Student exercise

A client

explicit strategy it often becomes an emergent strategy as pressures to maximise profits are passed down through the organisational hierarchy. The new consultant, therefore, should, above all, learn to proactively manage thei workload and be able to raise risks of under-staffing or lack of resources without feeling it reflects a weakness of their own. After all, if the work was that important, they would double the resources on it, or extend the deadline. This approach requires an honesty and confidence that is actually respected by mos senior managers as it indicates a willingness to tackle difficult issues and also ensures tha projects cts are not jeopardised by consultants that keep quiet and pretend everything is OK This advice was given to me by a partner at a large consultancy and I wish I had been giver it much earlier on in my career. Chapter Summary The life-cycle is a way of describing most of the work that consultants perform. However, a with any models, it is a simplification and should be treated as a guide rather than a rule This chapter has: introduced and explained the consulting life-cycle. described the importance of sales to successful consultancy practices. shown how to write successful proposals. explained the types of research that consultancies perform. described how consultancies deliver their work and exit projects successfully, Chap 5 indd 186 THE CONSULTING LIFE-CYCLE Student Exercise A client that owns a chain of supermarkets has called you in to investigate what he calls "theft from my stores". It appears that each month, the client loses around 120,000 from the chain of fifty-two stores. The client has asked you to do some empirical research on where and why the "thefts" occur. In pairs, produce a one-page summary which details your research strategy for the project: 1 What would your research questions be? 2 What research methods would you use? 3 How would you analyse and present your results? Once you have completed this, get together with another pair and discuss why you might have approached things differently. Try to agree on the best route for the research project to take Discussion Questions What are the steps in the consulting life-cycle? How do consultancies sell to potential clients? What forms of data collection might a consultant use? What is the difference between inductive and deductive research? What components should a delivery plan include? Case-Study Exercise: Gekko Case Study History