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Global Recession and Recession Planning – Are You Ready?
  • Global Recession and Recession Planning – Are You Ready?

    We are in a global recession according to global experts in a recent Forbes article. Don’t let this be your Kobayashi Maru – No Win Scenario. Every dollar not spent by consumers reduces downstream spending by 43% according to the current velocity of money statistics. No matter what business you are in, you are being impacted by this atypical recession, one that will likely rival the tech bubble of 2001 and the financial collapse of 2008. If you don’t agree, no need to read further, but can you really take that risk? (more…)

  • CRM Traps and Pitfalls to Avoid

    Since the inception of Sales Force in 1999, CRM has gained incredible popularity in just about every business.  Recent research indicates that over 90% of companies with over 11 employees use some kind of CRM. It is now used to document any customer related information you can think of and is part of a company’s Market Effectiveness.  The great news (more…)

  • Case Study: Sales, Inventory, Operations Planning (SIOP) Process Improvement – Order to Cash

    • Reduce working capital by approximately $15M
    • Lower yearly costs by nearly $2.5M
    • Reduce lead times from forecast to delivery to 70-110 days putting them in the top quartile of their customer’s vendors.

    (more…)

  • MARKET ASSESSMENT FOR NEW PRODUCTS – THE 10 KEY QUESTIONS APPROACH

    We have spoken to many senior leaders who are frustrated with their product development processes and who believe that despite their best efforts, most products move forward because of “gut feel” rather than a detailed and consistent market assessment. Developing solid rationale and requiring a business case that includes an appropriate market assessment should be a requirement for advancing a new product or service concept to market. The business case, and its market assessment section, (more…)

  • Customer Journey Maps – Identifying Value Through Your Customer’s Eyes

    ‘Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent.’ Thomas Alva Edison

    Not only did Edison distinguish himself through his technical acumen and limitless perseverance, but as this quote suggests he also possessed rare common sense and a willingness to step into his customer’s shoes.  Many of his contemporaries (more…)

  • Does Your Business Have a Robust Social Networking Strategy?

    Every leadership team should be asking questions about their social networking strategy. They wonder how Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Plus, CRM, Sales Force, Customer Portals, Websites, Blogs and other platforms can be utilized for business development purposes. We have been developing those thoughts at Group50 for the last 14+ years.  We have spoken with hundreds of companies, and have found a wide disparity between their efforts and the type of business they are in. Although not a formal study, our general findings are as follows: (more…)

  • Why Hire a Strategic Planning Consultant? – Effective Strategic Execution

    Successful enterprises across the globe have leveraged on the vast experience, in-depth knowledge and understanding of a strategic planning consultant that is capable of working with senior leadership on strategic execution: been there, done that.  This effort is a cornerstone of gaining competitive advantage and thriving in highly competitive marketplaces. An effective strategic execution program facilitated by an experience strategic planning consultant helps (more…)

  • Preparing for an Economic Downturn

    Preparing for a DownturnIn an article I wrote about writing your company’s chapter on 2016, I asked if your view was optimistic or pessimistic. The first couple of weeks of 2016 should have reigned in all of the optimists, unless you are one of the lucky few who have a business that is absolutely bullet proof, or you have completely forgotten what an economic downturn is like.It is already here. All of the companies and countries whose fortunes are tied to oil have cut back their capital spending by as much as 80%. In the United States alone, that amounts to over $90 billion in reduced spending in 2015 and the worst isn’t over. Middle Eastern companies have reduced their spending by similar amounts. Not included in that is (more…)

  • Weekend Thought: New Product Introduction

    New Product LaunchI was recently working with a division of a $1B company who was having problems with the introduction of a highly engineered product in a foreign country. They were struggling with manufacturing a complex component in a new product that was introducing a disruptive technology.

    They recognized that this new product introduction was complex and that successfully introducing this product was the basis for their Market Effectiveness. They knew that that new product introduction programs typically generate their highest sales and profit margins in the fist 12 months after implementation. Disruptive product programs that are poorly implemented (more…)

  • Case Study: Use of Cascade for a Startup

    SoftNAS, an innovative Texas-based startup , prides itself as being the number one provider of network attached cloud storage. As at most startups, resources (be they people or financial) are never more precious than in the first few years of a company’s existence. SoftNAS therefore identified that without a high degree of focus, their ambitious growth plans were unlikely to be realised.

    “We knew that keeping everyone on the same page as we grew the company was critical. Cascade was the perfect solution for this, and the flexible monthly pricing made it an easy choice.”

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