Results for our clients
 

We have led or made major contributions to programs for domestic and international clients spanning public and private companies, government, institutional and not-for-profit organizations including:

 

 Affymetrix
Beiersdorf
Cabot Corp.
Cadbury
Callaway Golf
Chalmers University
Church & Dwight
Coloplast A/S
Crane & Co.
Hasbro
Haworth
ICI
Isover Saint-Gobain
 Johnson & Johnson
Labatt
Mattel
MSA
Napier University
Nike
Oral-B
PepsiCo
Pfizer
Pharmacia
Procter & Gamble
Reckitt-Benckiser
Rockwool International		 Rollerblade
Royal Dutch/Shell
Sara Lee
SCA Mölnlycke
Schering
Schott
Scottish Enterprise
Smith & Nephew
SmithKline
Speedo
Unilever
United Distillers
Whirlpool
 

Some brief examples of client success stories:

• A leading pharmaceutical supplier wanted to fund more internal new-product development proposals to meet serious competition, but was unable to elicit credible submissions. An intensive training course, some coaching and development of new forms immediately resulted in a series of funded projects. (UK) This was expanded into a global project-management training program that, over several years, has included the company's entire management structure, transforming new-product development and other key functions. (World-wide)

• A major apparel brand needed a new product platform. A consistent pattern of rejecting their own ideas resulted from limiting beliefs and an ineffective decision/closure strategy. We were able to work with them in a way that engaged their pipeline from the beginning, resulting in a new level of support for exciting, novel products and enabling technologies. (US)

• A medical-device manufacturer with two respected but stagnant product lines wished to respond to market demands for a hybrid product. Culture inhibited collective creativity and clarity as to objectives. Two inclusive workshops and some coaching sufficed to create the needed product. (Scandinavia)

• A major energy supplier had developed breakthrough intellectual property. This occasioned a crisis as various corporate divisions best served their local missions by retaining control for internal use only, or by out-licensing and collecting royalties. Refocusing on higher objectives, an examination of beliefs and a basic overlap-set analysis led to a new strategic plan satisfying both value-capture pathways via internal exploitation in selected areas plus creation of new joint ventures with key competitor/partners. (Europe/US)

 
Need or opportunity
Transitional contribution
Positive result
NPD - Sporting goods
New technology platform to reinvigorate and differentiate large but threatened brand as basic patents expire
Designed, facilitated and contributed to collaborative workshops integrating Marketing, R&D, Manufacturing
New patents in process; fundamental advances in technology being developed into brand positions
NPD - toys & games
Integration of advanced technology into engaging low-cost handheld games and toys
Broad scan of relevant enabling technologies, multiple idea-generation sessions from multiple viewpoints
Successful creation of new games concepts and embodiments based on ultra-low cost electronics; new classes of flying toys designed from first principles informed by user experience.
NPD - Foods/drinks
Beverage maker sought differentiation in packaging, point-of-sale presentation to accompany brand renovation
Conducted multiple idea-generation sessions with client and other-industry groups to identify relevant products, features and technologies
Several new active and passive packaging, dispensing and delivery designs and systems were defined and documented, backed with IP search and preliminary cost engineering
NPD - Medical devices
Primary-care providers requested a product combining advantages of historically distinct approaches to a critical home-use consumable
Conducted major workshops eliciting and integrating input from all business players and external nursing staff
New product line and reinvigorated brand position
Market analysis/development
Aerospace/military specialty supplier required pathway to broader markets
Rigorous elicitation of business and technical criteria based on extensive interviews and analysis of plant capabilities worldwide
New model created for conjoint market, technology and product development with minimal risk/investment and maximal learning at each stage
Public sector
National business-development council required a skills- and entrepreneurial attitudes enhancement program
Created training and implementation protocols, trained trainers
Government-sponsored technology awareness and forecasting workshops activated local enterprise in business-poor areas
Start-ups
Two-year-old venture stalled in its core business was maintaining with small-scale contract work, compromising both short-term revenue stream and value growth
Provided scenario and risk analysis, general business advice and executive coaching
Company now divided into contract-operations and core-technology groups, ensuring financial survival/stability while protecting founder equity
Project management
Newly independent division of major computer maker unable to manufacture signature product in profitable yield
Detailed diagnostic of manufacturing processes, business systems, staffing
Prescribed changes led to qualitative improvement in yield, enabling sale of overall process and product line
Negotiation/conflict resolution
Competing corporate priorities in a major energy company put at risk value capture from a breakthrough invention
Three-day summit meeting with worldwide senior managers responsible for various sectors, returning several years later to fine-tune development and legal path
Collective sense of responsibility and possibility broke turf barriers, resulting in a new strategy, two new JVs, and projected IP value increased by many $bn.
IP strategy
Leading synthetic-materials manufacturer historically unwilling to exploit valuable IP in new ways given any risk of compromising core-business control
Designed, briefed and ran multi-BU session to create open discussion of opportunity cost of this strategy
Forward-ventures group has taken up this challenge as part of its ongoing remit
Technology transfer
Personal-care products manufacturer traditionally created all its own technology and brands; now seeking outside acquisitions
Facilitated definition of acquisition criteria, then activated network to seek candidates of many kinds at various stages of development w/o disclosing acquirer identity
Several prospects under consideration; general methodology validated for future use
Skills development
Worldwide pharma-industry supplier suffered massive staff overload stress and poor project completion
Intensive project-planning and outcome-oriented thinking workshop for a representative trans-national team
Immediate gain in number and quality of proposals; eventually, PM, sales/negotiation skills and teamwork/leadership training for entire middle and senior management staff worldwide
Organization development
Medical device manufacturer needed more frequent market-differentiating product releases but consistently drafted creative staff into line emergencies
After detailed assessment, designed new market-leading advanced development group, including defining recruitment and other key business processes
Fully staffed group is running efficiently, highly productive in intended role
Executive coaching
In Asian pharma company, stylistic differences created stress for top team and adversely affected productivity at lower levels
Facilitated open discussion in retreat environment
Redrawn boundaries and norms for internal engagement, relieving unneeded stress and creating new opportunities for distributed leadership