After 4 weeks of industry & company analyses, 2 weeks of first round On Campus Recruiting, we have finally travelled to the market where our issue analysis focuses on – the USA. Our client is a global leader in the dental industry and our mission for the International Consulting Project is to improve the Sales & Marketing effectiveness in the US market. Although two of our team members have healthcare industry experiences, it was still quite a challenge to understand at the beginning the unique business model, complicated multiple stakeholders and fragmented diverse customers. Our hard work paid off and we gained enough credibility from the client to carry on the field research in Andover, Boston for 7 days. All the planning was communicated during the stressful interview weeks and we got almost everything settled by lunch time Wednesday 1st October: logistics, agenda, working approach and visas – yes, Natalia and I are visiting the USA for the very first time.
By taxi, train, airplane and rented car, the team of 5 safely arrived at the Residence Inn after 18 hours of travel from Lausanne. There were only a few hours for rest before the busy schedule starting Thursday morning. Despite the jetlag, we decided to meet at 7:30 am to quickly discuss the first day agenda. Driving to the company US headquarters, which is located in the same industry park as the hotel, we were amazed by the beautiful colours of autumn reflected onto the glass buildings, very different from what we used to see in Lausanne. Arriving in the office, first thing we were informed of: change of agenda! The team was asked to present our Phase II – Company Analysis and discuss it with the Business Unit VP, Marketing VP and Senior Marketing Manager. This sudden change eventually turned out to be a very fruitful and long interaction with the client’s US management team to build a good foundation for our remaining days here. In the afternoon, the team interviewed managers from training, sales and we started first round brain-storming to identify sub-issues and possible solutions. The jetlag effect kicked in around 6 pm (which was 12 am Swiss time) so we called it a day.
The second day which was Friday was even busier. We started from a WEBEX meeting with managers from different functions and then participated in a Sales teleconference. In the afternoon, the team had to split for multiple tasks, calling dental labs, meeting VIP customers, discussing Sales & Optimization, etc. We had to finish the team debriefing by 6:30 pm because there was a client dinner planned at 7 pm. It was a great opportunity to know more about each other at a personal level. As our Faculty Director Prof. Ralf Seifert shared before, in a consulting project team, the manager’s main task is to communicate with the client and continuously align the objectives and outcomes.
Over the weekend, we had some time to visit downtown Boston which is famous for its Harbour, Harvard Business School and Happy shoppers. So some of us went for whale watching, some went for Sunday shopping [which is almost impossible in Switzerland], but we all went to the Harvard Business School in Cambridge. It happened to be the 100th anniversary of the business education here and we walked around in the night campus [see photograph above].
Someone once summarized the difference between school and life as follows: “In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.” I would argue a successful school could combine both – Real World, Real Learning – a perfect explanation of the philosophy of our ICP or International Consulting Project, since 1980!
The Straumann team from Massachusetts, USA.
