Statistical inference helps us understand the data, and hypothesis testing helps us understand if the data is different from another set of data. These techniques are important when exploring data sets, as they help guide our analysis. However, these techniques are not enough. Most times, we are looking to understand the relationship between two sets of […]
Author: Jason Oh
As a generalist consultant you are unlikely to need any statistics for day-to-day project work (there are specialists to call on for situations where it’s needed). The workaday numerical tool is Excel which, with the “Analysis Toolpak”, gives most consultants more than enough of what they need. However, you are likely to build a lot […]
Asset management as an industry is becoming increasingly important for a variety of reasons: The world is getting wealthier, driven by growth in emerging markets. The growing middle class in China and India means that millions of people are purchasing wealth products, while new millionaires and billionaires are looking for high net worth wealth solutions […]
Management consulting is a professional service offered to organisations which aims to help internal management improve operating performance. Consultancies are brought in to tackle individual problems (falling revenue, rising costs, geographical expansion, product launch, M&A) or to evaluate the company through a deep dive analysis. The management consulting value chain encompasses strategy (idea origination, analysis […]
Retail Wealth Management Retail investors are everyday investors without much buyer power. Generally, retail investors are individual investors with liquid investable assets of less than $1 million – although the allure of a more bespoke investment counsel is not compelling until $5 million. The retail business comes with the highest fees, so at least on […]
Characteristics of Asset Management Firms Most major asset managers are conservative with their use of leverage. There are a couple of reasons for this: Asset managers can see cash flow and earnings fluctuate wildly with markets. For instance, with an AUM of $100 billion and average fees of 1%, the asset manager has $1 billion […]
Asset managers are institutions that ‘manage money’ on behalf of certain beneficiaries. What does this mean exactly? Well, asset managers aim to understand client investment objectives and invest client funds in a variety of financial products and asset classes. These asset classes can include public equities/stocks, fixed income/bonds, money markets, commodities, infrastructure, real estate and […]
Having a great mentor is critical for personal skill development, especially early in your career, and so I wanted to share the guidelines that my mentor provided me to follow in 2019 to become a better consultant / strategist. As a brief introduction, my mentor spent two summers at Bain & Co. as an Associate […]
When two companies are going through a merger or an acquisition (M&A), the branding strategy is often the last thing that senior management thinks about, wrongly assuming that it’s more a creative decision than a business call. This is a huge mistake. There’s no clearer signal to the market regarding the intentions behind the M&A […]
This article focuses on how to conclude well in your case interview. It is part 2 of a 3 part series. If you haven’t read part 1 yet, what I would do is pause reading and look at the following link, which covers four great tips on how to improve your conclusion. What I’m going […]
This article looks at concluding your case interview well. It is the last part of the three part series. I truly hope these articles help you succeed in case interviews and win the job you truly hope for. Before you read this article, you might want to read Part 1 and Part 2. Compare and […]
Today I’m going to talk about a very important aspect of the case interview, which is your conclusion to the case problem. The conclusion is often the aspect that doesn’t get the attention it really deserves, just like the introduction. There’s a Nobel prize-winning economist named Daniel Kahneman who has done a ton of research […]
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7 Networking Mistakes to Avoid
When it comes to recruiting the three big criteria are: networking, application package (cover letter, resume, and transcript), and interview. Even after you get a job, networking is still one of the most essential life skills to have. Either we shy away from it and allow ourselves to be outshined by others, or we grab […]
The cloud – which refers to storing, managing, and processing data via a network of remote servers instead of locally on a server or personal computer – is quickly becoming a critical source for innovation. Without a robust cloud strategy, an organization’s pace and breadth of innovation is likely to be hampered. Here are five […]
Most consulting firms are wrapping up their recruitment process for this year and offers have been sent out. The hard skills help you do the analysis, but once you’ve got an answer, you need client buy in. To get client buy in, you almost always need exceptional soft skills. As a result, the consulting firms […]
Blockchain – the underlying technology first used in Bitcoin – is a new type of distributed consensus system that enables transactions to be quickly validated and securely maintained through cryptography, computational power, and network users, removing the need for a trusted centralized authority. The blockchain provides an immutable record and audit trail of transactions and […]
Digital disruption is touching every aspect of the consumer market, including the insurance industry. Traditionally, the insurance industry has lagged behind other sectors in the shift into digital technologies, its business model proving to be remarkably resilient. But it too is beginning to feel the effect of digital, as its slow-to-adapt mentality puts it at […]
The consulting industry is a very competitive field with an abundance of highly educated professionals with proven track records of success. In order to succeed and stay relevant in such a competitive field, consultants have to keep their knowledge up to date and continuously hone their skills. The question is, what is the best way […]
During one of my internships I worked on a due diligence project, which involved conducting market research to help a PE firm decide whether to acquire a major stake in a joint venture owned by one of the largest telecom companies in Asia. It was a very interesting experience, so in this post I will […]
The financial services industry has seen drastic technology-driven change over the past few years, and digital has fundamentally reshaped consumer behaviour in banking. According to Oliver Wyman, a global management consulting firm, 90% of Canadian banking customers use digital channels and more than 30% are now banking exclusively virtually. In response, banks worldwide are making […]
Before we dive into why AI is the solution for the banking sector, let’s first explore what big tech companies have in common, how many of them have grown successfully, and what banks can learn. The three ingredients that have contributed to the massive success of big tech firms might be described as: Identify big […]
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Cold Emailing 101
This is part 2 of my posts on cold emailing. If you have not read part 1, check out “How I used cold emailing to land an internship in Mongolia”. By the end of this post you should understand three things: How to find professionals to contact How to write a strong cold email How […]
Leading up to the summer before my senior year of college I was searching through Google for my next travel destination when a pop-up ad directed me to a website about Mongolia, the land of nomadic culture and once the largest contiguous empire founded by Genghis Khan. After some reflecting, I decided maybe I could […]
Case competitions are amazing opportunities to demonstrate your ‘case cracking’ abilities in front of industry judges, quickly expand your network, and win great prizes. I was fortunate enough to be involved with several during my undergraduate days, both as a participant and as a judge. I even started one, which is now one of the […]
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Dealing with rejections
During my senior year, I had a final round interview with one of the MBB. As it is close to nearly impossible to even receive an interview from these companies coming from a non-target school (only two students received an interview that year from my school), I really wanted this offer, and I had been […]
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Canada’s Startup Landscape
A few weeks ago, there was a post by Freya Jeffries regarding London’s tech startup scene and I thought this would be a great opportunity to illustrate one for Canada. Canada is renowned for its plentiful natural resources but over the years it has also developed a name for itself in the technology sector with […]
Before the recruiting process begins candidates work hard to polish their resumes, prepare for case interviews, gain professional experience, and participate in extracurricular activities to distinguish themselves from the rest. However, many miss out on a great opportunity, which is to do pro-bono consulting for non-profit organizations or startups. Seeing as every non-profit organization or […]
At the CES 2018 held in Las Vegas, Steve Koenig, Senior Director of Market Research at Consumer Technology Association, presented on tech trends to watch. Outlining the big picture, he described 2018 as the beginning of the “data era of consumer tech”, with the heralds of that coming age being 5G, AI, and AR. While […]
Let’s admit it. At every single consulting interview the very first question you get is “why consulting?”. It’s also one of the most popular questions at networking events. There could be a variety of reasons you would like to truthfully shout out such as: high salary, prestige, MBA sponsorship, and travel. But hold your seatbelt […]
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Case Interview Basics
What is a Case? Cases are a tool used by interviewers based on a business scenario; they go beyond behavioural and background questions to assess the actual abilities of a candidate by replicating the steps of a consulting project. They are a means of evaluating potential candidates when facing a real-life business challenge to determine whether […]