Tom Spencer

HBR posted an interesting article last Tuesday about the planned IPO of Alibaba in the USA this year, and its strategic implications for Amazon. For those not familiar with Clay Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation, you will want to read about how disruptive innovators often beat successful incumbents (read the article). If you don't have time to read the article, here's the summary. Basically, when a disruptive innovator enters an existing market they will enter with an inferior product at the bottom of the market where margins are lowest. The established incumbent is happy to give up that part of the market because the margins are so low. This give the disruptive innovator a toehold, a point from which it can improve and move upmarket, often eventually displacing the incumbent. Incredible, but true. So, the situation for Amazon is that Alibaba has a largely inferior product and a different business model. Most of Alibaba's profits come from advertising and the vast majority of its products are sold with zero margin. On the other hand, Amazon focuses more on customer service, charges margins (albeit very low ones) and earns only a small fraction of its revenue from advertising. The risk for Amazon is that Alibaba will be able to gain a toehold in the American market by selling low margin products to customers at a discount to Amazon and making profit from ad sales. If Amazon gives up the bottom end of the market, this will give Alibaba an opportunity to grow and improve. By starting at the bottom and gradually moving upmarket, this could enable Alibaba to eventually displace Amazon. It will be very interesting to see how Amazon responds to this disruptive threat posed by Alibaba. Do you have any thoughts on the matter?

Thanks for your thoughts, Sally. The PwC acquisition of Booz & Co hasn't gone through yet, but since it was approved by the Booz partnership at the end of December it is all but a fait accompli. I have grave reservations about the deal from a regulatory perspective, but I'm not sure that the regulators are strong or courageous enough to block the deal. I'm in the process of writing a short piece on the PwC/Booz merger at the moment.

ConsultingNews.com reports that EY’s UK advisory team has been shortlisted in 8 categories for the MCA Awards 2014, the highest number of shortlisted categories that EY has ever been nominated for. According to Consutling News the MCA Awards are the benchmark for quality within the consulting industry. If this is true, then this is a strong sign for EY. With Deloitte acquiring Monitor in 2012, and PwC set to merge with Booz & Co this year, this is likely to put the advisory businesses of the other two big accounting firms (KPMG and EY) under pressure. Do you think we will see more consolidation in the consulting industry in 2014?

Hi all, A recent article in Business News Daily indicates that: This quote raises at least two questions, firstly, what does the article mean by "email marketing"? Secondly, why does email do better than Facebook and Twitter? On the first question, the article talks about "email campaigns" and so seems to be talking about email sales, rather than email marketing. I.e. wanting recipients of the emails to buy products or take some other action, rather than just have an increased awareness of the business. So to the second question, why is selling by email so much more effective than selling by Facebook or Twitter? My initial thoughts are that email is a much more personal medium. For example, if you are invited to an event by email, you would probably be much more likely to attend than if you received a Facebook invitation. A personalised email which addresses you by name will make you feel included. However, being invited to the event on Facebook along with 100 other people will make you feel like an after thought. What do people think about this?

The Guadian reported yesterday that McKinsey has advised an overhaul of the NHS system in the UK, noting "They ... suggest scrapping the tradition of a free health service and introducing £20 a week "hotel" charges for hospital stays, a £5 bill for every visit to a hospital casualty department and a £2 fee for every visit to a GP. " To read the full article: visit the website. Good business for McKinsey, but the irony in McKinsey's advice appears to be that McKinsey were the consultants who helped to design the structure of the NHS in 1974. It is fair to say that McKinsey advising that the structure they previously recommended is broken is not necessarily the same thing as saying that McKinsey provided bad advice in the past. What do you think about this matter?

View File Victor Cheng - Case Interview Core Frameworks This document was produced by Victor Cheng, founder of CaseInterview.com. It provides an excellent quick guide to the key frameworks that you will need for your case interview. Submitter Tom Spencer Submitted 01/10/2014 Category Case Interview Prep

View File McKinsey Problem Solving Test A copy of McKinsey's practice problem solving tests and coaching guide. McKinsey uses the Problem Solving Test as part of its selection process. Submitter Tom Spencer Submitted 01/10/2014 Category Case Interview Prep

View File Deloitte - Conducting Case Interviews This power point presentation, prepared by Deloitte in 2007, provides an overview of the case interview, the interviewer's perspective, and the candidate's perspective. The presentation contains the following information: 1. Case Interview Overview 2. The Interviewer's Perspective: Attributes we look for, Phases of a case interview, including tips & timelines for each phase, Mock case interview, Evaluating a candidate's performance. 3. The Candidate's Perspective: Follow a structured approach, Understand, clarify, confirm, Identify the key issues, Develop a hypothesis, Test your hypothesis, Provide a recommendation, and Things NOT to do in a Case Interview. Submitter Tom Spencer Submitted 01/10/2014 Category Case Interview Prep

View File AT Kearney - Preparing for Your Case Interview Produced by A. T. Kearney, this summary is designed for people who are preparing for the case interview. The document contains the following information: 1. Why the case format? 2. What to expect 3. How to succeed during your case interview 4. Case Types 5. Final Thoughts Submitter Tom Spencer Submitted 01/10/2014 Category Case Interview Prep

View File Accenture - Case Interview Workbook Produced by Accenture in 2006, this case interview workbook contains the following information: 1. What is the Case Interview? 2. The Case Interview Process 3. "Soft" Evaluation Criteria 4. Types of Case Interviews 5. Sample Frameworks and Applications 6. Practice Cases Submitter Tom Spencer Submitted 01/10/2014 Category Case Interview Prep

How to Create a Winning Résumé View File This guidebook will help to create a winning résumé in order to secure an interview. To stay in the loop by following us on LinkedIn, please click here. Submitter Tom Spencer Submitted 01/10/2014 Category Consulting Applications  

How to Create a Killer Cover Letter View File This guidebook will help you to create a killer cover letter that secures you an interview. To stay in the loop by following us on LinkedIn, please click here. Submitter Tom Spencer Submitted 01/10/2014 Category Consulting Applications  

Thanks for your message, After discussing your question with my good mate Para I have the following thoughts: You could use the Porter’s Five Forces and Value Chain Analysis, but as always, the usefulness depends on what the non-profit does. This is true of for-profit businesses as well. Many non-profits operate businesses – like fair trade coffee suppliers and if they were analysing whether to enter a new market, then you could use Porter’s 5 Forces. Also, a microfinance business could used P5 forces to assess a market. Say, for example, an international NGO was deciding on whether to start a microfinance operation in Bangladesh (a highly saturated microfinance market with low barriers to entry) or China (a nearly empty microfinance market, which has significant demand but very high barriers to entry) – they could use P5 to assess them. As for the Value Chain Analysis, this might also be useful in trying to decide how to deliver the maximum social impact. What activities does the NGO engage in? Are they able to conduct their activities more efficiently than other NGOs who carry out similar work? Are they carrying out niche work that is not being attended to by other NGOs? Can the NGO create a greater social impact by dropping activities that are better performed by others and focussing on its core competencies? These are but some of the questions that you might want to ask yourself. Hope this helps, Tom

I received these two comments a while back from a reader working with an NGO: Tom, I’m working on a project with a non-profit organization without a charitable status. I am faced with an obstacle of applying Porter’s 5 Forces Model to the NGO industry. From my interpretation of the model, it is only suited for commercialized organizations. I am having a hard time determining the Barriers to Entry and Bargaining Power of Suppliers (as there are no suppliers, at least none that i can think of). Any idea how i can apply this model to NGO’s? Any help would be appreciated. Again, how can the value chain analysis be applied to an NGO? I am suggesting to the team to envision the product/service as the campaigns that the NGO likes to push forward to the public. Thanks

Dear keen student, Thanks for your email. You sound very diligent. What kind of person do MC firms look for? High marks Numerical ability (hence people who have done engineering, economics and finance are often suited to consulting) Ability to solve business case problems (i.e. think analytically and on your feet) Ability to work with people Presentation skills Curiosity and love of learning Being a self-starter (i.e. not needing direction from your manager) What kind of major should you study? MC firms hire from a broad range of backgrounds (arts, science, commerce, engineering). Getting a job in a firm is about being able to tell the story about yourself that firms want to hear Studying finance will help tell a story about point 2 above (if you do well in it) Studying marketing may not help you with point 2, but if you do well it will help you tell a story about points 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7 Being a high performing marketing student is better than being an average finance student What should you be doing Do what you are passionate about (if you want to do marketing, do it) Don't second guess what people may want from you (your life is a story, and only you know the best way to tell it) Find something you love (whether that be marketing or finance) and become awesome at it Hope that help. Cheers, Tom

I recently received this message from a keen student: I'm so glad to have found your blog! I'm an undergraduate combined Law/Commerce student who's really interested in management consulting. Just wondering is there a specific major MC firms are after? Many of my peers have suggested to major in Finance, however I'm thinking of majoring in Marketing. Is this gonna be considered unfavourably compared to Finance? i.e. do MC firms generaly take more finance graduates than marketing? Thanks so much for taking the time to read my query!

Good question! I followed up with Birchman Group to see if I could get some more information. Frank Early, one of the MDs at Birchman sent me this high level overiew: Birchman Group Overview

I recently received this message from a reader: I'm currently an IT Business Analyst with [name redacted], but am thinking of making a jump over to Birchman Group. However, I'm having trouble finding information on them that isn't sponsored or white paper style marketing blurb. I would really like to know more about the organisation, particularly in Aus, which will help me make a decision.