Project Experience

Manufacturing…Alliances Can be Critical to Positioning.

Client Situation
Manufacturers looking to reposition themselves may look to outside "best-in-class" service providers, forming alliances with various partners to expand service offerings. As in the case with manufacturers today, offerings must go beyond product offerings to be competitive. Companies look to offering solutions that combine product, after market support, technical and customer service, inventory and planning management and so on. A major producer of instrumentation for a specific technical market was in the process of redefining the market altogether. Rather than selling "point solutions" - as the leading players in this industry had all done in the past - this manufacturer aligned itself with several companies with complimentary technologies. As a result, this company is at the leading edge of offering "total solutions" to an industry that had never offered one-stop shopping for products and services in the past.

Fuld Approach
As part of our research, we uncovered public information pertaining to best practices. By understanding the entire value chain which takes the product from concept to the end user customer’s hands and evaluating changes in the value chain and company's best practices, we were able to build a profile of this total solution plan and provide our client with information on this key competitor's business operations.

Benefits and Implications
Value chain analysis and best practices exercises help a company better target the market and understand what the competition is doing. It also is the best way to baseline a constant process for monitoring the market. Once a company understands the value chain and the competitor's approach to the value chain, they can anticipate competitor moves and industry trends before they happen. For more information on company positioning and value chain analysis related to manufacturers, contact eithernbulger@fuld.com.