Our strategic advisory services focus on our clients’ most critical issues and opportunities: strategy, marketing, organization, operations, technology, transformation, digital, advanced analytics, corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions and sustainability across all industries and geographies. We bring deep, functional expertise, but are known for our holistic perspective: we capture value across boundaries. We have also deep expertise in our chosen specialist verticals of Sustainability, Fashion and Retail, Advanced Manufacturing, Real Estate Consulting and Digital Technology where we are market leaders in our respective fields.
How We Help
Leading companies know that great products are necessary but not sufficient: In today’s world, you have to deliver great customer experiences in order to succeed. We call our approach Simple & Digital. We provide the expertise and tools that help you figure out what matters most to customers, and equip your team to deliver delightful experiences while simplifying processes and eliminating costs. These efforts will yield happy customers, happy employees and happy shareholders.
We help with True cost transformation strategies which is about simplifying, refocusing and strengthening your organization so you can pursue growth and provide a better customer experience. Our approach is both holistic and customizable, enabling you to cultivate, reward and continually improve a sustainable cost management culture.
We help in building your diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) vision and strategies. But DEI strategies of yesterday simply aren’t enough to build an innovative, future-ready culture that embraces diversity at every stage, from recruitment through retention and advancement. DEI is embedded in our mission, and through our own journey we’ve built extraordinary teams and an award-winning culture. We’ve spent decades supporting our clients in organizational transformations, and we’ve learned many valuable lessons along the way. We know that a more diverse and inclusive environment doesn’t just benefit employees; companies that commit to DEI outperform their peers across a wide range of critical metrics.
We help by offering training across a wide range of technical and soft skills, tailored to meet your most urgent challenges. Structured as single content modules or as longer programs, and delivered in both single- and multi-client settings, these interactive, high-touch experiences are effective and engaging, regularly winning raves from participants. From zero-based budgeting to inspirational leadership, from the most senior executives to the front line, our programs ensure your teams have the strategic capabilities they need to outperform.
Operations
From the back office and research lab to the factory floor and across your entire supply chain, we can help you develop an unconstrained, end-to-end program to transform your operations. We’ll ensure that you focus on the opportunities that maximize competitive advantage and strengthen the connection between operations and strategy.
Supply Chain Consulting
No matter where your company falls on the supply-chain maturity curve, Supply Chain Consulting can help you become a leader. And, we have helped companies in many different industries:
- Conquer capacity constraints
- Overcome margin pressure
- Embrace the latest digital technologies
- And fully align their supply chain capabilities with their strategic ambition.
Why think in terms of reinvention? Because incremental improvements are no longer enough. The journey from suppliers at one end to customers at the other has many steps, and along the way there are any number of places where mistakes, delays, unnecessary costs, inefficiency, poor communication and missed opportunities can creep in. So it’s not surprising that most companies have supply chains that underperform, typically leaving 5 to 10 percentage points in potential gross margin gains—and often more—unrealized.
We provide the right mix of planning, technical expertise, specialized tools and ongoing engagement to bridge the gap between strategy and design, and ensure that your supply chain reaches its full, unconstrained potential.
Every supply chain has an “efficient frontier” that defines the trade-off between service level performance and inventory levels. Most companies don’t get as close to that frontier as they could, opting instead to carry too much inventory and pay the price in diminished service level performance.
There are a number of reasons for this, ranging from the use of incorrect safety stock algorithms to SKU complexity to lack of ownership of metrics to ineffective promotions, and many more.
We work with companies to optimize inventory management, first by getting you closer to the current efficiency frontier and then by helping you “shift the curve,” to achieve step-change improvements in inventory efficiency. We help you address multiple facets of your supply chain design and operations, including planning, purchasing, manufacturing, distribution, product portfolio and your manufacturing network. We also work with you to integrate digital capabilities across your supply chain.
We’ve helped companies in retail, advanced manufacturing, consumer products, energy & natural resources, healthcare and many other industries reduce non-seasonal inventories by 25%, improve the inventory-to-sales ratio by 4%-5%, and achieve total shrink reduction of 15%, to cite just a few results.
Transportation and Logistics
Becoming a leader in transportation and logistics requires finding the right balance between cost, investment and service levels based on segment need.
We help companies do that through an approach that includes three major elements.
- Strategy translation: Determine optimal service levels based on customer needs and your overall strategy for customer service and logistics.
- Network optimization: Evaluate resource sharing across units, and make critical decision about whether and what to own versus outsourcing to a 3PL.
- Customer service and logistics excellence: Optimize the order-to-cash process and the warehousing and transport components of your logistics operations.
We also inject state-of-the-art digitization and automation technologies wherever they produce value, and help your teams acquire the capabilities they need to support continuous improvement. The result: Logistics costs decline 10% to 25%, on-time and in-full deliveries improve to >95%, and Capex on transport and warehousing infrastructure declines.
Integrated Business Planning
We believe there are three essential building blocks to integrated business planning (IBP):
It should begin with strategic translation, to make sure that your top business priorities inform the choices you make about your network and operational parameters.
It should integrate with your demand and supply planning.
And, it should rely on metrics, root-cause diagnostics, feedback loops, and a variety of other tools and data sources to support continuous improvement.
Our IBP consulting expertise builds on those three elements by creating coordinated, cross-functional teams; applying clear governance and decision rights; integrating plans; connecting data systems; and developing the capability to identify the root causes of any problems or sources of underperformance.
Organisational Development
How do you grow sustainably while preserving an insurgent mindset? How do you boost efficiency while remaining flexible? How do you launch and scale innovation while continuing to execute tried and tested processes? We help you balance all these considerations and more, ensuring that you attract and retain great talent and effectively manage organizational change. If people are your most important asset it makes sense to invest in them accordingly. We work with companies in every industry to help leaders become more inspirational, managers more capable, front-line employees more responsive to customer needs and organizations better-equipped to meet a range of talent needs. We combine original research on effective leadership with best-in-class training to help everyone reach their full potential. Top-performing companies are twice as likely to have a cohesive and future-oriented talent strategy and approach. We even work with our inhouse divisions to recruit and develop talent for our clients.
Sustainability and Responsibility Strategic Advisory
The normal rules of business don’t stop when it comes to sustainability and corporate responsibility. Pragmatic solutions still matter. So does ROI. That’s why we make sure that your strategy, operations and customer value proposition don’t simply address sustainability concerns but maximize the opportunities they present.
We can help you embed sustainability in every facet of your strategy and operations, to address everything from energy and emissions to investments and due diligence. Our sustainability consulting expertise extends to plastics recycling and sustainable materials, food and nature systems, supply chain optimization, and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Together, we’ll make sure that your approach to sustainability is:
- Rooted in your core strategy We help you develop a plan that strengthens your core business.
- ROI-driven Our experience shows that the actions that endure are those that produce the clearest business benefits.
- Visionary and pragmatic We help you translate ambitious goals into practical, actionable plans that get results.
- Tailored to a multi-stakeholder world We understand that the most challenging sustainability issues can’t be fixed alone, so we’ll help you foster collaboration and partnerships across your value chain and include all the stakeholders critical to your success.
We also advise
in the specialist areas of
Climate Change
Climate concerns demand a comprehensive response that addresses the risks and seizes the opportunities. We’ll help you develop and execute a climate change strategy that turns sustainability into a competitive advantage.
Circularity and Sustainable Materials
Reduce environmental waste by developing an effective circularity and sustainable materials strategy. We can help you improve operational efficiency and implement a truly holistic approach that unlocks new opportunities and enhances customer value.
Sustainable Food and Nature Systems
Can a global population expected to surpass 9 billion by 2050 live well and sustainably on a healthy planet? Yes, and our work on Food System Transformation, developed in partnership with several key industry players, can play a major role.
Digital Transformation Advisory
To win in the digital era you need a bold ambition and flawless execution. We can help with both. Our multidisciplinary teams of experts work side-by-side with you to design, build, and scale truly transformative digital businesses.
Whatever your ambition may be—from embracing new digital capabilities to reimagining how your business operates to launching entirely new digital ventures—we can help you set a new standard of excellence and achieve unprecedented levels of value.
Our approach combines a proven end-to-end transformation framework with MAYTRANS, an integrated platform of digital capabilities supported by an expansive ecosystem of best-of-breed partners specializing in digital transformation.
Your strategy should be built on a detailed understanding of your customers’ raw need, which will inspire new, digitally driven ways to satisfy it. Taking that strategy to market requires a business model that’s nimble enough to take advantage of digital innovations, and that can protect against digital disruption. We can help you address every facet of your business model, including:
Industry focus:
fashion and retail
We are the strategic advisory for fashion and retail companies
Our focus is on business strategy, product sustainability, circularity and using innovation to create positive change.
We provide services to a diverse range of designers and brands at every stage of their journey, to design, source, and produce their products responsibly, for the benefit of people and the planet.
We focus on digital transformation through Customer and Channel Engagement:
Simple & Digital delivers a superior customer experience while reducing both complexity and costs.
Dynamic Marketing Optimization improves marketing ROI by 10%–25%, by balancing analytics and testing with new operational and organizational capabilities.
Test for Results enables live in-market testing and personalization at all stages of the sales and marketing funnel.
MAYBACH Commercial Excellence Vision encompasses the expertise, digital tools, and benchmarks you need to root your go-to-market strategy in a deeper understanding of your customers.
MaybachMoney provides the granular visibility you need to up-sell, cross-sell and capture new business across complex customer segments.
Operations
01
Maybach Digital Procurement
Maybach Digital Procurement can be optimized to reduce your purchasing cost base by an average of 8%–12% and deliver additional annual savings of 2%–3%.
02
Supply Chain Edge
Supply Chain Edge is an analytics-driven, cloud-based tool that integrates seven core capabilities to turn your supply chain into a competitive weapon.
03
Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 addresses product development and process optimization with domain expertise, tools, diagnostics, benchmarks, third-party specialists, and best practices.
04
Support Function Advantage
Support Function Advantage digitally transforms how work gets done in finance, HR, enterprise technology, and other functions throughout your organization.
We work with designers brands and retailers to integrate responsible innovation and circularity
We work to improve the industry with sustainable and regenerative practices in the fashion and textiles industry. Our focus is on climate action, responsible innovation and circular strategies, and we are passionate about creating change towards a circular system for our clothes. We work with designers, brands and retailers to integrate new systems and programs to address social and environmental sustainability that are relevance and impactful.
Transparency and traceability are key action areas for fashion businesses as they strive to connect with an increasingly engaged and values driven customer. With insight into the supply chain, opportunities to create positive impact can be identified and actioned, and communications strategy employed that engages and informs. How can we work with you?
STRATEGY
A strong strategy for embedding sustainability throughout your business is key.
We can do a baseline assessment and benchmark your business against industry best practice, and design creative and tailored solutions for positive change.
By developing strategies aligned with your purpose, you can integrate sustainability in a holistic way that works for your business and its sustainability journey. Transparent, honest communications and education a integral elements.
ACTION
We work with you to identify innovative solutions that promote circularity, biodiversity and climate action.
We can help you understand and measure your carbon footprint, source better materials and form partnership with suppliers who have aligned values to yours.
Through our global networks, we can connect you with responsible supply chain partners that offer sustainable materials and ethical practices to inspire new ways to create and produce
EDUCATION
Our workshops cover the spectrum from Sustainability Fundamentals, to Design Strategies for Circularity, Innovations in Materials, Supply Chain Transparency and Strategic Communications.
We are focussed on supporting brands, industry professionals and students to embed circularity and responsible practices throughout the business and product life cycle.
Our Focus on Circular Fashion
With growing resource scarcity and increasing volumes of waste, it’s imperative that the clothing industry must move towards a circular system to remain viable. Both in the eyes of customers and to continue to have feedstock to make new products.
By developing a framework on how to move to a circular economy, we can guide on moving away from the current linear models towards circular ones, just like nature’s own eco system. This includes everything from how you design, develop and produce your products to changing your business models and ensuring clothes are kept at their optimal value for as long as possible.
Product design, performance and stewardship are key considerations when working towards a more circular fashion system. By mapping the life cycle of your product, social and environmental impacts can be honed in on and macro systems and partnership established to facilitate circularity. As a brand, ask yourself: How can what I produce be used more, and once its stopped being used how can it be recovered and reused?
Moving towards a circular system is an exciting opportunity for forward-thinking brands and we are passionate about working with these trailblazers to help them achieve this goal.
Industry focus:
Advanced manufacturing
We are the strategic advisory for advanced manufacturing companies
Downturns, lockdowns, trade wars and, for some, a dawning era of massive infrastructure investment add up to a moment of extraordinary change and opportunity for the construction and building products industry. Soaring construction costs have stressed both commercial and residential subsectors, and their related supply chains. Yesterday’s playbook is out, and adaptability is in.
For decades we’ve helped industry leaders develop the strategies and capabilities that fuel innovation and growth. In our many engagements, and in every type of market environment, our family have helped companies in advanced manufacturing achieve extraordinary results.
As sustainability becomes imperative, we’re helping our clients reinvent the way they operate, invest, and plan ahead. As a manufacturer seeking to understand usage trends and market penetration, or an engineering and procurement company specializing in highway and street construction, our skilled teams will help your company achieve unprecedented impact.
Our network of experts can help you reinvent your manufacturing capabilities, and bring more resilience to your supply chains and procurement programs. The industry’s most successful companies have turned to us for commercial due diligence on many of projects.
Not only do we provide advice but we also ensure that we turn this advice into action and we even have our engineering teams design and procure both new and second hand equipment from all parts of the globe for or clients.
As world populations rapidly alter how and where they work, travel, and live, profound changes are coming to the sector. Only the boldest, most discipline, and innovative companies will prosper. We’ll ensure that you’re among them.
Specialist Technology Advisory Services
Our specialists apply proven multidisciplinary techniques and tools to address key issues, including: aligning business and IT strategies and architectures, managing complex business IT transformations, optimising IT performance/value and managing IT costs, in the context of appropriately managing risk and achieving business results.
We support our clients by helping them use Information Technology (IT) to achieve their business objectives. It is a “client side” service, based on the provision of independent professional advice, typically to a Chief Information Officer (CIO) or the IT team.
We are independent of specific technologies or application packages. We provide unbiased and objective recommendations in the best interest of our clients. However, we do maintain close relationships with major technology vendors, such that we understand their capabilities, services and products and can collaborate with them when this is in our clients’ interest.
Some of the areas in which we are especially effective are:
- Enterprise Architecture
- IT Strategy
- IT effectiveness
- IT cost reduction
- IT sourcing and procurement
- Cloud computing
- Information and analytics
- IT programme delivery
We have a particular focus on Emerging ERP Solutions. Emerging Enterprise Resource Planning solutions drive functional excellence in human resources, finance, and other key operational units, positioning the wider organisation for sustainable growth and success.
Departments such as Human Resources, Operations, and Finance are the engine rooms that power an organisation’s performance and sustainable growth. But how do they ensure functional excellence within their own units? Our professionals will advise on the transformational outcomes achievable through a range of ERP software-as-a-service options, and help you implement the one to suit your business needs. We also have deep knowledge in the design, build, and deployment of cloud-based solutions— an extensive range of industry-specific applications that transform business functions with tools such as cognitive analysis and robotic process automation. Whether you’re in health care, manufacturing, services, the public sector— or any organisation excited by the prospect of cutting-edge digital transformation. Allow us to introduce you to the game-changing power of these and other emerging ERP solutions.
Specialist
branding, marketing
and PR advisory services
Identifying the DNA of your brand is the first step we take to help you achieve correct positioning in the market place. We then ensure that every part of your business is aligned with the company’s organisation to work in a consistent way. We build brands from the inside out so how you look, how you sound and what you say is consistent and compelling.
Our work in branding covers two key areas: developing brands and creating brand communication campaigns. When developing your brand, we start from the inside out, defining your proposition, values, tone of voice and visual identity. It’s all about creating a powerful and cohesive brand story that’s insight-driven and gets cut through in the market and with your customers.
When it comes to brand communications, we’re experienced in direct mail, OOH, responsive press ads, inserts, CRM and radio, all of which can be integrated with digital campaigns. Whether it’s creating an entire brand from scratch, art directing a brand photoshoot or reinvigorating brand marketing collateral, we take an insight-driven approach that combines the expertise from across our team.
Real Estate Advisory Services
We offer real estate advisory to organisations on how to occupy, finance and manage their property in order to reduce costs, maximise productivity, and future-proof their estate.
Real estate is a fundamental component of any business. Whether it’s leasing office space, building a new factory or managing an investment portfolio, all companies have considerations regarding their real estate footprint. In a continuously changing market, it is important to have a clear and considered real estate strategy and plan to help your business manage costs, maximise productivity and future-proof its sustainability.
Our real estate advisory team brings together experienced professionals with diverse expertise to provide your business with the support and capabilities it needs to meet its objectives. We are independent advisers whose sole objective is to provide you with the best outcomes.
Effective management of your real estate assets can provide:
A platform for success
Finding the right space, in the right location provides a foundation to promote success through your business’ operations, people, technology and access to market, enabling you to focus on your business goals.
An enabler for change
We can help you create a flexible real estate strategy and plan, allowing your business to adapt when it needs to.
A driver for growth
With the foundation, strategy and plan in place, we will help you optimise your business’ efficiency and productivity. Capital raised as a result and in addition to strategic disposals can be re-invested elsewhere and support your business growth.