Universal's Mantra for Success Business Barons, May, 2002
UNIVERSAL CONSULTING INDIA, A MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY FIRM, PROVIDES WORLD-CLASS SERVICES PARTICULARLY TO MEDIUM-SIZED COMPANIES. IT HAS SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED CLOSE TO 200 PROJECTS IN INDIA AND OVERSEAS. IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT RAJESH KULKARNI, THE FIRM'S CEO JAY DESAI OUTLINES IT'S CORE COMPETENCIES AND DESCRIBES ITS WINNING STRATEGY FOR CORNERING THE MARKET.
Set up in 1994 by Jay Desai, Formerly a senior consultant with Accenture Consulting (formerly Andersen Consulting), Universal Consulting India Pvt Ltd., is a management consultancy firm focused on providing world-class services to medium-sized organisations. In the last eight years, the company has worked with more than 90 clients in both service and manufacturing segments and has successfully completed around 200 projects in India, Singapore, the Middle East, East Africa, the US and the Philippines. Its large client list includes well-known corporates like Global Tele Systems, Edelweiss Capital Sterlite Industries, Standard Chartered Bank, Bell Ceramics, McDonald's India, Hardcastle & Waud, Gary Wendt Capital, Dilip Chhabria Design, and Owens Brockway.
More than 50 per cent of Universal's revenue comes in the form of repeat business from its existing clients. The company has established its credentials in the market by its transparent business style, humane approach and commitment to provide every client 'more value for less money'. Specializing in areas of vision and strategy formulation, operations improvement, organisation design and information systems, Universal boasts of a dedicated and highly trained staff of about 35 people in its Mumbai and Singapore offices. The company's employees are deeply committed to their mission of providing high-quality management consulting at affordable costs.
In an exclusive interview with Business Barons, Mr. Desai, CEO and founder member of Universal, shares his views on issues ranging from the problems plaguing medium-sized Indian companies to the great economic divide between India and China. Excerpts:
Tell us about your company, Universal Consulting.
JAY DESAI: Universal Consulting was set up in 1994. Prior to this, I was associated with Accenture as a senior consultant. I realized that a large market existed for high-quality management consultancy services among medium-sized companies, especially those price-sensitive firms expecting high-quality services. That is when I decided to set up a company of my own.
We have been around for about eight years. During this time, we have worked in about 40 different industries across 70-80 sub-industry segments. Forty-five per cent of our work is in manufacturing sector while 55 per cent is in the service industry. On the manufacturing side, we have worked with companies in the business of packaging, construction, food processing and textiles. In the service segment, we have executed projects for companies engaged in retail, entertainment, trusts, financial services, logistics and information systems. We also work in areas like business strategy, operations improvement, organisation design and information systems strategy. So essentially we cover all the building blocks of a business. Over 80 per cent of our projects are within the country; we also have overseas projects in Singapore, East Africa, the US and the Philippines.
