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Perspectives On Strategy
Anand Kumar Padmanaban

The word ‘strategy’ means ‘the art of the general’
(from the Greek Strategos )

Who Am I ?
Degrees in engineering and management, an alum of
Guindy College Of Engg., IIMC and UToledo
23+ Years experience – primarily in life sciences and
technology
Arbor Management ConsulPng, GD Searle, Pharmacia
Upjohn, Pfizer, ProPva, Monsanto
Started social entrepreneurship firm building an
employability eco-system in 2007, scaled the model and
exited in 2010, Built and sold a health assist device
Business advisory consulPng journey started –
HealthSo[, MingleBox, Acclerys, Fortune 50, Fortune
100, PowerOne, Tyco and a host of startups and growth
stage ventures
Angel Investor/LP for a VC fund and NGO journey started
– PET Trust, WasteImpact, Startup Network with IIMB,
IISc.
Run social hackathons with IISc and IIT Mumbai and
mentor startups (Everwise, Innoberator), exploring
healthcare stuff

Strategy Woes
Fewer than 15 percent of organiza3ons
around the world report that they are
successful at strategy implementa3on.
The majority of strategies fail in the strategy
implementa3on phase. Many organiza3ons
have a fundamental disconnect between the
formula3on of their strategy and the
implementa3on of that strategy into useful
ac3on.
Source : journal of management and organizaPon, March 2017

Key Success Factors
source : strategic insights

Typical Scope Of Work
A CAPABLE
JACK OF ALL
TRADES

Diagnosis
Guiding
Policy
AcPon
The Typical Strategy Puzzle
Doctor informing
paPent of disease
TherapeuPc
treatment process
PrescripPon

Strategy Consulting =~ Structured Problem Solving

Deﬁne
the
problem
Determi
ne the
key
issues
Develop
hypothe
ses
Perform
analysis
Review
Commu
nicate
Strategy FormulaPon
Business
Canvas /
Model
OrganizaPonal
Model
OperaPonal
Model

Value Selling : Healthcare services
u Healthcare services company providing
low end medical services to customers in
US / AUS
u Hit a glass ceiling in terms of growth and
profitability
u Founder was unsure of next steps and
contemplaPng increasing sales numbers
or increasing profit margin
u Founder extremely agached to setup and
willingness to change was a challenge
u Problem statement : Explore opPons to
merge / regroup or outright sale

u State : profitable with extremely good
customers and glowing references

What was done
•  Explored mergers with other complementary skills companies,
unsuccessful in driving merger due to tentaPveness from
founder
•  Explored outright sale, founder not happy with valuaPon
presented
•  Developed a 1 year plan around various key drivers to help the
organizaPon move forward – retooled the team, provided
ESOP’s, revisited customers and experiences, explored market
landscape
•  Developed a transiPon plan from a pure services to a produPsed
service plahorm due to idenPﬁed possible changes in the
industry
•  Built a product pipeline which leveraged the capabiliPes but also
enabled the organizaPon to upsell to their customers

Outcomes
•  Helped grow valuaPon to 4x over 3 years.
•  Facilitated a sale of the company to a UK ﬁrm in the same
space

Exit Plans : Education Space
One of the Top online educaPon
services company in India
Problem statement : differenPate
and explore opportuniPes to
increase valuaPon as investor
senPment was waning and pricing
pressure due to increased
compePPon
Status Then : profitable enPty,
fragmented market and players all
fighPng for mind share of customer
and economic decision maker

Revisit the problem statement and idenPfy
if there were any challenges internally
Perform a SWOT analysis of the industry
and marketplace
IdenPﬁed a hypothesis and presented a
path forward with a go/nogo in 4 months
Developed a POC ecosystem concept which
integrated 2 of the key stakeholders (job
seekers and job provider network)
The Gist

Built up an employability eco-system model with
3 pivot points - educaPonal insPtutes , students
and job providers
Ecosystem was built from 2 aspects - career
seekers and career providers
Enlisted over 100 educaPonal insPtuPons ,
enlisted Pmes jobs and naukri as the back end
Built a video resume capability, assessment test
engine, academic achievement management
portal
What was done

so[ launch and engagement was
iniPated
company saw renewed interest from
investors
founders sold to a middle east group
and exited
Outcome

Exploration : Strategic Go To Market - India
Fortune 500 company in the
discovery science space with a small
support team in India
Problem Statement : Explore the
india market in terms of launching
its enterprise life sciences soluPon
Status : ambivalent, were not happy
selling soluPons through a
distributor model, wanted to
explore large accounts in India but
not sure how to proceed

Forces at work framework analysis
Study customers, distributors, compePtors, subsPtute products, decision makers
Evolve a hypothesis
Develop a 90 day plan and dipsPck test model
IdenPfy key innovators and decision makers in the market
Conduct market research on product features, pricing and localisaPon
Assimilate feedback from market

RecommendaPon to ExecuPve leadership team in US
Do NOT waste Pme entering India at this price point with these features or
expanding you team here as market is sPll not there
Evolve to a subscripPon model with minimal features and sell for value pricing
What was done & outcome

Struggling Business : Business Revamp
A promising venture perennially in
startup mode
Problem statement : need to ﬁx things
inside the company was the dictum
issued by the investors who were in the
US
Status : Product pipeline was sPll WIP for
the last 2 years, key staﬀ were moving
out on a regular basis, irregulariPes in
business operaPons were rouPne and
common

Interviews with investors and key stakeholders (Chairman,
CEO, MD) on their perspecPve of where things stood
Define a 90 day plan on the approach to address key issues -
product readiness, organisaPonal fitness, market readiness
Built up an organisaPonal model based on product and not
funcPon (reduced infighPng) and focused everyone on the
product
Worked up a plan for product readiness and compliance ,
reviewed it every week with key team
Developed a BD plan for exploring channel partners for POC
What was done

Built up the organisaPon block by block - introduced rewards
and recogniPon programs, learning and development
programs, referral hiring models, developed HR policies and
other compliance policies
Pursued BIS cerPﬁcaPon (ISI mark) for the products a[er
doing a feasibility test using DA tesPng.
Built a channel partners in North and South India where
POC’s could be performed without regulatory compliance
approvals
Got the company on track with quarterly goals and bonus
programs
What was done

Third round funding obtained
Built the valuaPon of the company upto 14 crores
Currently in the process of being sold to a Indian
subsidiary of a large auto major
Outcome

Some Key Lessons Learnt
Problems are everywhere and somePmes
idenPfying the right problem is by itself a
challenge
Strategy is about looking at a cluger of issues,
idenPfying the 1 or 2 issues which may have a
signiﬁcant impact, focusing on them and work
towards resolving them in a planned manner
Typically follows this model - idenPfy facts and
disPnguish causes from symptoms , structure
the ﬁndings, evolve a hypothesis on what could
be the key issues, develop a plan and
implement them
Remember Pareto’s principle - 80/20 rule

Extrapolating to the Sundry
What am I doing to solve the
problem ?
Is what I am doing solving the
problem at hand ?
Is it the most important thing I could
be doing ?
Am I moving the problem resoluPon
forward or backward ?

Tools and frameworks
•  SWOT Framework (Strengths, weaknesses, opportuniPes and
threats)
•  Scenario thinking (walking the baglefield before the bagle)
usually used for future think
•  The BSC – financial, customers, internal processes and
innovaPon and learning
•  7 S model ( strategy, structure, systems, shared values, skills,
staff and style)
•  The Service Profit chain (linking people in the organizaPon
with profit by focusing on key people drivers )
•  BCG, Pareto, Ansoff etc. etc.

Learning to Balance the Paradoxes
ImaginaPon &
passion vs.
analysis & reason
Many possibiliPes
vs. few
opportuniPes
The future vs. the
present
Dreams vs
pracPcal reality
Process (how we
plan) vs. content
(what we plan)
Growth engines
vs. gap-closing
iniPaPves
Long term vs.
short term
CreaPng
condiPons vs.
grasping
opportuniPes
Thinking vs. doing
Holism (big
picture) vs. focus
(making choices)

What does strategic think do in a
career ?
Business structure elements: compePPve market
posiPoning, distribuPon channels, customer contact points;
OrganisaPon elements: organisaPon charts, strategy
development process, people policies and pracPces,
informaPon architecture, culture and values;
Interpersonal structures: roles and responsibiliPes,
interpersonal relaPons;
Individual structures: the way I think, my interpretaPon of
my role and responsibiliPes, my values and beliefs.

Pointers As You Tackle A Project
Being skep3cal of
everything is a good
thing, ques3oning is
good
Most 3mes, the
problem is not always
the problem
Never make the facts
fit the solu3on
Always make sure the
solu3ons fits the
customer internally
and externally
Some3mes, taking a
step back allows the
solu3on to come to
you
Some problems you
cannot solve, solve
them anyway
Don’t boil the ocean
and work using the
boundary of
constraints all the 3me
Many factors affect/
effect the business,
find out the most
relevant ones
Pluck the low hanging
fruit all the 3me, it
shows progress
Hit singles are always
beQer than an album
Be careful what is
promised, always
under promise and
over deliver
Don’t mistake the
forest for the trees
Don’t bite off more
than you can chew

Balance Deliberate
and Emerging Issues
Allocate Resources
wisely
Know what drives
disrup3ve innova3on
(experience + cause
and eﬀect)
Weigh short term Vs.
long term payouts
Know the diﬀerence
between good capital
and bad capital
Watch out – Don’t
sequence
investments
Marginal Thinking is
not good , all the
3me
Figure out exactly
what your customer
wants
Test assump3ons
before taking ac3on
Never outsource the
future
Commit 100% Vs.
98% percent all the
3me
Likeness,
commitment and
metrics
Test theories by
looking for anomalies
Pointers As You Move In Your Career

Thank You

Any QuesPons Or Need Any Help ,
contact me @ anand@elado.co.in
Phone: 9901014134

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