our work

our practice: focus

• Our 2009-10 On Campus Recruiting Schedule

Management consulting is a highly segmented and competitive industry. To enjoy sustained success requires focusing on specific segments and developing clear sources of differentiation within them. With a product as intangible as consulting services, this cannot be achieved by marketing alone.

Of the major industry segments, Dean & Company has chosen to focus specifically on "strategic problem solving," implying complex, multidisciplinary issues, each in its own way unusual and ground breaking, and requiring exceptional capabilities to address. To date we have been extremely successful within this segment. We aim to maintain our competitive edge through the continued development of superior quality people and focused expertise. For our chosen segment, this requires:

• A focus on key areas of concentration, to ensure that we maximize experience in our specific areas of expertise;
• Development of outstanding individual talents; dedication to fact-based, analytically sound solutions to client issues;
• Emphasis on action-oriented plans and programs for client improvement; and
• Commitment to tailored means of supporting clients through implementation.

Within our chosen segment, clients choose consultants most frequently on the basis of personal experience or personal recommendation. Quite frequently it is the availability of the individual senior consultant that means the difference between choosing one company over another. Dean & Company therefore aims to sell its services primarily through a network of clients and potential clients who can 'pre-qualify' us in situations of mutual interest. While we do undertake some conventional marketing activities, these are not our primary sources of new business but are intended simply to broaden general awareness of the company. Our senior consultants are expected to develop networks of appropriate contacts within their chosen fields of expertise.

Successful pursuit of this strategy implies that we neither can be nor need to be extremely large. Size inevitably implies dilution of quality, and size is not necessary for marketing effectiveness where clients frequently choose on the basis of personal experience. In addition, excessive size in professional service firms is associated with inflexibility, lack of innovation, and an averaging of individual performance evaluations. Finally, while many relatively small, but focused firms have strong records of sustained success, there are few instances of small firms that have grown to be among the ranks of the industry leaders, while several have failed in the attempt to transition to a large company strategy. Accordingly, Dean & Company does not intend to pursue unrestricted growth but instead to expand prudently while maintaining our high standards of quality.