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…)

There have been many articles written about continuous improvement in manufacturing processes, but there isn’t a lot of information and understanding about the use of continuous improvement tools at the business level: including the ones that purportedly have continuous improvement or Six Sigma programs in place.  In many of the organizations that we work in, when you speak to business process leaders about continuous improvement they (more…)

Mexico’s legal system is a result of the 1910 revolution and the subsequent promulgation of its Federal Constitution on February 5, 1917. Although historically influenced by the legal systems of Spain, France, and the United States, Mexico has been able to structure and maintain a distinct legal system that incorporates truly unique Mexican components. Mexico’s legal system is a civil law system but not as it exists in other civil law countries.

Patterned after the United States, (more…)

On Friday 6/25, we awoke to the screaming headlines about the citizens of the UK voting to leave the EU.  Brexit was a reality.  All the experts and the polls were wrong!  Leading up to this there was tremendous volatility in financial markets and uncertainty about the impact of Brexit on global financial markets and business.  Business executives that we have been working with have displayed the “deer in the headlights” look: strategically frozen in place while waiting to see what happens.  Now what?  (more…)

Every company is faced with some type of restructuring activity during its history.   The restructuring process is painful and often unsuccessful.  There are two basic types of restructuring:  financial and operational.  Financial restructurings are often a result of poor operational performance and the reality that the management team has not responded quickly enough to changing business dynamics. In this case, a wall to wall cost takeout is called for. Often, the need to restructure is a gut reaction by senior management in response to perceived weaknesses in the business.  This article focuses on operational restructuring and the process for planning and successfully implementing it.

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Executives are faced with a conundrum when they are trying to decide on when and how to hire a consultant. There are typically 5 issues that nag an executive during this decision making process.  Those issues typically go along these lines:

• Consultants are too expensive; especially the top tier consulting firms and they don’t get real, measureable value
• Every professional who is unemployed or underemployed is a consultant until their next job and they don’t have the appropriate bandwidth; but they are cheap
• Finding a consultant or consulting firm who is a cultural fit with the organization
• Finding a consulting firm who has all the functional resources required for an entire project.
• When to admit that we really can’t solve the problem ourselves

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In 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…)

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.”

Diverse operations covering on-the-field activities, gaming, a bistro and a retail store, meant that the Rooster’s strategic plan was made up of a complex mix of metrics and objectives.
The Sports Club needed a platform to consolidate their detailed paper-based plan into something that the entire organisation could understand and engage with. They also needed a mechanism to measure organisational alignment against that plan.

“Cascade gives us clear, real-time metrics about how we’re performing against our plan – an invaluable level of management insight.”

CYC, a not for profit needed to drive civic participation amongst young people.
The organisation needed a way to focus their people’s efforts on the strategic plan, as well as save time and drive efficiency. The hard bit was finding a platform that would deliver this, without compromising or restricting people’s passion and creative thought processes.

“Cascade provides an affordable & robust platform for planning, execution & most importantly evaluation. Our team is better empowered to achieve our objectives individually and as a group.”