Working life as a graduate consultant: an OC&C Strategy Consultants project

Looking to sell the company, the owners of a UK specialist retailer engaged OC&C Strategy Consultants to undertake a detailed commercial assessment of the business. The aim was to address the major strategic questions that potential buyers were likely to have, such as where future growth could come from and the form that major competitive threats were likely to take in coming years. Upon completion of the project, OC&C met with the various potential buyers to discuss and debate these issues.

Starting from first principles

Tom explains: ‘The set-up stage of the project consisted of two days’ intensive planning to identify the key issues and outline a plan of action. What were the major commercial challenges that needed to be addressed? What elements of research and analysis were required and who would be responsible for what? What needed to be completed when?’ The bulk of the project focused on addressing the major issues through a combination of research, data analysis and modelling. Findings were challenged amongst the team at every step, and discussed with the client management team at regular intervals.

A variety of roles

A team of six – three associates, a consultant, a manager and an associate partner – worked on the project for six weeks, splitting their time between the client site and their own London office.

Tom’s involvement in the project was focused around the initial planning phase, and in leading delivery of the findings to the senior client team. ‘Overall, my role was to manage the project at a high level, ensuring the project was going smoothly, being available to advise my team, and managing the client relationship – in other words, regularly checking in with the client to make sure they were happy with what we were doing.’

For me, modelling possible future outcomes was the most conceptual and interesting part of the project.

Consultant Zee worked on the project full time, clocking up around 60 to 65 hours a week. ‘Hours were a bit longer than usual, as projects that involve financial transactions tend to take place within more compressed timescales. It can be fairly hard work, although weekends spent working are definitely a rarity,’ he says. Zee led a number of different work streams: ‘My job was to leadm the discussion with the associates and the senior team, and direct our analyses and approach to the problem set we were working on. An important part of my role was to guide and coach the associates, challenging and refining their emerging answers.’

Associate consultant Alex worked on a variety of issues over the course of the project: ‘For the first two weeks I worked with Zee, unpicking the macro trends that were driving the market, and forming a view on how changes in these trends might impact it going forward. This involved combining information from a number of sources, including a bespoke consumer survey that we commissioned.’

Alex was also tasked with investigating the degree to which further store rollout was feasible – a critical element of growth for many retailers. ‘I considered a number of external factors such as location, population and the presence of other retail outlets, analysing which were driving successful store performance,’ he says. ‘We were then able to form a view on the number of suitable retail areas left to go for.’ In the final two weeks, Alex looked at competitor performance, assessing and modelling potential threats to the business, including the impact of online competitors: ‘For me, modeling possible future outcomes was the most conceptual and interesting part of the project.’

Learning at every level

Every project offers new learning opportunities for a consultant, whatever their level of experience. Says Tom: ‘Junior consultants develop new skills and sector knowledge with each project they work on. If you’ve been a consultant for longer, working with a new client expands your pool of experience about how different businesses work, which you can draw on in the future.’

As the project progressed, Alex progressed from working under Zee’s supervision to a more autonomous role on the subsequent modules. ‘Being given more independence brings changes to your approach as, while you have a greater opportunity to test out your own theories and methods, you take on more responsibility for your findings,’ he explains.

An interesting challenge and a rewarding outcome

Tackling a varied set of problems that were fundamental to the future success of the business in question made this a stimulating project. Says Tom: ‘It’s easy to get enticed by the idea of working in a ‘sexy’ industry, but in reality what keeps you interested is not the sector you’re working in but how interesting the problem is.’ And the outcome of the project was very positive: ‘The client achieved a sale price which was significantly higher than initial market expectations, and recognized our contribution as invaluable. It’s very satisfying when you’ve done a good job and you’re told about it!’

The team from OC&C Strategy Consultants

Alex Shutter is an associate consultant. He studied chemistry at the University of Oxford and has been employed at OC&C for just over 20 months.

Tom Gladstone is an associate partner. He has a PhD in material sciences from the University of Oxford, and has been working at OC&C for over eight years.

Zee Ashraf is a consultant. He studied manufacturing engineering at the University of Cambridge, and joined OC&C four years ago.