ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°142 - Mai/Juin 2012 - 19

FOCus

Consulting in China
Eager to learn from other experiences At that time quite a lot of our assignments were close to ERP implementation in State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). I had the chance to contribute to selling and delivering our first Business Process Reengineering (BPR) project in the nuclear industry followed then by an ERP implementation. I remember well the fact that our clients were discovering the concept of “process”! We did a lot of training sessions using brown paper and post it notes, which was an exciting experience both for our consultants and our clients and they really got familiar with the logic behind very quickly. They were so eager to get best practices coming from the western world, could be regarding governance model, change management... I invited them to visit our brand new training center in France close to Paris and they were so impressed by the combination of modern facilities and typical French castle! Of course we did a lot of pictures together so that they can broadcast among their colleagues. Because in China using consulting is really taking the best of what has already being developed abroad and “not creating the wheel” again. That’s why they like to see what they call “foreign faces”, meaning to have experienced consultants (playing the role of senior advisors) coming to demonstrate the best practices they have implemented in other companies across the world.

By Catherine PaQUET GOUrDIN (88)

After 15 years of consulting in France within Capgemini, Catherine PAQUET GOURDIN spent 4 years developing their consulting activities in China and especially in Utilities sector from 2005 to 2009. A real adventure! Presently, Catherine is Vice Pesident of Capgemini Consulting.

Cultural differences It is the same for consultants who are all in a “learning experience” mindset even if sometimes I was puzzled by their behavior: falling asleep during a meeting for example! Otherwise they are working hard, having dinner at 6 pm and going back to the client office afterwards to finalize their deliverables. Anyway the working rules are slightly different from

what we know in France: most of the time, you don’t work in the city where you live, you stay for 2 weeks away from your family and friends on your assignment location (including a week-end where usually you have meetings or training sessions with your colleagues) which is somehow difficult to understand from a French perspective but real! On top of that you often have to fly back on Sunday afternoon to be able to be on site at 8 am on Monday morning for a client meeting as China is such a big country that a flight takes minimum 2 hours... But how do Chinese clients behave? Actually they are highly demanding, changing their views and expectations quite often and what is particularly stressful is a clear lack of anticipation which is particularly difficult to manage regarding business development activities: most of the time client meetings are unpredictable; you know that your meeting is confirmed only the day before and then it can still change! Otherwise the competitive landscape in consulting in China is the same as the one we face in Europe, knowing that consultants are less faithful to their company in China and don’t hesitate to change quite often and even to come back! ●

ESCP Europe Magazine N° 142 - Mai/Juin 2012 -

Table des matières de la publication ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°142 - Mai/Juin 2012

Couverture
Zapping
Sommaire
BUSINESS
Personnalités du mois Francis ROUSSEAU (76) : À contre-courant
Focus
- Évoluer en s’adaptant
- Des marges de progrès
- Consulting in China
- Du sur mesure
- High performance
- Engagés à vos côtés
- Être force de propositions
- Une longueur d’avance
- Un modèle d’avenir
Itinéraires
- Apporteur de solutions
- Chasseur d’entreprises
Entretiens
- Un cabinet où il fait bon travailler
- Être utile à nos clients
- La passion du métier
- Acteurs de l’innovation
- Inventez le quotidien de demain
- Jeunes talents
NEWS
Vie du réseau
- Jean-Pierre RAFFARIN (72) : Mémoires d’un affectif
- Le virus de la création
- On et Off line : quelles convergences ?
- Art et luxe, influences croisées
- Et si vous choisissiez l’assurance ?
- La 56 au Poulpry
- Rendez-vous en 2030
Agenda
Nominations
À lire
Carrière Two individual stories…
Voyages Tribulations en Amérique Latine
CAMPUS
École Savoir et demande dans la relation de conseil
Fondation La Fondation reconnue d’utilité publique !
Vie étudiante Nouvelles ambitions !

ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°142 - Mai/Juin 2012