Wednesday, August 26, 2015

The Role Of International Strategic Consultants In Building Successful Multinationals

By Ruthie Livingston


Over the years, there have been many challenges that the multinationals have had to cope with in the international marketplace. This calls for businesses to develop a strategic vision and follow that up with strategies on every front. That way, they are able to maintain their competitive edge over their competitors and remain profitable in the end. Enlisting the assistance of international strategic consultants is a step towards the right direction.

An international strategic consultant assists firms develop corporate strategies and business unit strategies that incorporate a global outlook and in turn helps put all the synergies towards achieving the set goals. Corporate strategies deal with such challenges as scenario planning, alliance management, market assessment and the design of the strategic planning process. A good corporate strategy provides the foundation for other strategies that are formulated later.

The dynamism in the global market place dictates that a company must be always looking for ways to diversify its sources of revenue. Relying on one or two streams of income may put the company into a risk of failure should there be a change of policies, customer preferences or emergence of new technologies. A consultant helps the company develop credible innovation processes, product development and assist in building robust brands in global marketplace. Furthermore, the consultant helps uncover customer needs and develop innovative solutions to meet such needs.

The employees of a firm are its most valuable resource. An effective team is innovative, creates quality and value for clients, and is able to reach the set goals. Business turns to consultants in the development of an efficient business model, organizational design, performance management, leadership management, and selection of quality business service providers for its own needs.

The growth of a company may be measured by its vertical and horizontal integration. One of the horizontal growth strategies is by merging with others and acquisitions of the rival establishments. These give the business access to already established markets and working systems that were held by the rivals. Assistance is needed in identifying the right target, due diligence the process of screening targets, post-merger integration and all other aspects mergers and acquisitions.

A functional strategy is the grease that keeps the wheels of other strategies running. It incorporates actual daily activities that are geared towards the achievement of set goals and corporate strategies. Examples of functional strategies that a business may require assistance in developing include back office operations such as procurement, information strategy, finance, and human resources. Examples of areas where a business may need function strategy formulation assistance include working capital management, finance outsourcing and running of performance control and management solutions like SAP solutions.

Strategies need to be executed in order for them to make any sense to the business. Most businesses have a problem putting the plans into action due to the resources needed, training and logistics that are put in place in the implementation stage. A consultant can be at hand to assist in developing roadmaps for implementation of the strategies, managing change, training the workforce on the new systems and measuring the progress.

Most consultancies develop competencies in a few areas such as human resource, sales, finance, operation, information technology. It is vital for a business to ensure that the consultant it hires has expertise in its area of need. This ensures it gets quality services to achieve its goals.




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