After an initial infusion of capital and the extraordinary reception of its skiwear designs, a fashion start-up found itself in trouble. The company had grown too fast, lost control of distribution, and found itself unable to manage capacity. Management thought the solution was to seek additional capital to increase manufacturing capacity, but the capital markets saw the company as too risky.

SPG consultants reviewed the company’s business model and participation in the value chain. The company’s initial strategy had been to own manufacturing and to outsource distribution to multiple third parties. The new solution was to do the opposite – to outsource manufacturing overseas and to control distribution. The company discovered that its relationships with customers were more important than owning manufacturing plants.

By selling or redeploying most of its equipment and leasing out space, the company raised significant cash. Their need changed from capital equipment finance to trade finance (on significantly increased sales volume). The company was now more liquid; its needs were more modest; and its financial statements looked much better. Putting a refined business model into action enabled the business to tap the capital markets and to fund what was now carefully managed growth.

A portfolio management company bought what appeared to be a promising financial printing company. Eventually, they realized that this acquisition was foundering–out-gunned by better-funded competitors. Management was unwilling to invest more and unable to fund the level of investment required to compete directly with current competitors.

SPG consultants worked with the management team to find a new way to compete with the resources available. They helped develop a new business model that leveraged emerging technology. Competitors that were heavily invested in the old way of doing things found it difficult to respond.

This turnaround effort launched the company from last among the Top 10 national companies to a strong second place within just a few years. The company found itself growing faster and competing on a very different basis than the number one company. These results were achieved with no significant new investment of their own capital: their prime customers funded the bulk of the cost, and recovered their initial investment from the savings achieved.

An entrepreneurial team had a revolutionary idea on how to better privatize health clinics in Third World countries. They needed access to a renewable stream of incremental capital, but were unable to describe their complex solution in a way that captured investors’ interest. After shopping the idea around in several countries with no success for over a year, they realized that help was needed.

SPG consultants worked with them to put their business insights into more easily understandable terms. Their approach was reframed–from a speculative offshore investment in an unproven area to a low risk /low capital investment that was supported by a government-guaranteed revenue stream, co-investment with teams of participating doctors, and a value proposition that relied on a relatively simple proven technology that they alone had already used successfully in Latin America.

The company went from two guys with a great idea to over fifty offices in eleven countries within two years.

A steel company had a problem child. One of its businesses (in the reinsurance industry) was pushing the company’s risk tolerance to its limits. Furthermore, the management of this business seemed beyond control.

SPG consultants helped assess the fit of the business with the rest of the parent’s portfolio. They identified a fit between the client’s outward reinsurance requirements and the potential value such new classes of coverage would have to its core businesses. Upon closer examination, they discovered that this London market business was not so far afield after all.

Drawing parallels to their own changing reinsurance needs, they could see that this imaginatively managed business was discovering new and potentially revolutionary opportunities in an old and staid industry. Armed with a better understanding and new respect for its problem child, the parent company repositioned the business within its portfolio as a business unit that served the needs of companies like itself. The parent encouraged the business to develop alliances with other companies who were market leaders in similar specialist underwriting lines. Over time, what was once a renegade operation became the cutting edge, reinventing the overall strategy for its international insurance subsidiaries.

The executive team for a bank was very averse to cross-border acquisitions. The team had little experience with acquisitions and knew that most fail. Instead, management tried to grow through joint ventures and branching. But despite best efforts, the bank ran into regulatory barriers, and their growth in the local market stagnated.

SPG consultants worked with the management team to develop a systematic approach for making prudent acquisitions. Management’s initial response was to make their acquisition criteria so stringent that no one in the marketplace could satisfy them. But after SPG consultants helped them to prioritize these criteria in line with their strategic objectives, they began to find significant opportunities. The candidate that the bank finally acquired was not only congruent with its management philosophy but also offset its weaknesses in the local market (both corporate and consumer).

After the acquisition (with no additional capital infusion), the bank was able to reposition its local currency business as the domestic counterpart to the parent’s world-class dollar-based services. On the strength of the foreign acquirer’s name and operating prowess, the acquired bank leapt from the bottom ten percent to the top twenty percent of competing domestic banks in that market within three years.

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