Background context and your project team
You are a Graduate Consultant at Newton, supporting an operational improvement project for Marlow Retail Group. You will analyse performance, observe how the order-to-shelf process works in practice, test stakeholder explanations and help design an intervention that improves availability without increasing waste or placing an unrealistic burden on frontline teams.
Combine operational data, process observations and frontline perspectives to identify root causes of stock availability and waste issues, then design a measurable improvement plan that can work in live stores.
Consultants are not only expected to identify problems. They must turn complex evidence into recommendations that can work in the real world.
In this simulation, you will step into the role of a Newton Graduate Consultant supporting a fictional retail group to improve product availability while managing waste, operational pressure and colleague workload. You will analyse performance data, process information, site observations and stakeholder perspectives to determine what is happening and why.
Then, you will translate your findings into a practical intervention, select an appropriate pilot approach, define how success should be measured and create a 12-week implementation plan.
By completing the simulation, you will practise skills used across consulting, operations, strategy and business-analysis roles, including:
Analysing quantitative and qualitative evidence
Identifying and prioritising root causes
Developing clear, evidence-based recommendations
Designing realistic operational improvements
Planning pilots, measures, risks and implementation
Communicating insights through professional presentation slides
You will finish with two portfolio-ready deliverables that demonstrate how you can move from evidence to action.
Turn operational evidence into practical, measurable change
