Consulting

Overview

 
Consultants bring in their field expertise to advise business on employing smart strategies to ensure maximum productivity and smooth functioning. From investment ideas to cost-cutting techniques, businesses require effective strategizing across functions to obtain holistic profitability. Specializing in Consulting while pursuing an MBA allows you to take an objective view of the problem and suggest the best possible solutions for the same. Thus, if your expertise lay in the realm of HR, or Finance, or Tax, or Strategy, you can choose to provide consulting services to firms requiring advice in the said domain.

Skills Needed to Excel in the Field of Consulting

It is one of the most sought after specialization and Consulting professionals are in high demand in the market. However, to be able to make the best use of this offering and prove your worth in the industry, you must possess certain specific skills

• A thorough understanding of Economics
• Ability to coordinate between teams, negotiate ideas, and supervise thorough implementation of strategies
• Impeccable communication and networking skills
• Precise quantitative and analytical abilities
• In-depth understanding of preferred domains such as Finance, HR, IT, etc.
• Creative ability to effectively translate problem statements into business solutions
• Ability to research market competition and align strategies with client insight
• Prepare forecasting and business model

Curriculum for MBA Specialization in Consulting

The main modules included in the curriculum of MBA in Consulting are:

• Growth and Innovation Strategy – This module attempts to teach students the nuances of identifying growth opportunities for a firm and plotting competitive growth strategies while projecting financial and operational performances and devising go-to-market strategies.
• Strategy Implementation and Organizational Change – You may devise a brilliant strategy; however, for the same to be effective, you need to ensure proper implementation of the same. This course teaches you the possible pitfalls that accompany strategy implementation and bringing about organizational change and prepares you to become a dynamic and inspired industry leader.
• Consulting Processes – This course helps you acquire a thorough understanding of the intricate steps including market evaluation, salesforce evaluation, customer preference, strategy building, etc., that make successful consulting possible.
• Client Engagement Management – This course helps you build the essential communication and coordination skills to ensure that you are able to adequately acquire and meet specific client requirements.
• International Management – This course will help you understand the challenges faced by a firm in maintaining its overseas market. Thus, you will learn to conduct thorough analysis of the volatile global market and suggest plausible solutions to help the firm thrive in the competitive market.
• Strategy and Management Consulting – This course will teach you the fine details of helping the big firms make strategic business decisions.
• Advanced Business Modeling – This course will teach you to prepare relevant business models for risk prediction and management, company data analysis, and forecasting to deduce effective decision-models that optimize processes.

Potential Career Options on Graduation with Specialization in Consulting

Consulting is a widely favoured career route for many graduate students and as predicted by the Bureau of Labour Statistics, about 800,000 individuals were employed as Consultants in 2016 and this number is set to witness steady growth of 12% over the decade. Pursuing an MBA with major in Consulting will open up many avenues for your career ranging from the strategy and management firms to the boutique consulting firms. You can explore career opportunities in the capacity of a Consulting Manager, Management Consultant, Business Analytics Manager, Business Consultant, Business Development Director, and IT Consultant among other designations. Some of the top consulting firms are McKinsey and Co., Bain and Co., The Boston Consulting Group, Accenture, PWC, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Putnam Associates, Roland Berger, QVARTZ, A.T. Kearney, OC&C Strategy Consultants, Alvarez and Marsal, etc.