Business domains

• Business model: Our main focus is on adjusting the current or targeted business model to an industry's changing ecosystem, e.g. the expected developments in customer requirements and in the competitor, partner and supplier landscape; accounting for different scenarios if reasonable.
• Customer interaction: We support setting the goals, targets and service approach for the range of customer touchpoints - digital, personal or cross-/multi-/omni-channel - in the context of a (customer-centric) strategy. We usually do not optimize the details of a specific customer touchpoint, but may manage service partners to do so.
• Product: We address product devlopment requirements from a business model / customer / market perspective, and can support managing product development for services and/or digital products. We do not support developing features or design of physical products.
• Distribution: We support analyzing & interpreting the performance across the range of distribution channels, and deriving targets and approaches, in the context of strategy development. We can target commercial steering structures across the channel mix, and help to analyze and optimize fragmented distribution structures. We are not experts in optimizing distribution details or (online) marketing within an individual channel.
• Business processes / production: In process excellence, we focus on digital production and operative business processes under quality/impact and cost/efficiency aspects, combining organizational and data/technology levers. We do not focus physical production processes.
• Data & technology: We support defining or adjusting the target data intelligence setup and development roadmap in line with the company's business needs and targets, and can help with an established business' transformation path towards a data- and technology-driven company.

Industry characteristics

• Fragmented supply structure: Your industry features products or services generated by a highly fragmented supplier landscape, possibly leading to one or several layers of aggregators between the original provider and the last-stage vendors.
• Multi-modal distribution: Your business needs to balance direct-to-consumer distribution (via own channels or non-risk consolidators/publishers) with a B2B distribution ecosystem, and/or features a fragemented retail or sales representative structure.
• Intermediaries: Your business model centers around mediating, bundling or refining (e.g. by adding a service layer) products or services which are ultimately supplied by independent delivery partners.
• Competitive intensity: Your industry's clients have high transparency on a wide range of potential substitute products by competitors, such that competitive pricing and/or securing price premiums on the market is a challenge.
• Commercial risk: your business model takes on risk in the form of fixed product sourcing contracts or production capacities, which need to be allocated to submarkets or utilization-managed for profit optimization.

Commercial Optimization programs

To improve the contribution delivered by the operative business through commercial levers, besides addressing individual apects already identified, a standard approach can aim at systematically exposing potential, starting with a standard toolbox to zoom quickly into increasingly custom-tailored, impactful measures. Though the analyses and levers pursued will be selected at the beginning of the program based on potential impact estimates, standard approaches include:

• Full cost of service and network effect estimates across the product / customer matrix
• Approaches to systematically optimize the price/volume balance, including market and competitor reaction scenarios
• Approaches to combine global margin control with local or situational competitive pricing options
• Leverage and cross-impact analyses along the commercial value chain
• Factor analysis and internal benchmarking for decentral sales and/or delivery organizations
• Variable and step cost reallocation along the commercial footprint (clients, products, segments, channels, ...) to precisely model significant business adjustment scenarios

Price & Capacity management

In industries working with at-risk and/or fixed perishable capacities, where the focus shifts from classical Revenue Management to data-intelligence-based continuous dynamic competitive pricing, we support or manage initiatives aimed at optimizing or modernizing the approach to capacity management and pricing. This may encompass:

• Business modeling: defining an addressable task decomposition and optimization targets that accurately reflect and improve the reality of the company's commercial levers
• Business case: Estimating costs and effects to compute scenario/probability-based expected ROIs
• Solution design: Developing a problem decomposition and modular solution approaches that prevent black-box elements, offer low tresholds for further development and allow a staged and agile implementation
• Technological approach: Evaluating data & technology implementation options and deciding on the suitable approach, including the make & buy - balance, partner & platform selection etc.
• Implementation support: managing the delivery process, and securing the measure's impact by defining and implementing a risk-managed roll-out plan, necessary business process adjustments, staff trainings etc.

Innovation Management

Established companies have a range of choices on how to spark and pursue innovation within their sphere of control. Responsibility (central / decentral), organization (immersion / independence), financing (individual / portfolio-based), success funnel (financial / strategic gates), resources (shared / green-field) are just some of the relevant dimensions, and the best answer is often both or somewhere in between.

Especially when aiming for high dynamics in ventures that still need to maintain significant ties to the parent company in order to leverage strategic advantages or generate reverse impact for the parent, lines of conflict almost naturally arise. We have resources with management experience on both the parent company and the venture side, as well as a bird's eye view, and offer to support you in finding your own best approach on how to channel this tension into positive momentum for both sides.

Business model & business case

For founders who need detailed plans to convince, established companies looking at a specific innovation idea, or investors aiming to check or challenge a target or portfolio company, we offer support in detailing a consistent package of business model, business case incl. cost- and scenario-based revenue planning, and realization planning including staging, exposure control and fallback-scenarios. Please get briefly in contact to find out whether we can supply resources with specific experience in the market or industry in question.

Speed-boat setup

For established companies looking at pursuing an innovation or business model as a (corporate) venture, we offer support in shaping and setting up or carving out the target structure. Support areas may include organizational and financial setup, staffing, communication & participation, transfer pricing model, as well as setting up all of the venture's functions - whether green-field or as shared services. Support may range from individual expertise workshops to interim management of the entire initiative until the designated management is found or freed up.

Venture scaling

Once a business has entered the market and proven it has further potential, many of the creative and ad-hoc solutions found for non-core problems during the launch phase will need attention, as they do not sustain or provide the required efficiency and reliability when scaling. With experience both in the Start-Up and established company perspective, we offer support in finding and realizing an organizational development agenda that, step by suitable step, develops your organization in line with scaling requirements, without throtteling entrepreneurship and agility or taking your core team's focus from developing your core business.

High-performance team development

High-performance teams working on high-velocity missions often face highly volatile team dynamics. We like to accompany their launch and/or development as an independent coach (compare team development), and in specific situations may also find it suitable to support recruitment.