Indian School of Business
Operations for Consultants
(Tentative)
Academic Year & Term: 2021–22: Term: 6
Instructor: Professor ManMohan S. Sodhi Office Hours:
Affiliation: Cass Business School
City University London (By Appointment)
Email: ISB id: manmohan_sodhi@isb.edu
Home School id: m.sodhi@city.ac.uk
Course Objective and Key Takeaways
All MBA students will ef fectively be consultants no matter what type of company t hey jo in o r c reat e
themselves - you don’t have to join a consulting company to be a consultant. And for consulting, about
80% of all consulting by the main consulting companies is o p erations c o ns ulting ac cording t o t he
Economist. What does operations mean f or consultants then? This course aims to provide some answers
by f ocusing on ‘f rameworks’ f or operation – f or communication, f or analysis and f or basing rigorously o n
theory.
Moreover, although this class aims f or those targeting consulting companies, tho s e s eek ing t o jo in
companies or start their own f irms will also benefit. After all, operations consulting means identifying
opportunities for improvement, coming up with ideas for improvement, communicating these ideas t o
others and validating them through communication and possibly implementation, all in a c ompres s ed
timeframe.
The key differentiator for this class is how it will be taught: there is only one case study per class, and we will
approach each case study formally as consultants. In that sense, each class will be a workshop. However,
you are expected to read the case beforehand. In that sense the word process has two contexts: the proces s
to improve in a company and the process you follow as operations consultants.
All students can benefit f rom a course like this, whether they are aiming f or management consulting o r
internal consulting within their own firms or hoping to impress venture capitalists with their ideas. As suc h,
this course aims to provide a broad introduction to operations through lectures, articles and case studies wit h
consulting providing the context.
Some of the key takeaways – one per session listed below -- are expected to be as follows:
1. Key differentiators of operations for consultants
2. Many operations problems can be captured using frameworks for volume, variety and variability
3. Consultants find it useful to communicate with frameworks for adding value through procurement, pricing and
sustainability
4. Yet another set of frameworks are to do with vulnerability, visibility of operations, and the viability from start
to f inish of the desired output
5. Consulting requires identification of opportunities that are not always what the client points out
6. You must adapt your frameworks to the consulting process
7. Healer, heal thyself: Consulting is a practice, a sector in itself and you can apply operations
f rameworks to the practice itself
8. Consultants personally face many challenges in practice and must develop a framework to deal with these
9. With e-commerce, you will have clients asking you to present business models (or you might present
business models yourself to VCs f or f unding) but these business models need to be thought through as
regards operations.
10. You must have noticed the growing environmental and social problems – your clients or you yourself may
have ideas of emerging business models like social enterprise – if so, these too need to be thought through
as regards operations.
Note: This is not a class f ocusing on or even employing quantitative analytics – the emphasis is clearly on
concepts and their application. Quantitative analysis plays an important role but you must understand f irst
what you are quantifying so this class will not offer quantitative techniques and spreadsheets (but y o u are
very welcome to use these f or your individual or group courseworks).
Learning Goals
◻ Ef fective oral and written communication through class discussion and through the coursework
assignments: you will be presenting as a consultant as well as a client
◻ Critical and integrative thinking: through case analysis as seen in the class discussion
◻ Awareness and working in teams
◻ Each student shall demonstrate an ability to work effectively in a team, exhibiting behavior that
ref lects an understanding of the importance of individual roles and tasks, and the ability to manage
conflict and compromise, so that team goals are achieved.
◻ Ethical responsibility: Consulting is an area that may put you in a situation of ethical challenges. As
such, you must look for ethical issues in all the cases.
◻ Awareness of global issues affecting business: Consultancies catering to global companies are
also global so you must take a global perspective.
Course Description
The sessions are divided into the following sections:
1. Introduction to operations for consultants, which includes understanding the
2. f rameworks you can use for consulting in analysis and communication
3. Applying to consulting profession itself
4. Application to new business models including those for CSR/social business.
Required/Recommended Text Book
There is no required textbook although using any good book on communication or presentation such
as The Minto Pyramid Principle by Minto (1996) would be a good idea.
Course Pack Distribution to students
Course material is issued to students in loose sheets and/or as online additional materials on LMS.
Software requirements for the course
No software requirements other than MS Office.
Session-Wise Topics/Readings:
See table.
Pre-requisite Course(s)
There is no pre-requisite.
No. Topic I. INTRODUCTION
1 Wine; Introduction to this class and the courseworks
Introduction: why Discussion: Edward Parker mini case study
operations for Article: M. Sodhi. The seven Vs of operations. (working paper)
consultants
2 Apparel: Frameworks Case: SER (M. Sodhi)
f or operations: volume
and variety; variability Discussion: Framing volume-variety operations in apparel
3 Telecom & Case: Portugal Telecom (A) INSEAD reference no. 309-123-
Purchasing: Discussion: The changing role of the CPO
Frameworks for
consultants: value-
4 Consulting by Case: Interf aceRaise: Sustainability Consulting
corporation: Case Ref erence no. 9-611-069
Frameworks for Discussion: Should regular companies consult internally or
consultants: Value- externally?
add: sustainability &
socialresponsibility
5. Frameworks for Case: Tetra Tech EC and Risk Management HBS Product #:
consultants: 907M44-PDF-ENG
vulnerability; viability; Discussion: What lessons do you take away from Tetra Tech to
visibility other sectors? What do you think of environmental de-risking as a
consulting practice?
6 Application of Case: IDEO: Service Design (A) Case Reference no. 606-012-1
f rameworks to Discussion: Design workshop and takeaways for design consulting
consulting situations
II. APPLYING TO CONSULTING ITSELF
7 Consulting as Case: MARTHA MCCASKEY Case Reference no. 9-403-114
practice:challenges Discussion: What is ethics in consulting practically speaking? What
about in a mainstream corporate?
III. APPLICATION TO BUSINESS MODELS
8 Business model Case: Michelin Fleet Solutions: From Selling Tires To Selling
Kilometers Case Reference no. 510-103-1
Discussion: When should products be offered as services? Develop
a f ramework.
Asyn Consulting as a Case: Cultivating Capabilities To Innovate: Booz Allen & Hamilton
* practice and a sector Case Ref erence no. 9-698-027
Discussion: How can consulting operations be improved?
Asyn Socialbusiness/CSR Case: Accenture Development Partnerships (A); Insead reference
* no. 314-176-1
Discussion: What lessons do you take away from this to other
companies?
Article: Sodhi and Tang, SEPS (2011)
Article: Sodhi, M. 2015. Conceptualizing social responsibility via
stakeholder resource-based view, POM, 24(9): 1375-1389
Evaluation Components
Individual coursework: 10+50=60% (midterm submission 10% as 1-2 pages of a Word
document, remaining 50% for final submission using 15-20 slides on Powerpoint, plus
appendix if needed, 60% as a whole)
Group coursework-1: 35% (only one final submission between midterm and final
submissions of the individual coursework – 3-4 pages of double-spaced Word document
plus appendix as desired).
Group coursework-2: 2x2.5%=5%. - Filled out template slides for asynchronous
sessions
Delivery sequence: Midterm individual submission → group coursework submission → final
individual submission.
Individual coursework: Pick a company of your interest, including a startup idea, from any sector
and propose a project for operational improvement, targeting a particular audience (senior management,
potential client sponsor, VC, bank, etc. Create a project charter for a specific problem or even a
roadmap for operational improvement as an outsider (consultant) or as informed insider (internal
consultant). You could alternatively consider how a new technology or other forces might affect this
company (or its industry in general). Or, you could provide an operational plan for a startup targeting
a venture capitalist fund. Whatever you do, the presentation must be targeted at a specific
audience for a purpose (not just me to get a passing mark). Final submission: 15-20 slides as a
guideline (you can use more or less than this). For the mid-term assignment, you can use a one or
two pages of a Word document with appropriate headings to make it easier for your group to do the
peer review for the group coursework.
Group coursework: The purpose is peer review by your group for you to improve the individual
coursework. As a group of operational experts, you will critique, contrast, and draw lessons from the
individual coursework of the group members. The emphasis is on drawing lessons from all the
individual courseworks both from peer review and from the context. You could consider questions like
how the projects in these courseworks draw on solid management principles, how feasible these
might be for implementation, what challenges might arise, etc. Word document – 3-4 pages, plus any
appendices if you want; double-spaced 11-point Times Roman font, 1-inch margins.
Assignment Schedule
Name of the Date of Take-home or Group Instructions to Coding
Component Submission/ in-class Assignment students on word Scheme
Deadline (Y/N) limit/format of
submission etc
Indiv coursework - End of Week Take home N Around 5-10 0N
interim 2 slides to get
f eedback on
your idea
Indiv coursework - End of Week Take home N Around 15-20 slides 0N
f inal 4 (don’t have to
include the earlier)
Group coursework- End of Week Take home Y Around 3-5 0N
1 3 pages to get
f eedback on
your idea
Group coursework- End of week Take home Y One or two 0N
2 4 (asynchronous slides each
session-related) f or the two
asynchrono
us sessions
as per
template
Group Information
Formation of groups is as f ollows:
Group Size Ideal group size is four students per group, but you
can have three or possibly five, but the latter needs
justification.
Group Composition No restriction.
Can groups be No
f ormed across
dif ferent sections?
Any other
instructions?
ISB-recommended Attendance Policy
Learning is an interactive process. ISB students are admitted partly based on the experiences they
bring to the learning community and what they can add to class discussions. Therefore, attendance
is an important aspect of studying here. Absence is only appropriate in cases of extreme personal
illness, injury, or close family bereavement. Voluntary activities such as job interviews, business
school competitions, travel plans, joyous family occasions, etc. are not valid reasons for missing a
class. Late arrival and early departure are disruptive to the learning environment; you should log-in
the class before the scheduled start time and stay till the conclusion of class. However, if due to an
extenuating situation a student is forced to miss a class session, the same should be notified to the
respective Academic Associate with a copy to the Faculty and the ASA office along with supporting
documentary proof.
The ISB expects students to attend all class sessions in every course and watch/participate in all
asynchronous activities. Attendance cannot be linked to watching or particpating in asynchronous
activities. Attendance during synchronous / in class sessions will be recorded However, if due to
completely unavoidable reasons a student is forced to miss synchronous/in-class sessions, the
School policy is below:
• If a student misses up to 20% of sessions (synchronous + in-class) in a course, i.e. one
session, there will be no grade penalty.
• If a student misses more than 20% and up to 30% of sessions (synchronous + in-class) in
a course, i.e. two sessions, s/he will obtain a letter grade lower than that awarded by the
f aculty according to the curve for the course.
• If a student misses more than 30% and up to 40% of sessions (synchronous + in-class) in
a course, i.e. three sessions, the student will receive a letter grade that is two levels lower
than that awarded by the faculty according to the curve for the course.
• If a student misses more than 40% of sessions (synchronous + in-class) in a course, i.e.
four or more sessions, the student will receive an ‘F’ grade in that course.
Online Course Management
Please ref er to course page on the online system LMS.
Coding scheme for ALL course work
What kinds of collaborative activities are
What material can be referred to?[1]
allowed?
References/Codin Can I discuss general Can I discuss specific Can I refer to Can I refer to the
g Scheme concepts and ideas issues associated with external case-study solutions
relevant to the the assignment with material?[2] or problem set
assignment with others? solutions?
others?
4N N N N N
3N- a Y N N N
3N-b N N Y N
2N-a Y Y N N
2N-b Y N Y N
2N-c N N Y Y
1N Y Y Y N
0N Y Y Y Y
As a general rule:
• Students are responsible for submitting original work that reflects their own effort and
interpretation.
Remember that any submission should be your own work and should not be copied in part or
verbatim
from any other source whether external or internal.
• An honour code violation is an honour code violation. A violation under coding scheme 0N is
not less severe than others. A 0N coding scheme submission is judged against a 0N coding
scheme, and a 4N coding scheme submission is judged against a 4N coding scheme;
therefore, any honour code violation is equally severe irrespective of the coding scheme of
the submission.
• Students can discuss cases and assignments with the course instructor and the Academic
Associate for the course.
• Required and recommended textbooks for the course and the course pack can be used to
answer any individual or group assignment though not all submissions may be subject to
academic plagiarism checker (e.g. turn-it-in), in retrospect, if the Honour Code
committee feels the need, any of the previous submissions of an individualor a group can
be subjected to turn-it-in or any other academic plagiarism checker technology.
• When in doubt, the student should contact the instructor for clarifications.
