Thursday, August 20, 2015

The Role Of International Strategic Consultants In Building Successful Multinationals

By Ruthie Livingston


To survive in the volatile economic times and take advantage of the available opportunities, businesses need to develop a strategic vision. A good business strategy helps the business maintain sustainable competitive advantage without sacrificing its profitability. The business may not have the expertise to develop the relevant strategies in the worldwide marketplace Thus, hiring an international strategic consultants would be the best idea.

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.

For a company to survive in a global market, it should look at ways of diversifying its revenue sources. There is always a risk that technology would change in making the current good obsolete, a change of regulations may also impact on the business negatively and customers may shift their preferences to new products. With the assistance of a consultant, business can develop a pipeline for innovation and produce better products. The business is also able to unearth hidden customer wants and provide solutions to the same.

The success of any organization is largely dependent on its workforce. An effective workforce enables the firm innovate, hit targets and offer quality services and products to its clients. International strategic consultant assist in coming up with effective organizational design, leadership development, performance management, workforce development and hiring of quality business services to meet the market challenges head on.

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 results from breaking down other strategies small manageable policies. It includes planning of daily activities of the firm that include human resource, finance, information technology, and procurement. A business may be in need of getting finance to expand and access new markets, manage its working capital overseas or training on the use of performance management systems like SAP.

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.

Given the broad challenges in the international market, most consultants offer support in a few areas. These include staffing, operations, technology, process improvement, and sales consulting among many more. It is important for a business to pick a consultancy firm that has the expertise in the area that the business requires assistance.




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