Strategic work that delivers results

A UK-based financial services firm had expanded aggressively over the previous decade, acquiring regional wealth management businesses and launching digital investment platforms across multiple European markets. The result was a portfolio of seventeen distinct business units with overlapping customer segments, inconsistent technology infrastructure, declining returns on capital and growing operational complexity. The board recognised the strategy had lost coherence. After eighteen months of internal debate about which businesses to retain and where to focus future investment, the discussions had reached impasse. Leadership teams within each business unit advocated for their own priorities whilst downplaying structural challenges. The CEO engaged us to provide independent analysis that could break the deadlock and build board conviction around a disciplined portfolio strategy.

• Assessing competitive positioning across the portfolio: We evaluated each business unit's actual market position, not the aspirational statements in internal strategy documents. This included analysing customer economics, competitive differentiation, realistic growth potential and capital efficiency against well-positioned incumbents.
• Building transparent prioritisation criteria: Working with the executive committee, we established explicit decision criteria that made trade-offs visible and reduced space for political negotiation. These frameworks clarified which businesses deserved continued investment and which were destroying shareholder value.
• Stress-testing investment cases: Business unit leaders had submitted optimistic growth projections. We tested these against realistic assumptions about customer acquisition costs, competitive response, organisational capability and time to profitability. Several expansion plans collapsed under scrutiny.

The engagement enabled the board to commit to a definitive portfolio strategy, ending the internal debate that had consumed nearly two years.

• Divestment of seven non-core business units that were generating inadequate returns
• Redirection of £180 million in annual investment toward two businesses with defensible competitive positions
• Clear strategic rationale that survived investor scrutiny during subsequent divestment announcements
• Implementation roadmap with governance disciplines that kept execution on track over the following two years

A Singapore-based B2B software company had built a successful enterprise resource planning platform serving manufacturing clients across Southeast Asia. Revenue growth had plateaued as the core market matured and the executive team faced pressure from private equity investors to demonstrate a credible path to accelerated growth. The leadership team had identified two potential directions: expand geographically into new Asian markets or develop adjacent software modules for existing customers. Both options required significant capital investment and multi-year development commitments. Internal analysis had produced conflicting recommendations, with the product team advocating for feature expansion whilst the sales organisation pushed for geographic growth. After nine months of strategic debate that failed to produce consensus, the CEO needed independent strategic perspective to evaluate which direction offered genuine competitive advantage and sustainable returns.

• Assessing realistic market opportunities: We analysed both expansion options against evidence rather than internal optimism. Geographic expansion required understanding regulatory environments, competitive positioning against local incumbents and realistic customer acquisition economics in markets where the company had no established presence. Product expansion demanded honest assessment of whether customers would adopt new modules and what development capabilities the organisation genuinely possessed.
• Developing strategic scenarios for different futures: Rather than selecting one path, we explored how different industry trends (cloud adoption rates, regulatory changes, competitive consolidation, customer buying behaviour shifts) would affect the viability of each strategy. This scenario planning revealed that geographic expansion carried significantly higher execution risk if cloud competitors accelerated market entry.
• Stress-testing organisational capability: Both strategies assumed capabilities the organisation had never demonstrated. Geographic expansion required building local sales teams and navigating unfamiliar regulatory environments. Product development demanded technical skills the engineering team lacked and integration complexity the company had consistently underestimated in previous projects. We quantified the capability gaps and realistic timelines to address them.

The board committed to a phased approach: focus product development resources on two adjacent modules with demonstrated customer demand, whilst conducting limited geographic testing in one market before broader expansion.

• Launch of customer analytics module that achieved 23% adoption among existing clients within eighteen months, generating $4.2M in new annual recurring revenue
• Pilot entry into Malaysia that validated market assumptions and competitive positioning before committing to full regional expansion
• Strategic framework that aligned product and sales organisations around a coherent direction, ending nine months of inconclusive internal debate

The phased strategy reduced execution risk whilst maintaining investor confidence in the growth trajectory. The company achieved 34% revenue growth over twenty-four months, compared to 12% in the prior period, whilst preserving capital for accelerated geographic expansion once product-market fit was proven in the Malaysian pilot.

A London-based engineering consultancy had built a reputation over three decades providing design services for large infrastructure projects across the UK. The firm's revenue had stagnated over the previous three years as clients increasingly demanded integrated digital capabilities (BIM modelling, data analytics, sustainability assessment) that the firm's traditional engineering expertise didn't encompass. Younger competitors with digital-native approaches were winning projects the firm had historically dominated. The partnership group recognised their service model was becoming obsolete yet disagreed fundamentally about the response. Senior partners advocated defending the traditional consultancy model and competing on relationship strength. Junior partners pushed for aggressive capability building through acquisitions or talent investment. Six months of partnership meetings had produced no consensus on strategic direction. The managing partner engaged us to provide independent perspective on whether the firm's business model remained viable and what transformation would actually require.

• Assessing how the market was genuinely evolving: We conducted structured interviews with current clients, prospects who had selected competitors and industry experts to understand whether the shift toward digital capabilities represented temporary trend or structural change. The evidence showed client expectations had fundamentally shifted. Firms offering only traditional engineering would face sustained margin pressure and declining project access.
• Evaluating strategic options against organisational reality: The partnership had debated acquisition versus organic capability building without rigorous analysis of either path. We assessed realistic acquisition targets, their cultural compatibility, integration costs and time to value realisation. Organic building required honest evaluation of whether the firm could attract digital talent to a traditional partnership structure and how long capability development would actually take. Both paths demanded significant investment the partnership had been reluctant to commit.
• Building scenarios for different competitive futures: Rather than predicting one outcome, we developed scenarios showing how the competitive landscape might evolve under different conditions: rapid industry digitalisation, regulatory changes favouring sustainability capabilities, client consolidation affecting project access or economic downturn reducing infrastructure spending. We tested each strategic option against these scenarios to identify which approach offered resilience across multiple futures.

The partnership committed to a hybrid approach: targeted acquisition of a smaller digital consultancy combined with aggressive graduate recruitment in data science and sustainable design.

• Acquisition of a 45-person digital consultancy that brought immediate BIM and analytics capabilities whilst integrating successfully into the partnership culture
• Recruitment of 28 graduates over sixteen months with digital and sustainability expertise, fundamentally shifting the firm's capability profile
• Win rate on target projects increased from 31% to 52% within two years as the firm demonstrated credible digital delivery

The strategic repositioning positioned the firm competitively for infrastructure projects increasingly requiring integrated digital and sustainability capabilities. The governance structures established during transformation continue to guide partnership decision-making and capability investment priorities.

A Paris-based pharmaceutical distribution company had evolved through decades of organic growth into a complex portfolio of service lines: traditional wholesale distribution, specialty pharmacy services, medical device logistics and digital health platform operations. Each business operated with separate systems, customer relationships and cost structures. Profitability had declined steadily over five years as low-margin wholesale distribution subsidized unprofitable digital ventures, whilst specialty pharmacy services generated strong returns but received inadequate investment. The founding family, now minority shareholders alongside institutional investors, resisted portfolio changes due to emotional attachment to the original wholesale business. The newly appointed CEO needed rigorous analysis to demonstrate which businesses deserved continued investment and an implementation framework that could navigate stakeholder resistance.

• Analysing economic reality across business units: We evaluated each service line's competitive positioning, customer economics, capital requirements and realistic growth potential. The analysis revealed that wholesale distribution faced structural decline as manufacturers pursued direct relationships, whilst the digital platform had consumed €18M over four years without achieving product-market fit. Specialty pharmacy showed defensible competitive advantages that justified aggressive expansion.
• Building the strategic case for portfolio focus: We developed financial projections demonstrating how portfolio rationalization would improve overall returns whilst reducing organisational complexity. The analysis quantified the management time currently diverted to underperforming businesses and the capital that could be redeployed toward specialty pharmacy expansion. This evidence-based approach helped overcome emotional resistance from founding family members.
• Designing the divestment and transition strategy: Rather than abrupt exits that would damage customer relationships, we structured a phased approach. Wholesale distribution would transition to a capital-light model through partnership with a larger European distributor. The digital platform would be wound down over six months with customer migrations to partner solutions. Specialty pharmacy would receive concentrated investment to accelerate geographic expansion.

CThe company completed the portfolio transformation over fourteen months, delivering both improved financial performance and stronger competitive positioning in its core specialty pharmacy business.

• Divestment of wholesale distribution through partnership that preserved customer relationships whilst eliminating €8M in annual losses
• Wind-down of digital platform that stopped further cash consumption and redeployed technical talent to specialty pharmacy operations
• Investment of €24M into specialty pharmacy expansion across four additional French regions, achieving market leadership position

The specialty pharmacy business grew revenue by 47% over the transformation period whilst the overall company achieved profitability targets that had been missed for the previous three years. The governance structures established during implementation continue to guide strategic decision-making and resource allocation.