As a student from business school, “networking” is the word I heard almost everyday. To make myself look more like a Sauder student, I participated two networking events this week, Speed Dating and CEO Dinner Night with entrepreneurs from various industries. I had a great chance of listening to many of these entrepreneurs’ invaluable life and career experiences. What left me with deep impression was actually two delegates who both used to work in a consulting farm, but one quitted the job three days before his marriage and the other one left his job to start his own company in Africa. Though they were not consultants anymore, their working experiences evolved my interest in the consulting industry.

Most people may have heard about “The Big Three”, McKinsey, BCG and Bain, the world’s three largest strategy consulting firms. But only a few know exactly what the true values that a consulting firm bring to the business world today.

Management consultants often bring their own proprietary methodologies or frameworks to guide the identification of problems and to serve as the basis for recommendations for more effective or efficient ways of performing work tasks.

This explains why many CEOs are willing to pay high charge for a consultant. The high demand for consultants in society is also supported by a market research done by Source Information Services. This research organization surveyed 250 U.S. consulting clients, that over the next 12 months, 82 percent of the U.S. say they won’t cut the amount they spend on outside help. And nearly half, 42 percent, plan to bring in even more consultants, while 5 percent expect to boost their spending on consultants by more than 50 percent.

Moreover, this research also reflected that if consulting companies halve their fees, 59 percent of the clients surveyed would “buy a lot more consulting.” What this response suggests, is the inelasticity of consulting prices, because it would take a huge cut to stimulate growth. Rather, consultants should focus on communicating the value they add and differentiating themselves from competitors. It is true that consulting firm can be super competitive, but working is highly flexible and consultants get to connect with amazing clients from all types of industries. There is no one specific type of client which makes developing solutions and ideas exciting as every situation is different.

I am excited about the fact that McKinsey just opened an office in Vancouver, which was founded in 2015 by a group of entrepreneurial colleagues, eager to create a new talent hub for the firm here. Moreover, as Vancouver is Canada’s gateway to the Asia-Pacific region, this office is ideally positioned to serve clients in the emerging market. Most importantly, this Vancouver office opens a new door to many Sauder graduates.

 

 

Word Count: 450

 

References:

1) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-06-13/where-the-growth-is-in-management-consulting Where the Growth Is in Management Consulting, Ira Sager

2) http://www.businessinsider.com/what-consultants-do-2014-2 Here’s What Consultants Actually Do All Day, Alison Griswold

3) http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-analytics/how-we-help-clients/risk-advanced-analytics , McKinsey Analytics,

4) http://talentegg.ca/incubator/2013/09/30/the-10-best-things-about-a-consulting-career/ The 10 Best Things About Being A Consultant, Meghan Greaves

5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_consulting Management consulting, Wikipedia

6) The first picture http://pantheonuk.org/business-conferences-perfect-networking-opportunity-says-pantheon-uk/

6) The second picture http://www.consultantsmind.com/2013/05/30/economist-article-51113-to-the-brainy-the-spoils/

7) The third picture http://wikimapia.org/17272534/Financial-District

 

( https://blogs.ubc.ca/yaelapt/)

 

This blog really catches my attention as it talks about an important part of people’s daily lives, which is food, and also addresses a problem that concerns and troubles people the most, the  food delivery especially during rainy season.

UberEasts, a new food service offered by the globally-known transportation service company Uber, is flourishing in the highly competitive food delivery market. In Yael’s blog, she has already addressed some of the key reasons of its success, such as Uber’s strong brand image and special values offered in its food delivery service. It is true that UberEasts does have lower delivery rates and faster delivery speed than Postmates, Grubhub and other food delivery services.

However, to many customers, ordering food from UberEats used to be a limited experience. There were limited service area and food choices during the lunch hour. No customization of food makes customers who cannot stand onions on their salad or other preferences frustrated as the food is already made. Even worse, being a part of the Uber app, makes it feel like a small side project of a company that’s staked its reputation on transporting humans, not sandwiches.

Once sliding over to UberEats, customers see little fork and knife icons, rather than the cars that are around them when they use Uber to get a ride somewhere.

The company pays extra attention on customer reviews and keeps developing and upgrading its UberEats service to make it more user-friendly. In March 2016, for the first time, the company has broken a product out into its own standalone app and that lunch-only, limited-selection UberEats was gone. In its place is Uber’s GrubHub killer.

While the new UberEats app had been just a lunch service, it will now allow instant lunch or dinner deliveries for select dishes or full-menu options from restaurants. Once a customer places his order, a specially trained Uber driver carrying lunch bags to keep the food warm or cold will deliver it while the customer can actually track their progress on his screen. Moreover, UberEats has no minimum charge requirement. Customers do not have to struggle to add more food to have a delivery. Furthermore, UberEats offered two different ways to order food. The first was a Seamless-like experience, in which customers could order food from any of the dozens of restaurants on the app, and Uber would facilitate the delivery. The second was an upgraded “instant delivery” menu that featured two pre-set lunch options from a rotating group of restaurants that Uber said it would deliver in as little as 10 minutes. These new functions of the new UberEats app make food ordering more convenient for customers and satisfy a larger number of customers with various preferences and needs.

Like what Yael said in her blog, “I’m ready to order!”

 

(450 words)

 

References:

1) https://blogs.ubc.ca/yaelapt/

2) http://www.businessinsider.com/why-uber-launched-uber-eats-2016-3; Uber’s GrubHub killer is finally in the US — here’s the inside story on its big bet on food; Biz Carson

3) https://www.quora.com/How-popular-is-UberEats-in-London; How popular is UberEats in London?

4) http://www.businessinsider.com/ubereats-is-convenient-but-overpriced-2015-6 What it’s like to order a $15 burrito through Uber’s food delivery service;Alex Heath

5) http://qz.com/664552/uber-is-killing-off-its-instant-food-delivery-option-in-new-york-city/ Uber is killing off its instant food delivery option in New York City; Alison Griswold