What Operating Metrics to Look at in a Consulting Firm?
Case Type: operations strategy.
Consulting Firm: Roland Berger Strategy Consultants second round job interview.
Industry Coverage: consulting, HR, business services.
Case Interview Question #00464: Imagine you are the CEO of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, a global management and strategy consulting firm headquartered in Munich, Germany with 45 offices and 2,000 consultants in 33 countries. What operating metrics would you want to look at to make sure you were doing a good job?
Possible Answer:
This is yet another quick mini-case to throw into the middle of a full 45-minute session of second round interview. Just like every other case, there is no right or wrong answer here. The candidates will have to present a sound framework and discuss their reasons for selecting the particular components.
As a professional services company, a consulting ï¬rm like Roland Berger Strategy Consultants must satisfy two key constituencies: its customers and its employees. Additionally, it faces strong competition from other similar ï¬rms, so the metrics the ï¬rm should look at could be broadly assigned to these three areas. Some possibilities include:
1. Customer Focused
- Customer Retention
- Increased Proï¬ts
- Number of New Customers
2. Employee Focused
- Employee Retention
- Employee hire rate
3. Competitor Focused
- Competitive Bids Won
- Growth