Consulting projects for major companies: win-win partnerships for MBAs

With a high percentage of MBA graduates seeking a move into Consulting, the EDHEC Global MBA’s  optional real-life consulting project is ideal to transition into this field and build new consulting skills.

The two-month consulting project allows participants to put their newly acquired skills and knowledge into practice and serves as a transition between the time spent at school and the entry into a new professional life. Multinationals, non-profit organisations and even local start-ups provide EDHEC with consulting missions that are presented to the class directly by a company representative.  After a course on Consulting Methodologies, participants select the projects which best fits their career or learning goals and contribute over 700 team hours to complete strategic company projects.

The projects are supported by top management with an executive as mentor. These projects can be in-company, on-campus or both with past consulting teams travelling to various destinations with expenses paid.

A win-win situation

The teams of 3 to 5 participants pump their fresh ideas and perspectives into the company’s strategy and management plan and bring significant international professional experience to the table. Solid, documented results, actionable analyses and recommendations are delivered in the same way as professional consulting firms. This project allows companies to experience EDHEC Global MBA talent first-hand and leverage this opportunity to evaluate an MBA intern or career hire and in the case of past Google and Amadeus projects, a real partnership has been formed with the introduction of classroom seminars on Big Data & Artificial Intelligence @ Work.  Alumni are also keen to get involved and help their companies and students in this virtuous cycle. At the same time, the MBA participants get a taste of life as a consultant, a look into a new sector and are able to put new key words on their CV to facilitate the move in the chosen career direction.

Examples of sponsor companies:

L’Oreal, Google, Nestlé, Nutricia (Danone), Kurt Salmon, Amadeus, Air Liquide, Schneider Electric, France Telecom (Orange), NEC, Merck, 3M, Microsoft, Thales, Alcatel Lucent, Oxylane/Decathlon, Pearson, Calderys, Anglo Africa,SFR, Allergan and BIC. 

2017 sponsor companies include Airbus, Air Liquide, Cannes Hospital, John Taylor Real Estate, La Redoute, Orphoz, Izicap (Fintech).

Past and present projects include:

• Launching of a new product on international markets
• International benchmarking and developing initiatives to increase gender diversity
• Exploring franchising options for macro-credit company in rural Africa
• Re-positioning a start-up firm - revision of the business plan, identifying access to capital
• Strategic Growth plan for soon to be acquired cosmetic company
• Product launch for new airline merchandising capabilities
• Industrial Market Study of Iran; study of new economic potential in this market following recent lifting of sanctions
• Developing an existing product in new markets on an international scale
• Statistical modelling project; developing a model to predict market and company performance based on markers in the economy
• Investigating how the company can increase market share in targeted renewable markets
• Developing an expansion strategy for East and Southeast Asia
• E-commerce project
• Fostering digital transformation projects in industry
• Waste to Energy Market Assessment
   

Let’s hear it from the MBA participants

“It was exciting to develop a strategic plan for the future growth of the company working closely with management, employees and suppliers. It was also a wonderful opportunity to meet top CEOs and key opinion leaders in the region to discuss about the industry, people and geography.”

“It was a wonderful experience. I wanted to experience working closely with international companies with people from different countries and cultures. It gave me new insight on the European work environment and business.”

The Consulting project is just one choice within the MBA Project offering. Participants can also choose to do a company internship for 2-6 months, work on an Entrepreneurial Project or complete a research project. If participants have another idea of how they would like to spend these two months, their idea can also be submitted for approval.

If you’d like more information, please ask mba.admissions@edhec.edu .