Booz Allen Hamilton: An insider guide - Gymkhana

Business design. Here’s a consultant’s definition: “For a company, it’s not aboutgrowing your top line, it’s about growing your bottom line.” (The bottom line isprofit. The top line is sales.) “Business design is about what you do, how yougear up the troops. It has everything to do with whom you hire and what theydo. It’s your channel, your product, how you execute your offering.”For Your ReferenceCase interview. In a case interview, your interviewer will give you a set of factsand ask you a question to analyze how you structure a problem, think it through,and ultimately come up with a solution. Case questions can be numerical, as in,“How many dimes are currently in circulation?,” or business-related, as in,“Suppose a client asked you to figure out why his business is experiencing anunusual decline in sales and a severe cash flow problem.” They could also just bewacky, such as, “If Dannon, Yoplait, and Colombo yogurts came to life, whatkind of people would they be?”Change management. Here’s a $5 buzzword that sounds like it’s making thingsclear, when really it’s just muddying up an already fuzzy concept. Most firmsuse this term to refer to a specific type of consulting work dedicated to suchthings as helping a company restructure its organization and cope with thehuman problems that accompany such an effort.Convergence. Consulting services in telecommunications (cable, wireless, wireline,and Internet), computers, and media—or “converging” industries. The thinking isthat the Internet, the telephone, the TV, the PDA, and the PC will someday allbecome one.Core competencies. Things a company does best.Customer relationship management (CRM). Communication technology thathelps companies manage customer information.75