Successful positioning requires an understanding of both the competition and client perceptions
Case Study – A number of consulting firms—including the leading management consultants, the Big 5, some of the large HR/compensation firms, and a host of boutique firms—provide services that fall under the broad umbrella of shareholder value consulting. Read more
Case Study – A number of consulting firms—including the leading management consultants, the Big 5, some of the large HR/compensation firms, and a host of boutique firms—provide services that fall under the broad umbrella of shareholder value consulting. Our client was interested in understanding the value proposition of the leading players in this field, including members from each of the above categories.
Fuld Approach
We conducted interviews with partners from within the competitor firms to determine how these players positioned themselves to potential clients. In addition to providing our client with an understanding of how competitors wished to be perceived, it was essential to provide them with information on how the client and its competitors were actually being perceived in the marketplace. We conducted in-depth interviews with over 100 buyers or potential buyers of value-based consulting services from within the Fortune 1000. The executives we interviewed represented a variety of functional responsibilities, including finance, compensation, HR, and business line management.
Benefits and Implications
These buyer interviews provided our client with an objective assessment of both the market potential for shareholder value consulting services as well as its own reputation for providing those services. Combined with the competitive analysis, our research enabled our client to effectively reposition itself to maximize its potential in this market segment.
The Internet has dramatically impacted the employment services industry
Case Study –One of the industry changes wrought by the explosive growth of the Internet is a major shift in how companies recruit employees. Employers are increasingly turning to more cost-effective on-line recruiting strategies. Read more
Case Study –One of the industry changes wrought by the explosive growth of the Internet is a major shift in how companies recruit employees. Employers are increasingly turning to more cost-effective on-line recruiting strategies. While the quickest route is to post open positions on well-established, high-traffic, job-hunting sites, many large employers are also developing their own extensive Web-based recruitment strategies. The result: a dramatic drop in the power of traditional recruitment firms. In order to effectively reposition itself against these aggressive new rivals, a leading recruitment firm engaged our services to provide a competitive assessment of the marketplace for recruitment services.
Fuld Approach
We used Porter's Five Forces model as a framework for our analysis, which provided an objective foundation for our client's strategic planning process.
Benefits and Implications
Our recommendations enabled our client to develop a Web-based recruitment tool that effectively leveraged our client's established expertise in recruiting and screening candidates.
Identifying core competencies is critical in an era of outsourcing
Case Study –The market for outsourcing services has increased dramatically as firms in diverse industries seek to enhance productivity by focusing on core competencies. As the market for outsourcing services has expanded, the competition among alternative providers of outsourcing services has intensified. Read more
Case Study –The market for outsourcing services has increased dramatically as firms in diverse industries seek to enhance productivity by focusing on core competencies. As the market for outsourcing services has expanded, the competition among alternative providers of outsourcing services has intensified. Among the providers looking to ride the outsourcing wave are staffing firms, management consulting firms, technology firms with systems expertise, and firms looking to reduce their cost per transaction by performing "back office" functions for other firms within their own industry. In order to develop an attractive value proposition to compete in the outsourcing arena, the outsourcing service providers themselves must effectively define their own "core competencies." For a management consulting firm, the core competency might involve streamlining operations to enhance shareholder value; for a systems integration firm it might be determining and then implementing the most efficient information technology; for a staffing firm it might be selecting the best-qualified employees or providing superior training. Our client was interested in entering the market for outsourcing services, but sought greater detail on the core competencies of leading providers of outsourcing services in the financial transactions processing market.
Fuld Approach
We profiled ten best-in-class firms and evaluated their core competencies as well as how they effectively positioned these competencies to procure large outsourcing contracts.
Benefits and Implications
By identifying where competitor offerings were weak, and mapping these weaknesses against the unmet needs of potential clients, we identified a niche for our client to exploit.
Wins and Losses…"Blind" interviews elicit more objective feedback
Case Study –Buyers don't always provide full disclosure to vendors, particularly after protracted negotiations. An on-line information vendor hired us to conduct "blind" interviews with 30 accounts that had recently been through a competitive bidding process. Read more
Case Study –Buyers don't always provide full disclosure to vendors, particularly after protracted negotiations. An on-line information vendor hired us to conduct "blind" interviews with 30 accounts that had recently been through a competitive bidding process.
Fuld Approach
We selected and interviewed clients who had signed vendor contracts within the last three to six months. This ensured an adequate time buffer so that clients would have put the issues in perspective and set aside personality issues to focus on differences in content and quality of deliverables. It also provided time for sufficient experience with the winning vendor (which in some cases was our client) to provide encourage detailed discussions of how that vendor's actual product, technical support, and customer service fared versus expectations and promises.
Benefits and Implications
Benefits and Implications The vendor gained valuable insights into what specific content, search, and interface features were most important to clients. In addition, our discussions with several of the account "wins" alerted the vendor to significant issues that needed to be addressed to prevent a loss at contract renewal time.
Business Services Practice
