McKinsey & Company - Southern Office - How We Work

The Client
The client is a major discount retailer based in the southern U.S. They’ve recently hired a new management team and have been working to redefine their management agenda. The new CEO has a long-standing relationship with Tom, a lead partner at McKinsey, whom he contacts for guidance. After identifying store operations as a major area of opportunity, Tom reaches out to Tim and Chris, partners in Toronto and Dallas with extensive experience in lean store operations.

Tom, Tim, and Chris gain an understanding of the client’s issues through multiple conversations with the CEO. They conclude that the client should focus first on an end-to-end improvement in store operations, and then turn to other topics on the management agenda. They create a proposal outlining the problems, the anticipated time to solve these problems, the composition of the team, and the cost. The client accepts. McKinsey puts a team together.

The Team Players


Sara		Mark		Jonathan		Trent		Rebecca

Sara and Mark are the engagement managers who lead the team day-to-day by guiding and participating in problem solving. They also help members of the team structure their work streams, making sure that personal as well as work lifestyles are manageable. The scope of work on this engagement is challenging, but Sara and Mark have led many teams in the past and are confident that this team will have a significant impact.

Jonathan and Trent are associates with considerable experience prior to McKinsey. In addition to getting his M.B.A, Jonathan previously ran a small discount retailer; this experience puts him in a good position to lead the in-store diagnostic. Trent has a background in manufacturing operations, which helps him lead the diagnostic work within the distribution center.

Rebecca is a business analyst. She has several studies under her belt and is excited to help the team find the right solutions for the client. Rebecca develops a detailed financial model for the project.

For support, the team relies on the many McKinsey specialists in lean manufacturing and retailing.

Ian is a manufacturing expert from the Montréal office. He works with Trent to address tough issues in the distribution centers.
Elizabeth is a lean retail knowledge expert from Atlanta. She helps the team identify other groups within the firm who have addressed similar client situations and can provide their learning and knowledge to the team.

Client Resources
McKinsey also has help from a dedicated client team. Jeff is a project manager with experience in field management – he’s recently completed a rotation program within the corporate center. He serves as an overall coordinator of the team and is the liaison to senior management. Ken is a distribution center manager; he gives the team insight into those operations. Scott and Vince are field managers who understand the day-to-day workings of stores. Mia is a training expert, and she brings valuable experience from previous operational improvement programs.

The team also meets regularly with a high-powered steering committee made up of the company’s top officers, including the CEO, COO, and EVP of stores. They provide thought leadership for more complex issues and ensure that improvement ideas are implemented throughout the organization.

Driving Impact
Early in the engagement, the team identifies “quick wins,” easy-to-implement changes that are rolled out to all stores immediately and generate profit improvement – and boost morale – within the current fiscal year. The team then develops a full rollout program that will generate $60-80 million dollars of profit improvement as its impact is realized in the following fiscal year. These changes will help the client to be more competitive in the future, and will improve the quality of life for more than 35,000 store managers and their employees by giving them tools and training to run stores more efficiently.

A portion of the team stays on to help the client implement changes, with Chris and Tim heading the charge. In addition, McKinsey’s work on this project leads to discussions about another engagement, in which the team will pursue further supply chain and merchandising initiatives.