MRSyllabus_E0211.v1

Strategic Management Consulting

Academic Year: 2012-2013 Trimester | Semester: 3rd Trimester Instructor(s): Celine Abecassis-Moedas __________________________________________________________________________________ Course Objectives: Strategic Management Consulting is highly utilized in many organizations. Executives frequently hire management consultants; and key managers work on projects with consultants. The course introduces students to the fundamentals of Strategic Management Consulting. Students learn about the basics necessary for internal and career consulting and to be good consumers of consulting services. The objective of this course is to equip students with knowledge and a reference binder on management consulting. The structure of this course will provide insight and practical application of knowledge in the following areas: • Understand the consulting industry and profession • Identify the steps of the consulting process • Grasp the lifecycle of a project up to implementation • Understand various ways to manage the consulting project • Develop essential consulting skills in proposal writings, data collection and analysis and client

presentation. __________________________________________________________________________________ Course Content: The course is 18 hours long. Classes are a combination of lecture, class discussion, small group work, case analysis, and guest speakers. Each lecture should be reinforced by the readings of the recommended chapters in the textbook. The course is based on case studies and readings. All these pieces are the basis of class discussion. It is therefore important for each student to complete ALL the assignments. Expect cold calling. For each class, one to two assignments (usually a case study and a reading) have to be prepared. Each student gets to submit THREE pieces: 1. one case study report, 2. one reading report, 3. one group proposal. Groups are formed at the beginning of the course. Written (printed) assignments have to be submitted before the beginning of the class (Monday at 2 pm) in the professor’s mailbox (Sala dos Professores, 3rd floor). For each assignment, detailed instructions (questions, format and size limit) are provided. Students cannot miss more than two classes. If they do, they are excluded from the course. __________________________________________________________________________________ Grading: Final exam: 30% Individual participation (including attendance): 10%

MRSyllabus_E0211.v1

Each student has to submit THREE pieces that are graded: 1. Individual reading report: 10% 2. Individual case study analysis: 20% 3. Group proposal: 30% Students who miss more than 2 classes are automatically excluded. Students that have an average grade before exam below 8 out of 20 are excluded. __________________________________________________________________________________ Bibliography: The course uses a broad range of sources: case studies, research papers and press articles. Case studies are available from the copy centre. Readings and assignment instructions are available on the intranet. Most of the course topics are covered in the following recommended textbook: Wickham, P. and L. Wickham, 2008, Management Consulting. Delivering an Effective Project, Prentice Hall, 3rd edition. Referred to as W&W. Additional reading: Biswa, S. and D. Twitchell, 2002, Management Consulting. A Complete Guide to the Industry, Wiley, 2nd edition. __________________________________________________________________________________ Biography: Celine Abecassis-Moedas is Assistant Professor at CATOLICA-LISBON where she teaches Strategy and Business Consulting. She holds a Ph.D. in Management Studies from Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, a Master in Scientific Methods of Management (DEA), from Dauphine University and a BA in Economics and Business Administration from Ecole Normale Supérieure and La Sorbonne, Paris. Before joining UCP, Celine was an Assistant Professor at Queen Mary-University of London. She worked in business development in a software company in New York and in management consulting at AT Kearney in London. As a consultant, she worked in several sectors (media, banking, retail and consumer goods) mostly for the British market. Celine’s research interests are in entrepreneurship and innovation management in creative industries. Teaching Assistant Joana Pereira (jpereira@clsbe.lisboa.ucp.pt) graduated in 2009 in Business Administration in CATÓLICA LISBON School of Business and Economics - UCP and holds a Master of Science from the same University in Business Administration with a major in Marketing and a minor in Strategy. In 2009, she won the Democracia e Desenvolvimento prize, attributed to the student with the higher average of the batch of 2009 of the Business and Administration course. Joana already collaborated with companies like BPI, PT Comunicações, Dot One- Digital Media and Alter Via - Human Capital Consulting & Talent Advisory. Currently, she is a Research Assistant in the areas of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. __________________________________________________________________________________ Contact(s) and Office hours: Phone: +351 217 214 274 Email: ceabec@ucp.pt Office Hours: Monday 5-6pm __________________________________________________________________________________