BUSINESS STRATEGY
OUR EXPERTISE
We focus on addressing the short to medium term strategic issues businesses face, aiming to make an impact in weeks and months rather than years
Our approach to strategy is pragmatic and action oriented. We are used to working with investors and management teams to analyse current business performance, get to the nub of today’s issues and shape a response. The goal of our fast-paced approach is to develop a position and options for the future quickly – with the goal of making an impact in weeks and months rather than years. The type of questions we consider include:
- What is happening in the markets your business operates in? Have significant changes taken place recently?
- Are there longer-term trends or new technologies affecting market relevance, customer or consumer behaviour?
- How do the products or services match up? Are margins eroding because of competitor activity or are sales falling because of product ageing? Are there new products, perhaps from other markets, that could and should be launched?
- Who are the competitors and how are they behaving?
- Where is the pragmatic path forward? Is it best to improve the current offer and continue, or identify new segments where competition is low or absent and where the potential to create value is greater?
- Are there ‘inorganic’ M&A options available that make sense and can be executed quickly?
- Are there internal or external barriers that will need to be overcome?
How we can help
In our experience the response to these questions is often: ‘we’re not sure’. What our customers have been looking for is the practical analysis needed to define the issues, the creativity to shape appropriate responses followed by the leadership and drive to make change happen.
Whether the issues relate to a business unit where revenue and profit are sliding, key customer contracts that have mysteriously turned unprofitable despite impressive revenue growth or the inability to launch new products in the desired markets, our team have experience of addressing strategic issues across diverse industries and market segments. Between us we have operated across every business function from sales to engineering and logistics – all this helps us focus attention and analysis on the key issues rather than ‘drilling for oil’ across every function.
In terms of strategic responses – every situation is different – but these could range from changes to organisation, resources, sales and marketing priorities, through pursuing the introduction of new products or markets across to bolder transformations of an entire business or division.
