The Mu Sigma business model lies in how it brings an interdisciplinary combination
of art (business analysis), science (applied mathematics) and scale (programming) to solve business problems. While in most firms each of these three activities are performed by different sets of people possessing different capabilities, Mu Sigma trains and looks at one person to perform them a concept introduced to the industry for the first time by Mu Sigma. Mu Sigma names this person the decision scientist a person having the skills of a mathematician, programmer and a business analyst at the same time. While working with clients, Mu Sigma applies the DIPP (Descriptive-InquisitivePredictive-Prescriptive) framework. Simply put, this framework aims to fist gauge the business performance as-is. It then looks to analyze the causes of the business performance, by creating and validating/rejecting hypotheses simultaneously using statistical analysis to extract more insights from the data. I then uses data modeling and forecasting techniques to predict the future business performance using legacy data. And finally, it uses the insights gained from the aforementioned steps to recommend solutions or ideas to improve business performance. The key differentiator for Mu Sigma is how it hires, trains and retains its employees. Mu Sigma focuses on hiring large numbers of fresh graduates from engineering colleges and the training them through the Mu Sigma University. . The Mu Sigma University is a 3 month training program that trains these new recruits to become decision scientists by equipping them with requisite skills in consulting, applied math, data modeling, statistics and economics. Often referred to as the mini MBA program for the quantitatively inclined, this 3 month program ensures graduates go through a steep learning curve and has attracted a fair amount of praise from clients. Mu Sigmas strength as a startup lies in its high growth rate, its skilled workforce, the fact that it operates in an industry with high barriers to market entry preventing new players, experienced business units, strong financial backing and finally cheap costs of talented workforce (being based in India). In terms of weaknesses, Mu Sigma operates in an industry which is changing rapidly and herein it faces stiff
competition from the giants operating in this industry. Furthermore, their highly trained employees can be poached or can leave in search of better prospects.