marketing mix, managing the P&L. They needed to keep in mind the Big Picture: the KPI was Share Price Index, which was composed of net contribution, market share, revenue growth and R&D investment and success. The key learnings from the teams were that the simulation required multitasking, good teamwork, a focus on competitors, and a consistent implementation of a well deliberated strategy. There was also the challenge of operating in a multidimensional, dynamic, responsive environment; the significant impact of aggressive competitive activity in the markets; the value of constructive dissension, debate and finally, agreement. And lastly, applying key marketing concepts within tight deadlines.
The Winning Team was RRRRR - essentially a oneproduct success story of excellent strategy, with some growing brands across 2 markets.
Second team, Slash, was very close behind, growing significantly, focusing on only one key market.
The two other teams experienced slower growths. However, both were well positioned for the future in the new growing market.
A snapshot of one day tells many different stories!
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Career Services Support: Testimonial Congratulations to Corinna from all of us for this superb accomplishment and all of our best wishes for success in this very promising high-growth company. “At the beginning of May 2013, I received a personalised email from Career Services, encouraging me to apply to a new and promising US start-up called
Corinna Ziegler MC3
The Careers Office works hand in hand with the CDPM and the Alumni Association to help you recognize, develop and market your potential.
Take advantage of the Careers Office events and conferences, a few are tailored specifically for your program, but all of them are of interest. Check their website
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Box,
that would be
coming to interview on-sight the following week. Even though my Master was in Management Consulting, a Business Development position at a dynamic IT company focused on cloud computing, file collaboration, and data storage, was worth giving a shot. I tailored a cover letter specifically for the company and addressed it to the CEO (Aaron Levie) mentioned on the Career Services email I had received. About two days later I was invited to the interview hosted on the GGSB campus the following week. Career Services called me prior to the interview to clarify questions about the open position, its target audience and basic job description. They made sure to match expectations of the company and me as a potential candidate about the job. I prepared myself by researching the company online and compiling the most important points that seemed relevant to me, including major competitors and hypothetical questions about why me, why Box, what sets me apart from others etc. A day before the interview, Career Services sent out a detailed agenda of what was to be expected on the interview day, with specifications on time and venue, as well as slots for each candidate to be interviewed individually for twenty minutes each. On the actual day, Career Services was there to greet us up-front, escorting us, a group of eight GGSB students, to the general reception room. Two young Box employees introduced themselves and the company briefly, after which we were each asked to go in for our individual interviews. The interview was very relaxed and enjoyable almost, compared to the harsh and tedious interview process demanded by the big consulting firms. My interviewer was very open and friendly, asking me the type of questions I had anticipated to answer beforehand. After a quick twenty minutes, I was told to receive feedback the next day but was already informed that I was in the closer selection. Career Services asked for our personal feedback after the first interview and were very comforting and reassuring. A day later I received a phone call from my current superior, who had a quick chat with me about why me, why Box, and what I knew about the product. He then invited me to the final round of interviews to come to London the next week, following my finals, with the company reimbursing me for any travelling expenses incurred. I passed the final round of interviews, very similar to the ones previously experienced with Box. Two days later I got another phone call congratulating me on my acceptance to Box and negotiating T&Cs of my current contract. Recently, I just got back from a very intense week of training in the company’s headquarters in Palo Alto (near San Francisco), US, where I met my UK team of new employees, as well as our CEO and the US team. Having been fortunate enough to find an apartment after two days of marathon flat hunting, I am scheduled to start work on July 1 st, in the role of Business Development Representative responsible for the DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) region based in London, UK. My career development prospects at such a dynamic and promising start-up are tremendous, and I would have perhaps not even applied for the position without Career Services sending me their very first email.”
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Key Points for Fellow Students from Corinna: Take Career Services emails seriously! I know they send out lots, and often job positions are specifically only for French speaking students, but it is worth looking into nonetheless. Go to company visits on GGSB premises and make yourself known! Most importantly, make sure that your resume and cover letters are not generic and boring, but exciting and show who you really are. I know how difficult it is to write a good and convincing resume and cover letter, but here’s what helped me fix-up mine: 1-page resume and no longer: One sentence opening line and no longer (catchy but serious). Make it look nice, with unique layouts and fonts that reflect your character. Include hobbies and interests that set you apart from others Contacts, contacts, contacts! I cannot stress this enough. Leverage any contacts that you or your family have to get a foot in the door of the company you are looking at. You have plenty of chance to prove yourself once invited for an interview. But the toughest part is getting that interview. Always update your LinkedIn profile. This is your chance to enhance and build your professional network with just one click. Also make sure to match any other online profiles (i.e. DoYouBuzz), if you want to come across as authentic and credible. And finally, start your research soon enough. Once you know what company to target, you have more time to tailor your cover letters accordingly and to get in touch with contacts prior to sending out applications to find out what the company really is looking for. Good luck!
Live Business Cases - MSc MC3 By Rami DANIEL Capgemini: The live business case with Capgemini was part of the Information Technology module with Federico Pigni. The aim of the engagement was to explore new ways that Capgemini can service multiple clients using the agile methodology already in place at the same time in order to lower their operating costs, especially with the competition from India. The project was divided into four parts: business model, customer relationship management, innovation in solutions, and organizational structure. The class was divided between these four groups with myself as project manager with the responsibility of communication and coordination with the client. The final presentation focused on a "MENU" model that we had come up with that focused on building a library of code from larger clients for the sole purpose of reusing this code as a base code for other clients in the future. In order to allow Capgemini to service multiple clients at the same time, we proposed the idea of clustering SME's that have similar requirements and servicing them as one entity. Overall the project was beneficial to all involved since it introduced us to IT consulting industry and encouraged us to think of new innovative business models.
Vesta (Business Case Study 1): Vesta-System is a local start-up that produces energy efficient software for the building industry. Being founded mainly by researchers, Vesta is preparing to introduce its business plan to investors at the end of 2013. Vesta is focused on trying to understand the market better and the potential avenues it can take in terms of customer base and value chain positioning. They requested a market study, a marketing plan and different business models that can be adopted in the early stages of operation. After submitting the market study, we realized that the market is very fragmented and the well established competition was offering full packages in terms of hardware and software. This led us to propose a business roadmap entailing the necessary steps that Vesta needed to take in order to better understand the strengths of their product, which also aids in targeting a specific segment early on in their operation. Under the guidance of Professor Eric Morel, a consultant and expert in the energy sector, we presented our findings in midMay to the client, for final evaluation.
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Until Next Time... Thanks to all for your contributions! Looking forward to reading you next time or meeting you in person….. We are expanding the newsletter to include ALL Grenoble Ecole de Management Consultants and members of the Consulting community—this means All ESC Alumni who work in consulting All GGSB Alumni working in Consulting All Doctoral School (DBA and PhD) students and Alumni in consulting Current students and Alumni of the MBA MC specialization Current students and Alumni of the DMC (Diploma in Management Consulting) Anyone connected to GEM and the Management Consulting profession The more we can network amongst ourselves, the more we can contribute to the brand equity of GEM as a center of excellence in preparing future consultants. Make sure to send your updates and news for the Autumn 2014 edition to Michelle and Rahma Michelle.mielly@grenoble-em.com, Rahma.dia@grenoble-em.com Remember to: 2014 3rd Edition of the Management Consulting Round Table at GEM! We would love to involve you in any way possible.
Mark your calendars for April 10
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Visit the GEM Management Consulting blog and post your commentary/feedback:
http://gemconsulting.wordpress.com , We have a number of great posts on topics of interest in the field of Management consulting, positioning ourselves as ‘Thought Leaders’ in this field & we’d love to involve members of the broader MC community in this blog.
Have a great summer everybody! Best wishes from Michelle, Rahma, and the GGSB team