1.1 The Power of Spreadsheets in Business & Academia

Why Excel & Google Sheets Dominate Industries

• Market dominance: Over 1.2 billion users worldwide rely on Excel & Sheets.

• Key industries that depend on spreadsheets:

  • Finance (Investment banking, FP&A, Accounting)

  • Consulting (Data analysis, Strategy modeling)

  • Tech (Startup metrics, SaaS reporting)

  • Academia (Research data, Statistical analysis)

• The hidden power: Most businesses still run on spreadsheets—even with BI tools like Power BI & Tableau.

Case Studies: How Top Companies Leverage Spreadsheets

• Goldman Sachs: Uses Excel for financial modeling & risk analysis.

• Amazon: Tracks inventory & logistics with massive Google Sheets databases.

• McKinsey & BCG: Build client-ready models in Excel for consulting projects.

• Harvard Research Teams: Manage large datasets in Sheets for academic papers.

Excel vs. Google Sheets: When to Use Each

• Decision framework: When to choose one over the other.

Assignment:

• Research a company in your industry and write a 1-page report on how they use spreadsheets.