New business strategy for a publisher within a large financial organisation
Client’s request
A large financial organisation is the 100% owner of a publisher that focuses on small and medium-sized businesses both in print and online. The publisher’s activities constitute an important element in the marketing strategy of the financial organisation, but are loss-making. The exact financial flows between parent and subsidiary are diffused, as is the strategic value of the activities. The management is handled by various parties involved within the group, often in steering committees. This results in insufficient decisiveness. The client wants quickly to obtain a better view of both the strategic and the financial return of this subsidiary, and clear insight into all possible strategic options for improvement.
Van de Bunt’s approach
Van de Bunt’s consultants advised the client to involve all relevant stakeholders in a so-called ‘pressure cooker’ session. A group of some eight relevant parties were involved, originating from both the publisher and the parent company. These were required by the management to completely clear their diaries in the short term, in order to formulate a supported analysis, explore strategic options and draw up a new plan. All parties agreed to meet daily from 09:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m., for at least 3 and no more than 5 days, with the objective of producing ‘white smoke’. Van de Bunt’s consultants supervised the sessions, ensured realtime substantiation of scenarios by means of desk-research, and assisted with the calculation of the various scenarios. In between, the client came along several times for initial feedback from the whole team.
Results
The initial scepticism of the delegated employees quickly changed into an enthusiastic attitude to ‘go all the way’. Insight was provided on the financial flow, competitive analyses were carried out, and the strategic effect for the communication goals of the parent company was compared with alternatives. Finally, a large number of adjustments to the publisher’s operational design were proposed, focused on considerable cost savings. Finally, after 4 days, a complete plan was available, approved by the client, for which within a few weeks a positive decision was taken for its implementation.
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