What differentiates Roland Berger from its competitors? and how do you perceive the growth of digital healthcare at RB?

In contrast to the main other competitors Roland Berger is of European heritage and the headquarter is based in Germany. This results in a stronger European culture and if you work in Europe a proximity to our Top-Management. Additionally, Roland Berger is divided into Competence Centers and even our Junior Consultant decide on their specialization on their first days, e.g. digital (in my case) or on a industry, e.g. automotive. Regarding your second question digital is of course a central topic of our healthcare customers which therefore is also a important topic internally. My last project for example was in digital healthcare in which we developed a new digital strategy for a customer in the healthcare market.

Is it possible to know more about the competence centres?

Hi Esther, thanks for your question! We have both functional and industrial competence centers at Roland Berger combined in a matrix structure and every consultant chooses either one or the other option. Examples for functional competence centers are restructuring, operations, and digital. Those ones deal with specific functional topics across industries, so you could imagine a project in digitization of processes in manufacturing industry, followed by one in financial services and automotive. For industrial competence centers it is exactly the opposite way: Consultants which are allocated to these competence centers work always in one specific industry, like myself (automotive). But within this industry, we deal with different functional topics. I, for example, recently worked on a project on organizational transformation, followed by a performance improvement and, now, strategy development - but always in an automotive context. Usually, we combine both views for projects, so you would always have both functional and industry specialist to provide the best "mix" for the client. Does this answer your question? :)

Thanks for the great questions. I'd like to expand a bit on what has been said with respect to the culture in our firm. I think our organization and structure in Competence Centers as well as our size are creating unique conditions for our culture. We are big enough to have the full global exposure as a consultant, but yet small enough to not end up feeling as an SAP number somewhere hidden deeply in the organizational structure. In Competence Center meetings, on projects, during acquisitions etc., you will meet people which you already know and with whom you have established relationships. Your contributions are seen and valued. Given our size, the exposure you get and our growth ambitions, there is also room for you to make a difference and to drive things forward. This combination between a truly global footprint, room for moving things ahead and a size which allows to forge connections really amazes and motivates me.

One further explanation regarding our Competence Center structure: In most of our offices, you will start as generalist when joining Roland Berger as a Junior Consultant. Once you will have more project experience, you will have the chance to focus and you will then be assigned to a Competence Center. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, you usually start directly in a specific Competence Center – with a focus on a specific industry or functional topic. However, if you are looking for a career start as generalist, we also offer a "cross-Competence Center" entry. You will then have the chance to work on projects in diverse industries or with several functional focus areas and will then choose your area of expertise at a later stage, usually as Senior Consultant.