Jay Desai's management consulting firm is growing fast
After three years of studying molecular biology, Jay Desai concluded that "working with people is better than working with molecules". Quitting the masters programme in molecular biology at Purdue University, USA he decided to do an MBA. Another 'eureka' moment spurred Desai to put in his papers at Andersen Consulting(now known as Accenture) in 1994, to plough his own furrow as an independent consultant. Ten years on, he has a thriving practice under the Universal Consulting banner, with more than 125 clients in India,Southeast Asia and the Middle East.At Andersen, Desai realised that there is a big market in India for quality management consulting services for small- to medium-sized companies. These companies needed a professional push but could not afford the services of big firms like Andersen and McKinsey. "The pyramidal view of a business(called "Universal Advantage") is core to the consulting services that Universal offers and is achieved through the breadth of our experience in over 60 diverse industry segments," points out Desai, recalling the days when he started his firm with nothing more than a new laptop and his personal savings. "This model seems to be working because 50% of our work is from existing clients," he says. Universal's first project was for Sterlite Industries an erstwhile Andersen client. Sterlite was looking for an organisational restructuring of its aluminum and sheets division. Impressed by Universal's work, Sterlite handed over a power division project. S.C.Khanna, former CEO, Sterlite Industries(power division) says, "Universal's report brought out clear recommendations for growth as well as areas where our company should not venture into given our core strengths".
With such a strong endorsement in hand, Universal quickly got off the ground. The firm's current crop of clients span both the manufacturing and service industries - Edelweiss Capital, Standard Chartered Bank, Bell Ceramics, McDonald's India, Gary Wendt Capital, Dilip Chhabria Design and Owens Brockway. Universal is staffed lean - there are 35 people in its office in Mumbai with teams being disbursed across the country according to project requirements. "We have also set up an office in Singapore which is less than a year old to deal with the growing demand for consultancy services in Southeast Asia", says Desai.
What does Universal have to offer in a highly fragmented industry littered with one-man fix-it shops? In the course of an informal survey, Desai realised that most of his competitors did not have the support of an organisation. Morever they had functional specialist who would take up any assignments that came their way. So Universal, in keeping with its name, pitches itself as a full-service consultancy, offering the gamut of expertise from strategic planning to operations management, from designing organisational structures to setting up performance evaluation systems to devising infotech strategies.
Clients also, in general, like to work with smaller consultancy firms simply because that allows for a greater personal touch, points out Desai. This is not to say that Universal only deals with the small. Desai recently added the big-ticket IDBI Bank to his client portfolio, beating out an international accounting firm and a top-rung consulting firm in pitching for the same business. Explains Prashant Joshi, country head(retail assets), IDBI Bank, "Our reason for choosing Universal was because they had done an assignment for a large bank (Standard Chartered Bank). They had also analysed targets for IDBI at the entry level in the SME segment." Joshi adds that Universal's approach is professional, timeline driven and focussed on deliverables.
As identified by consultants themselves, employees are the veritable key to any venture's success Desai is conscious of that. "We adhere to certain codes of behaviour, besides we have some performance criteria. For example in the last three months we have interviewed close to 460 people. Of these we have hired only seven applicants as entry-levelconsultants"
Other clients also seem to be pleased with the value add from Universal. Rashesh Shah, CEO and MD of Edelweiss Capital, says that Universal can hold its own against any of the big name firms. Says Shah for whom Universal executed a project for the IT and internal systems Edelweiss's merchant banking, broking and asset management division:"What differentiates Universal from others is the major role they play at the implementation level through 'implementation audits' they periodically conduct, after completing project"
After working for corporate houses across the board where does Universal want to carve out their niche area?Though their client mix seems more from the banking and financial sector, Desai emphasises that in an emerging economy like India there is a scope in all areas like auto ancillaries, healthcare and entertainment. He strongly believes in the emergent strategy- simply put strategy will emerge as opportunities emerge."Business consulting models may change in the future and how one adapts to the changing environment is the real challenge," says Desai.
