Message from the Program Director

GGSB MSc in Management Consulting
CONTENTS :
 A word from Mi-
N° 1,
chelle
 The New Ambassador in Town
 Where’s my Alumni
 In Brief
 New Intake News
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Message from the Program Director
First things first: All of our warm congratulations to all MSc in MC students who have now finished
their theses and are on their way to graduation. Many of you wrote your theses in very tough conditions, working autonomously on weekends and nights after grueling work days to get it done. We are
very happy to know that all of the work is about to pay off.
I’ll take this time to now wish all of the MSc in MC2 students our best as they intensify their work on
the thesis projects in more detail, as they, too, juggle working with writing. We will give you some time
to settle into your writing process and work for those who have found a job, and then the next newsletter will focus more on you and your whereabouts.
We’ve gotten our third edition of the program off to a great start with a talented batch of international
consultants to keep up the tradition (bright, driven, dynamic, focused, hardworking…). Rahma DIA has
been efficiently working with us as our program coordinator during Marjolaine’s maternity leave.
Marjolaine gave birth to beautifull Anaïs last spring and has been enjoying all of the pleasures of motherhood.
From the live case front, we’re doing a third live case on innovation with Cap Gemini (thanks to the
stewardship of Professor Federico Pigni, Information Tech. course), another one for Vinci Codex under
Caroline Coulombe (Ethics & CSR) and more coming up in both the Energy efficiency sector as well as
Semiconductors.
We have a program ambassador this year, Mark Chanel, following in the footsteps of Nabanita
Choudhury (MC2) and Lali Gigashvili (MC1) whose role, predominantly through social media platforms,
is to champion our program, to connect with our alumni, and promote networking across the entire
alumni-student group to keep you all linked. To do that we will be sending you information on our blog
(http://gemconsulting.wordpress.com/) and ask you to contribute with comments on our posts and
other insights you may have on Management Consulting. Below is an introduction to Mark (a.k.a. Darth
‘Blogger’ or Obi BLOG Kenobi).
Please note to mark your calendars for Graduation and Gala on March 16th 2013. We really do hope
that all of you graduating from the MC 1 cohort will be here to receive your diploma in person onstage
and to partake in the Gala festivities. More details will follow but save the date now!
There are plans currently underway to open our Msc in MC program in London at our LSBF campus for
Fall 2013. We’ll keep you posted on that.
12 rue Pierre Sémard
BP 127
38003 Grenoble Cedex 07
Tel : (33) 4 76 70 60 60
Fax : (33) 4 76 70 60 99
Finally, remember that we are part of the same family now and want to remain in touch, so do not hesitate to drop a line from time to time. Things around here in GGSB never slow down as you already
know, but we want to be in touch with you as you progress in your lives…and careers.
Best to all, Michelle
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Jobs in Management
Consulting are currently on the rise : this year
is seeing a shift in the
professional services
sector requiring more
complex, interactive,
human-centered skills
along with heightened
analytical capabilities
accompanying the rise
of big data. Innovation
has hit the consultancies now and internal
directives are looking
inwards as to how to
foster creativity at every
level while focusing on
lean approaches to services.
Meet the Ambassador 2012-13:
Mark Chanel, MSc MC3
Mark Chanel is from the United
States and is a seasoned professional with more than 14 years of
experience leading Finance and
Operational Improvements primarily in the Health and Chemical
industries. Most recently Mark
worked for three years as the
Director of Finance and Administration for a Healthcare company with 40 employees. He led the
Finance, Human Resources, and
Information Technology departments, and was able to improve
Gross Margin by 8.7% by redesign- with Mark and the rest of us on how
ing purchasing practices.
to get the word out about our
school, program, and quality of our
We are pleased to have Mark on
grads. Mark.chanel@grenobleboard as our program ambassador
em.com
this year and hope that you will
feel free to contact him if you
have any ideas about keeping in
touch and getting together. We’d
like to organize an MSc MC party
around Graduation weekend in
March … and perhaps organize a
weekend in a city where alumni
are working. Share your ideas
Alumni Focus: MSc in MC 1
Benjamin LIM (MC 1, Malaysia)
has recently changed jobs, leaving his
post as Head of the Price Discovery Unit
in MARDEC in very good conditions.
MARDEC recorded the highest profits of
its 35-year history since his unit took
over from the previous marketing arm.
Ben is currently working with Olam International Limited in Singapore as Associate General Manager, together with his
new team to set up a rubber trading
desk. His team brings 50 years combined
of trading experience and expertise in
rubber to this new venture.
Olam: Olam International is a leading
global integrated supply chain manager
and processor of agricultural products
and food ingredients, supplying various
products across 16 platforms in 65 countries. The company handled 10.7 million
tonnes of products for a sales revenue of
S$17.1 billion in FY 2012. Headquartered in Singapore and listed on the
SGX-ST in 2005, Olam currently ranks among the top 40
largest listed companies in Singapore in terms of market
capitalisation and is a component stock in the Straits Times
Index (STI), MSCI Singapore Free, S&P Agribusiness Index
and the DAXglobal Agribusiness Index. (Excerpt from http://
olamonline.com/
Contact: lim khong siong limkhongsiong@yahoo.com
Jiazhen Michelle GUO (MC 1, China)
Michelle is currently working as a financial analyst with
Delphi China in Shanghai where she appreciates the
sincere and fair corporate culture.
Her job requires some consulting skills such as analytical
skills, active listening, and frequently communicating
with Delphi’s global team. Thanks to the study and successful internship in France, Michelle feels able to effectively work in an international environment.
About Delphi: Delphi is a leading global supplier of electronics and technologies for automotive, commercial vehicle and other market segments.
Operating major technical centers, manufacturing sites and customer support facilities in 30 countries, Delphi delivers innovations that make products smarter and safer as well as more powerful and efficient. Connect to
innovation at www.delphi.com.
Benjamin (Ben) LIM on a recent business trip to Bali
Contact: ciel-belle@hotmail.com
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Andrea Becke (MC 1, Germany)
Since April this year Andrea has
been a full-time consultant with
Accenture in Zurich, working in
the area of Change Management
(Management Consulting sector).
She is still working on her first
project, where she supports organizational cultural change through targeted
communication and training concepts.
In terms of advice, Andrea notes “If anyone is
interested in working for one of the big consulting firms, it is probably best to get to know
some Consultants working there. As I have
experienced it is much easier to get hired by
them if you know someone.” Since Andrea
completed initially an internship at Accenture
in Germany, and then went through the various stages of the case study interview process
at Accenture, this is sage advice indeed!
a.becke@accenture.com
Guillermo Bernal (MC 1, Columbia)
Is currently in Bogotá, Columbia. He is a partner in
KBS Corp (Columbian branch) working as consulting
director. KBS is an IT consulting boutique with presence in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Peru and
Columbia, with three Business Lines:

Enterprise Architecture: Consulting line dedicated to define IT
strategic plan, acting as the link between business strategy and Information technology where main goal is competitive advantage
achievement.

Middleware: IT Consulting line dedicated to Business intelligence
tools, Business Process Management, SOA, and Cloud technologies
Applications: KBS Corp is an Oracle partner Gold certified in eBusiness
suite applications implementations with Oracle Business Accelerators
methodology, with expertise and tradition in Backoffice, CRM, SCM,
HRMS and payroll processes.
Guillermo took a very active role in the leadership of the Cap Gemini
live case as the project manager in 2010 and could be a useful advisor
to current students working on a new live case for Cap Gemini (under
the guidance of Federico Pigni). Guillermo notes: “I would like to
keep contact with my MSC in Management Consulting colleagues, to
share information and business opportunities. Please do not hesitate
contact me in Guillermo.bernal@kbspr.com gbernal@colombia.com
Joy MATWALE
(MC1, Kenya)
Joy is currently working on a
public sector project for
KPMG Kenya – Naïrobi and is currently reviewing one of the Reform
Institution’s Strategy Implementation. There are many different interests at play in the job and it is very
interesting to try to sass these out,
as well as making sure that as a team
everyone is in agreement on what
needs to be done for the client in
order to provide useful insights that
will feed into the next period’s strategy.
Joy notes “I greatly appreciated
everything that I learned on the program and now that she is actually
working in the industry, it is all coming together and making a lot of
sense.
jmatwale@accamail.com;
joy.matwale@grenoble-em.com
of business. So the diverse cultural
and professional mix makes it a
Joy has been very happy to have
great place to work.
landed a job in Management Consulting after getting back home. Joy notes “I greatly appreciated
KPMG Kenya has just recently set up everything that I learned on the prothe MC department and she is privi- gram and now that she is actually
leged to be working with a very di- working in the industry, it is all comverse team. The partner is from ing together and making a lot of
jmatwale@accamail.com;
India and her director, now closely sense.
mentoring Joy, is South African. joy.matwale@grenoble-em.com
There is also a Kenyan in the project
who lived all of her life in the US and
is helping set up the Healthcare line
of business. So the diverse cultural
and professional mix makes it a
great place to work.
“If anyone is interested in working for
one of the big consulting firms, it is
probably best to get
to know some Consultants working
there.”
Andrea Becke
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In Brief…
LALI GIGASHVILI (MC 1; Republic of Georgia) is an International Business Development Manager at Saint-Gobain in Sully-Sur-Loire where she has been for the past year and a half. By
December her CDD contract ends and she is currently looking for a job. lali.gigashvili@gmail.com.
YARA EL CHAMAA (MC 1; Lebanon) is a very busy gal, long hours, lots of travel (the
typical consultant) working with Price Waterhouse Cooper’s Dubai office on a project with the government team to develop Iraqi capabilities through executive training.. She explains that “…consultancy life is
always busy and jumping from country to country. Currently I am in Jordan for a month as we are delivering the courses here. I must say I never thought I will be working in education, especially adult education,
but it is always good to learn something new.” Yara Chamaa chamaa.yara@gmail.com.
Michael LEITNER (MC 1, Germany) is still happily living in Zurich and is still working
as a Consultant for Page Personnel, a brand of the Michael PageGroup. He’s recruiting in the German and
Italian speaking region of Switzerland all kind of Finance and Accounting profiles for his clients in the industry and consulting them on different recruitment, HR and staffing topics.
Michael tells us that “…I was promoted in August to Senior Consultant and the business is going great, lots
of work and long hours. Besides that, I still love the mountains and go climbing as much as I can (though
not as much as I wish to) and I am looking forward to the winter season to finally go skiing for 2 weeks. I
will be coming to Grenoble next year to visit but no idea when. I am pretty settled around here and do not
plan to relocate in the near future….”.
Brian BOURQUARD (MSc MC 2; USA) has moved his study plans on to a graduate program in Agricultural Economics at the prestigious Purdue University, USA, where he is the “…teaching assistant for the management capstone course for Purdue's undergraduate Agriculture Management program, which is very interesting. Admittedly, GEM prepared me well for this work.” Brian is concurrently
writing his MSc MC thesis under the supervision of Professor Caroline Coulombe, writing about the application of Management Tools to non-profit organizations. Brian also notes that “As for Indiana, it is not
nearly as exciting as Grenoble. I had a small cultural adjustment to go through here.” Brian.bo@live.com
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Nabanita CHOUDHURY (MSc MC2; India) was recruited by Nestlé for a position in Nespresso located in Lausanne, Switzerland. She tells us that “At Nespresso I am getting to work with big data, something that
I always wanted to do. It has been hectic, but great fun. I am discovering the joys of work life balance, something that
the Swiss work hard to attain. I am certainly looking forward to the skiing in December.” We hope to see you around
Grenoble when you are back in the area Nabanita….to have a coffee talk with you (…what else?)
nabanita.choudhury@grenoble-em.com
Marjolaine’s baby
No, no, my dear film buffs, this baby is far from evil. Anaïs is a sweet little girl born on 15th June
2012. She is full of smiles and is a real bundle of sunshine.
Marjolaine is so happy with her baby girl, she extended her maternity leave to to better enjoy
these first months. They do grow fast.
Welcome to Anaïs, and see you soon, Marjolaine.
Rahma Dia is holding the fort in Marjolaine’s absence.
Faculty Corner: Viva Italia
Michele Coletti, professor of Innovation, Strategy, and Consulting Skills among others, teaching
‘Perspectives on Clients’ Semester 1, is prepping for our visit to Italy on Nov 19-20 where we’ll discover some of APCO’s
member consulting firms. Michele tells us that …”currently I am participating in a couple of projects in Lombardy
(northern Italian region) dealing with policies for local economic development, in particular business incubation, cluster
organizations and creative industries.”
Federico Pigni, teaching ‘Information Technology’, Semester 1, is the proud father of Dario, his
brand new baby boy. Congratulations are in order Federico! So although he’s not sleeping so much these days, he’s
still managing to teach a busy schedule, publish on some very cutting-edge IT topics that all future consultants need to
know about as they enter the era of big data, and work with our cohort to produce the best work possible for our client
Cap Gemini.
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NEWS From the Current Intake
Did anyone say “teambuilding in Le Sappey with Eric
Morel?”
It’s now risen to the status of a tradition.
Cows, Maps, and Collaboration
"The cow
ate the
map!"
By Rami Daniel, MSc in Management Consulting 3 student from Lebanon
"The cow ate the map!" is not something you
would usually hear, but in our case during the
hike in Le Sappey en Charteuse, it was
true. The hike-orientation course was part of
an exceptional teambuilding experience led by
Executive Coach, consultant, and professor
Eric Morel. The MSc in Management Consulting students, along with the MSc in Strategic Marketing students rose early the morning
of September 21st to catch the bus up to the
village 13 kms above Grenoble at 1 000 meters
altitude. We were split into groups and one
team member was handed a map which was
meant to navigate us to different pole locations throughout the area. Each pole was
equipped with a stamp which we needed to
use to prove that we had indeed reached the
pole. The 'navigator' was not allowed to show
the map to the other group members, but was
supposed to lead the group through active
communication. Being part of a demographic
in the current generation which is lacking interest in outdoor activities, we were not able
to find the first couple of poles.
ask for help, and collaborating across teams to
gain additional skills were just some of the
lessons we learned from our approach to this
activity. We learned that by taking on too
much responsibility, regardless of our intentions, we may indeed harm the overall performance of the team. These key takeaway
points are essential to any group activity that
we undertake, whether it be in our professional careers or in our social lives.
The most famous
member of the MSc
in MC 3 Teams
GGSB
MSC
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CONSULTING
At that point, we met with Eric Morel, who
through calm logic, illustrated to us the several
reasons why we got lost. It wasn't that the group
navigator was not accustomed to reading maps,
but it was the lack of understanding of the strong
and weak points of every member of the group
that were not shared at the beginning of the
hike. With the leadership of Eric Morel, we
changed roles and I became navigator. At first, we
were doing well until somehow we ended up having lunch with a herd of cows, who were somewhat too friendly, in an area off the charted
course. One cow enjoyed our cookies, while the
other enjoyed eating the map. Eventually, we
found our way back to original meting point. This
experience showed us all the importance of earnest and open communication when working in a
group. Focusing on each member’s strong points,
being clear on our weak points, knowing when to
All smiles prior to the encounter with the
native map-eating beasts of the Chartreuse
Cross-Border exchange between GGSB, LIUC, APCO,
& IBM
For the second consecutive year,
the MSc in Management Consulting students are carrying out
an academic and professional
exchange program with 16 Business Consulting students from the
LIUC-Università Carlo Cattaneo in
Castellanza, Italy. The LIUC students, engineering students specialized in Consulting, came to
Grenoble for three days Oct 22nd
to Oct 24th to complete a course
on Personal and Professional Development for Consultants with
Professor Sharon Crost who devised an exciting and stimulating
course designed to get everyone
ready for client engagement and
improve their consulting teamwork and collaborative skills overall. We are very happy to have
these students here in our school
for a concept introduced by the
program last year--an academic
exchange between a GGSB program and an external institution
of higher education.
BlueWorks Live software
pioneered by IBM as a
top modeling software
used to optimize business
processes in organizations.
In November, our 14 Management Consulting MSc students will
travel to Milano and nearby Castellanza for a Learning Expedition
first to Milano Nov 19th-20th to
visit our partners and member
consulting firms of APCO, with
Professor Michele Coletti representing the Italian national association of Management Consultants. Then, Nov 21-23rd our students will take a course on Business Process Modeling with Professor-Consultant Stefano Angrisano of IBM Milano on the LIUC
Campus in Castellanza. Stefano
will introduce our students to the
The MSc in Management Consulting program is developing links
with IBM in both Italy and France,
and in January we’ll have the
pleasure of working with Nicolas
Nadal of IBM Paris who will further the Business Process expertise of our students by focusing in
the management side of processes in organizations, carrying out a
simulation of the Innov8 Serious
Game for our students and those
who can attend from other programs.
HORSEPLAY Act III: October 11-12 2013
“For the third consecutive year, our consultants took to the stables with Nancy Armstrong
who has developed this innovative approach to
leadership studies thanks pioneering work
with the MSc in MC1 students. Our students
again were in for some very useful lessons on
“We had a very interesting and
productive day with Ms. Armstrong, and the practical work
with the horses. The most important things I learnt that day are
respect, communication, and
leadership skills are crucial to
build up. Those are three significant elements required in the
business world for every consultant to acquire. Without these
elements, it is almost impossible
to become a successful consultant; in the current business environment, consultants come into
contact with a variety of people
with different backgrounds and
cultures. It is imperative to have
good leadership, and for one to
know how to communicate effectively with different clients by
being patient, respectful and understanding”.
“During the horseplay workshop,
my emotional state varied from
indifference, to confusion about
the relevance of the workshop, to
acceptance, and finally to clear
understanding of the importance
of this experience."
“The relationship
between horse and
his leader is like the
relationship between
consultant and client. In the latest
theory of strategic leadership, a
good strategist doesn't only need
to express strategic vision, but
also need to persuade others on
board. In the management consulting field, it is vital to make
your clients accept your guidance
and ideas, which is like to get the
horse follow your direction. Mutual respect is required; also, mutual understanding is of significant
importance for the cooperation.
Through the role play game, I felt
the feelings of being a horse, if I
had a chance to run, I’d never
hesitate, which is probably the
nature of a horse.
I learnt a lot from the one-day
activity, some feelings can't be
expressed through words…”
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“The points I have learnt during the horseplay are:
Clear communication
Body language
Trust / believe in your team
Accepting difficulties as challenges
Leading by example
Adjusting leadership style when necessary
As a conclusion I can say that the horseplay day not only is a fun day, with the right attitude and motivation we can take much more out
of it and profit in terms of leadership skills as well as personal development. A side effect of spending the day in such a small group was
teambuilding as we got to know us a bit better. Thank you very much for this wonderful day in the countryside! I learned a lot!”
Last but not least,
CONGRATULATIONS to our very first
MSc in Management Consulting Graduates
Until Next Time...
Thanks to all for your contributions! See you next time…..
Make sure to send your updates and news for the Spring 2013 edition to Michelle and
Rahma
Michelle.mielly@grenoble-em.com
Rahma.dia@grenoble-em.com
Hope to see you all soon;
Michelle, Rahma, and the GGSB team