Berkeley Consulting
Berkeley Consulting (BC) is a non-profit student-run management consulting group started at the University of California, Berkeley in 1996. The organization has completed deliverables for clients from various industries such as media, retail, technology, and healthcare. The group is sponsored by the Haas School of Business and the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC).
Structure
BC was originally created because students saw a niche market for strategy consulting services in the Bay Area, and saw the need for an organization that could deliver high quality recommendations without incurring large fees for clients. The founders also saw an inherent benefit in students applying what they learned in class to real world busines problems, and created BC in 1996 to satisfy both objectives.
Each semester, BC takes on 4 clients, with one typically representing the nonprofit industry. BC teams are then staffed with undergraduate consultants that work on the project for the 10-week semester. Each team is led by a Project Manager (PM) who is GeneRally a member of the organization with extensive project experience.
Besides the consulting members, BC also has executive members that focus on pursuing client leads, organizational development and recruiting, and professional training.
Projects
Some of BC's past clients include Fortune 500 firms, start-ups, and nonprofit organizations. BC has worked with clients such as Sybase, Microsoft, Monster Cable, Ask.com, General Electric, Habitat for Humanity, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Many clients have used BC, whose members often have better access to college markets, to identify trends in the younger demographic.
BC Love
BC culture is casually referred to as BC Love and attempts to emulate the culture of a professional consulting firm while still maintaining BC as a collegial student group. BC sponsors and organizes retreats, formal dinners, and other social activities throughout a semester in order to cultivate a close culture.