Detailing your strategy

A clear positioning, well differentiated from your competitors. Measurable targets and tangible action plans.

Two situations can be considered typical for a strategy development collaboration with LWC:

• Your current strategy has been successfully developed and implemented, and you aim to define the “next frontier”.
• You believe that your current strategy, as defined initially, doesn’t provide sufficient orientation and actionable guidance to the organization, in order to drive the right decisions on choices such as the optimal product portfolio, distribution channels and/or customer segments.

Company example:

LWC’s client was a leading European wholesaler for precision instruments and spare parts, with revenues well above €1B and 300 retail outlets in 12 European countries with approximately 5,000 employees.

Challenge:

In order to accelerate growth and expand the regional footprint, the client had acquired a competitor and was preparing the post-merger integration. The acquired company had a significantly broader product portfolio. The acquirer had set itself a tangible goal of generating €500M additional revenue as a top line synergy of the acquisition.

The client’s management team was however struggling to determine which strategic measures would be most promising to generate these top line synergies: which markets and products to invest behind to generate incremental growth, and on which timeline?
In particular, the client lacked a plan for the combined company’s long term competitive positioning, a strategy for the key brands, and the footprint of future distribution channels and trade partners.

Consulting approach:

The client had a fundamental strategy in place, but found that it had left too many questions open and was not fully actionable. Hence, LWC developed, hand-in-hand with a small team of client-internal experts, a set of compelling options for the marketing and sales strategy.

The finally preferred option was translated into a detailed action plan and allowed the client team to hit “Day 1” of the PMI with a fully fledged long-term strategy in place and to start the implementation right away. This approach provided invaluable clarity and a basis for efficient decision making for the newly formed management team post day 1.