Business Support

Business modelling

In 2015, John Chambers, who was then Cisco’s CEO, predicted: “one-third of businesses today will not survive the next 10 years. The only ones that will survive will turn their companies into different, more techie versions, of themselves, and many will fail trying.”

In today’s rapidly changing world, CEO’s, managers and entrepreneurs need new tools, skills and a new mind-set to evaluate survivability of their current business model and to prepare their organizations for new future-proof models.

To make complex issues understandable for everybody in their teams, managers want to enable visual, design thinking and have a strategic design model that possesses the flexibility to provide innovative outcomes.

We help corporate organizations, entrepreneurs and start-ups to look at their business model from different perspectives. We workshop with executives and their teams to find innovative ways of creating new business models and market opportunities, and design a strategy that is expressed in a common language and with customer needs and the value proposition in mind.

The business model canvas

Our Business Modelling approach is based on Strategyzer’s Business Model Canvas. The Business Model Canvas is a strategic management and lean start-up tool. It is a visual chart composed of nine essential building blocks that describe how a business creates, delivers and captures value. The Value Proposition Canvas helps to create the value story for the end-customers. Through a Value Proposition Design exercise, we improve your ability to design, test and build products and services that customers want.

We follow a methodology of “Mobilize – Understand – Innovate & Design – Implement – Manage”. During the process, we may use a range of additional methodologies and value description models from SWOT, Blue Ocean Strategy, Five Forces or the Balanced Scorecard.

The main contribution of the Business Model Canvas lies in providing a shared language, leading to better strategic conversations and better ideas on the table. The Canvas is particularly valued in cross-functional teams and especially among users in non-business functions such as Service Delivery, Sales & Marketing, IT, R&D Engineering, HR, etc.

Strategic business planning

The work that is done in Business Modelling forms the basis for the business plan.
A business plan will contain 6 major sections:

The team

The team construct, responsibilities, experience and track record of the team members.

External environment

How is your business model positioned with respect to the external environment? Examine market forces, industry forces, key trends, macro-economic forces to summarize your business model’s competitive advantages.

The business model

A visual representation of the business model and a brief explanation of the 9 elements of the business model. Storytelling of how the value proposition and the selected channels will be attractive for your selected customer segments. A description of the key resources, activities and partners that support your business model.

Financial analysis

The traditional element of a business plan. Use the Business Model Canvas to demonstrate the breakeven analysis, sales scenarios and related operating costs. Total cost, revenue, and cash flow projections to determine capital funding requirements.

Implementation roadmap

This describes how you will “kill the bear”. It includes a summary of the main project and milestones. Use a GANTT chart that is derived from and delivered with the business model canvas.

Risk analysis

Describe internal and external limiting factors and obstacles and CSF (critical success factors) that can be derived from the SWOT analysis of your business model.

Designing value propositions

Being able to express your value proposition is essential to attract customers. Compelling Value Propositions is why customers want to buy your products and services. Our value proposition design workshops will end the endless discussions, hunches and intuitions, expensive new product launches and failures of great ideas.

With practical exercises, illustrations and tools we will assist you with improving the attractiveness of your product, services or new business idea. Value Proposition Design complements and perfectly integrates with the Business Model Canvas and gives you a proven methodology for success, with value propositions that sell, embedded in profitable business models.

Value Proposition Design can be used for corporate vision and mission statements, customer segment, geographic & channel propositions and strategic deal specific value propositions.

International Expansion

Within the EU, expanding into new markets has become easier than before. This opens the way to offer your value proposition into new coun tries but also poses a threat of new competitors entering your existing market. Outside of the EU, BRIC countries and established economies in North America, ME and APJ have become targets for many European com panies. Benefits of international expansion include not only sales and revenue growth but also gathering better competitive and customer seg ment intelligence, decreasing market and supplier dependencies and fluc tuations, but also capitalizing on production investments and existing resources and talent.

We follow a defined process for international expansion that contains following steps:

Goals and Objectives: what is the reason for your need to expand into new markets and how will you measure success?
Capabilities and Technology: What existing competencies can be leveraged internationally and what gaps do you need to address?
Market and Competitive Analysis: Where should you expand, how are other companies grown into that market, who are the main competitors and who are potential M&A targets
Image & Branding: Who is your target audience and can your current brand be leveraged into the new market?
Highest Potential Expansion: What are the 2 to 5 most viable expansion markets and customer segments?
Expansion model: What are the most attractive expansion models and what channels should you explore? What is the mode of entry of the selected geography?
Organizational Implications: What are the organisational implications of performing the international expansion? What is the resource allocation requirement?

Management Support

Our areas of expertise include General, Sales and Service Delivery Management. Through Management Support we are offering flexible staffing for:

Crisis and Change Management
Transition Management
Project Management

There are many reasons for which companies may want to involve change management. Mostly these project involve cost reduction, efficiency increase, functionality extension or business model changes. A key element of leading change management is identifying the specific areas in the business model that would benefit from alterations. Communication and education trough storytelling is another key element of successful change management projects. Change management takes a period for changes to be implemented and employees will require and adjustment period to become acquainted with the process or structure. That is why change management, is usually characterized by an intensive start up and implementation period and knows a longer adjustment period in which an open channel of ongoing communication is required. Pro-actively addressing issues and objections of employees transitioning into new roles and mind-sets, will make or brake a change management process.

When you can describe the circumstances of your project, we will find the right solution for you. Our process delivers the result that counts through 4 phases:

Project scoping and definition
Project plan and selection of a suitable interim manager
Implementation of the assignment
Close out Evaluation

The following offer real life examples:
The Board of a company had decided to dismiss the Managing Director due to not achieving optimal results. They want to replace him by a brilliant but young candidate grown into the company. The Managing Director owns a lot of important relations both internally and externally. Loss of these contacts could affect the company's results when the transition would not be executed properly. Moreover, the young manager has never managed a company before, will need coaching and guidance of an experienced manager as she moves into the function. The Board is not at ease with these risks and want a solution to the problem.

A company contracts for a deal that includes TUPE/ARD as a spin-off or carve-out of a division of the customer. The company has not done these HR transitions before. Although the legal department have access to an external legal counsel, the CFO, HR department and transition manager would like to have access to a manager that can support the Operations manager in the day to day management of the transition.