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Strategy consulting a perspective

Anand K Padmanaban, CM
Anand K Padmanaban, CM

The document discusses perspectives on strategy from Anand Kumar Padmanaban. It provides examples of strategy consulting projects he has worked on, including helping a healthcare services company sell for a higher valuation, developing an employability ecosystem model that resulted in the successful exit of an education company, and turning around a struggling business. It also offers lessons learned, such as the importance of identifying the key issues to focus on when solving problems, and tools and frameworks that can be used in strategic planning and analysis.

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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, P鍖zer, ProPva, Monsanto Started social entrepreneurship 鍖rm 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 stu鍖
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 De鍖ne the problem Determi ne the key issues Develop hypothe ses Perform analysis Review Commu nicate Strategy FormulaPon Business Canvas / Model OrganizaPonal Model OperaPonal Model
Some Personal Experiences
Value Selling : Healthcare services uHealthcare services company providing low end medical services to customers in US / AUS uHit a glass ceiling in terms of growth and pro鍖tability uFounder was unsure of next steps and contemplaPng increasing sales numbers or increasing pro鍖t margin uFounder extremely agached to setup and willingness to change was a challenge uProblem statement : Explore opPons to merge / regroup or outright sale uState : pro鍖table 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 ESOPs, revisited customers and experiences, explored market landscape ≒ Developed a transiPon plan from a pure services to a produPsed service plahorm due to idenP鍖ed 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 鍖rm in the same space
Exit Plans : Education Space One of the Top online educaPon services company in India Problem statement : di鍖erenPate and explore opportuniPes to increase valuaPon as investor senPment was waning and pricing pressure due to increased compePPon Status Then : pro鍖table enPty, fragmented market and players all 鍖ghPng 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 IdenP鍖ed 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 鍖x 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 sta鍖 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 De鍖ne a 90 day plan on the approach to address key issues - product readiness, organisaPonal 鍖tness, market readiness Built up an organisaPonal model based on product and not funcPon (reduced in鍖ghPng) 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 cerP鍖caPon (ISI mark) for the products a[er doing a feasibility test using DA tesPng. Built a channel partners in North and South India where POCs 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 signi鍖cant 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 鍖ndings, evolve a hypothesis on what could be the key issues, develop a plan and implement them Remember Paretos 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 bagle鍖eld before the bagle) usually used for future think ≒ The BSC 鍖nancial, customers, internal processes and innovaPon and learning ≒ 7 S model ( strategy, structure, systems, shared values, skills, sta鍖 and style) ≒ The Service Pro鍖t chain (linking people in the organizaPon with pro鍖t by focusing on key people drivers ) ≒ BCG, Pareto, Anso鍖 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 鍖t the solu3on Always make sure the solu3ons 鍖ts 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 Dont boil the ocean and work using the boundary of constraints all the 3me Many factors a鍖ect/ e鍖ect the business, 鍖nd 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 Dont mistake the forest for the trees Dont bite o鍖 more than you can chew
Balance Deliberate and Emerging Issues Allocate Resources wisely Know what drives disrup3ve innova3on (experience + cause and e鍖ect) Weigh short term Vs. long term payouts Know the di鍖erence between good capital and bad capital Watch out Dont 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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