Strategic planning underpins all business areas and is at the heart of business success. Upper Quartile have worked with over 250 SME’s in most industrial sectors throughout the world developing a clear vision and strategy for profitable growth, and implementing the vision.
Our approach breaks the planning into four primary phases:
Mission – where you intend the business to go
Objectives – the key goals needed to achieve the Mission
Strategies – the options available to you to achieve the goals
Tactics – how to put the strategies into actionThe strategic plan is the starting point for all the other plans in every organization. If you get this top one wrong, all the others - the business plan, the annual budget, action plans – won’t work.
Our practical approach means that strategy is allied to implementation, and we work with clients to ensure that the overall vision is translated into action and results.
Project Examples
Trade Association: Harris Tweed
Developed and costed a Promotional and Marketing Strategy for the Harris Tweed sector. Following this Upper Quartile were retained to work with the companies and stakeholders to ensure coherence and implement the actions identified in the strategy.
National Government: Libya – Functional Review of Ministry of Economy
Following the UK Governments support in 2004 to the Libyan Government to diversify the military manufacturing capacity the Libyan Government made a commitment to extend the changes that were identified from the initial work. The Libyan Government made available US$7 million to restructure key General Peoples Councils (Ministries) and in particular the Health, Education and the Economy, Trade and Investment. Upper Quartile was contracted by Adam Smith International to undertake the functional review of the General Peoples Committee of Economy, Trade and Investment (equivalent of BERR in the UK and Ministry of Economy elsewhere). The functional review took in all aspects of the Ministry looking at the support and linkages at a national, regional and municipal level and the effectiveness of the operational agencies with direct reporting lines into the Central Government i.e. Investment Promotion Agency, the Export Promotion Agency, several Business and Free Zones in Misratah, Benghazi and Farwa Island and undertook a cost / benefit of establishing an SME Support Agency. The work was completed over a 4 month period in Tripoli, with a multi-national team and with extensive interaction with senior Government Ministers responsible for effecting step-change to a Government that has changed little in almost 40 years.
Private Sector: Company Development
Upper Quartile has in the last few years had various projects where they have been called in to resolve a specific business issue. The initial problem however is usually just a symptom of a much broader underlying issue. In nearly all consultancy cases it is necessary for Upper Quartile to clarify with the senior management team exactly what they are trying to achieve, in other words, to clarify the overall Vision, develop a clear Strategy and put in place a Structure with clear Goals (which can be measured). Three recent examples have been chosen to represent different impacts achieved.
Knitwear Company
Being supported through the clarification of the management Vision, knowing in terms of products, markets and size of organisation before embarking on changes or specific actions is critical. We believe that this process is best done by brainstorming and Upper Quartile is skilled at facilitating sessions. In the case of a Scottish knitwear company, the initial brief was to reduce stock in raw material, work in progress and finished goods. This was done successfully but during this specific operational part of the consulting work it became obvious that the organisation needed to review its Strategy so a session clarifying the Vision was held. This resulted in a new holistic and integrated Strategic Plan with clear goals for all aspects of the business. It was then easier to define the costs and therefore funding required to support a change process within the company. Ultimately this lead to changes in the company and allowed the company to arrange new finance.
CAD – CAM Company
Another case involved a group of cad-cam software designers who wished to spinout from a Scottish University. Again they had not clarified the scale, direction or market for their new company. To achieve a Strategic Plan it was necessary to go though a process of clarifying the Vision, defining the Plan and putting in place goals for the intended business. This lead to a staff structure which could support all aspects of a growing business and a detailed financial plan. Again funding was obtained and the company spun out and traded successfully.
Construction Company
With a highly profitable construction company, the issue was two owners who were not happy with the way the business was developing and had differing views as to how to proceed. By meetings and ‘bashing heads together’ it became possible to define a way forward to satisfy all parties. The Vision became clarified as ‘we each wish to go our own ways’ after years of working together, however neither could afford to buy out the other. This was resolved by working on a new Strategy which was then translated into a new Business Plan which could potentially be funded from the bank. This was achieved by encouraging the senior management to buy in and this involvement was the spur to get the bank to support. This process allowed one owner to remain and the other to slide out progressively to allow timely succession planning and the development of a new structure.
Upper Quartile can demonstrate that they are flexible and concise as Strategic Planning Consultants with the added dimension of experience and people skills which allows complex and sensitive projects, such as those demonstrated above to be successful.
