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Starting a Global Consultancy It's a "leap of faith," says Gary McClaughlin of the Manchester Business School. Schools interested in starting their own global consultancy program might consider the model of the U.K.'s University of Manchester, which has had its International Business Project in place for 20 years. The Manchester Business School launched its ten-week IB Program in the 1970s as a student elective. Today, it's the capstone of MBS' full- time MBA program. Executive and part-time students can take the course as an elective. In the IB Project, students form five-member teams and bid on 20 to 25 projects each year. Once assigned a project, each team conducts preliminary research, travels to the client's country, and returns to prepare its final report and presentation. What makes the IB Project stand out is its sheer longevity—and visibility. Now that IB Project has worked with hundreds of clients in dozens of countries, many companies view the school almost as a professional consultancy firm in its own right. In this case, however, they pay only a fraction of the cost, an advisory fee of £2,500 plus the team's travel expenses. Some of the IB Project's past sponsors return with new projects. Occa- sionally, the school has more projects than student teams to work on them. Taking on the challenges of starting a global consultan- cy from scratch may seem daunting, says Gary McLaugh- lin, the school's MBA project coordinator. It requires early planning; input from administrators, students, and faculty; and contingency plans in case projects fall through. But the rewards—to students, companies, and the school itself—can be incredibly fulfilling, if schools take the right approach: Manage expectations. The biggest challenge of the IB Project, says McLaughlin, is the diversity of its students. Unlike elective global consultancies in which students largely self-select, Manchester's compulsory program is a "take-all" proposition. Faculty must work with students who present a very wide range of skills, attitudes, and expectations. "Our students have been studying for 15 months, and 40 this is the last requirement for the program. Some are BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2006 already thinking ahead to their jobs, their families, or their grades. Under these circumstances, it's difficult to assign projects in a way that pleases everyone," says McLaughlin. "But after they complete the program, even students who were initially lukewarm about the proj- ect understand its value. They see how all the subjects they've been studying fit into international business." If a consultancy is not compulsory, students and cor- porate clients still must be fully informed of the process— both the level of involvement required and the potential for glitches along the way. "We make it much like a real-life experience in that sense," says McLaughlin. "We tell students upfront that they may not get to work on their preferred projects; and we tell clients that, in the end, we may not be able to assign a student team to them." Start with your loyal supporters. McLaughlin advises schools that are just getting started to look first to their own students, alumni, and corporate sponsors to find companies willing to take a chance on student con- sultants. "Employers who sponsor the educations of your students already think your program has value," he says. "It makes sense to ask them if they would like to realize more value by sponsoring a global consultancy project." Give it time. As the Manchester Business School has learned, it can take many years for a global consultancy program to establish a loyal following. The endeavor can require a huge "leap of faith" on the part of both the school and the organizations it wants to attract, McLaugh- lin says. "It's a difficult pitch to go into an industry and say, 'You've not worked with our university before but please give us thousands of pounds so that our students can run around Europe on your behalf,'" he says. Once clients and students see the value in the experi- ence, however, a program's reputation will build on its own accomplishments. Clients will want to take advan- tage of the insights the students bring to the projects, and students and faculty will want the life-changing experi- ences they often have to offer. And once that happens, McLaughlin emphasizes, a business school's global con- sultancy project is well on its way to long-term success.