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Ironwood Advisory is a transition management consulting firm that advises stakeholders and managements on issues of operations, finance, marketing, sales and strategy in a number of specific industries including companies currently operating internationally or who wish to operate internationally. We also have the capability through interim management to implement recommended changes including efficiency and quality measures – to component out-sourcing or management and staff off-shoring – all the way to entire plant or business relocations, if needed.
The companies which need “international” strategic and operational services include:
The first category includes the domestic U.S. corporation which has international activities such as subsidiaries, joint-ventures, sales offices, procurement centers, etc. which are not performing as expected or are not creating the desired value-add to the corporate results.
The second category is made up of the domestic U.S. corporation considering “going international” on the basis of the potential for
The third category includes the foreign company which is coming or desires to come into the US market either with a sales and distribution strategy or simply to repeat the successes within the company’s own domestic markets through a partial or total duplication of the enterprise. If the company has already created U.S. operations it may seek assistance for problems in operations, strategy, perceptions and / or management.
A surprisingly high percentage of both US and foreign management do not have overseas experience and particularly have not directly run any international based activity.
Misconceptions abound with the most common being often the most dangerous to the bottom line. As one example, there is often the perception that simply speaking English will allow company personnel to do business in the U.S. Rude awakenings arrive in the form of problems within the legal and regulatory environment, discrimination laws and practices, management methods (for example in creating and managing a sales channel). These issues are compounded by the intense market competition that exists among U.S. businesses.
The opposite is also true with U.S. companies whose managements may be unaware of the specific differences within various countries. Examples include labor and work week issues in France and Germany; control issues in certain countries; technology transfer issues in China; fiscal and legal exposure in the minefields of transfer pricing; personal legal and fiscal exposure of top management; foreign exchange controls and obligations.
Today’s business world will probably, at some point in the life of a company, dictate to a company the need for “international” and this business environment will also push the company towards taking the first steps to becoming ‘global.’
The reasons for such a need will vary for each company; however, the very first step is an expert analysis of the company, its markets and clients, its world-wide competition and its strategic options seen from the operational, financial and time-to-objective aspects. Once a basic analysis has been prepared, a logical strategy can be developed and tied to what exists but also to what should be done.
The initial question that a corporation faces is whether it should even be responding to the siren song of international. Some companies should not take the risk within their current strategic planning parameters. Company management needs to have pre-defined the investment risks – and thus the limits – to which it is willing to go. This will concentrate the questions of M&A, joint venturing and / or greenfield creation. Finally, the time-to-objective, costs, financial risks, operational risks and issues of reputation should be calculated.
Engagements may be single or multi-dimensional:
• A Strategic Review addresses whether “international” is a valid option today within the company’s strategic plan parameters.
• A Strategic Analysis of the company, its markets and its competition set the stage.
• Strategic Recommendations as to what the International Plan should be, the times-to-objective, the costs and the risks. At this stage there is also an estimation of the strategic and financial upside for the corporation.
• Strategic Implementation includes M&A, joint-ventures, setting up of offices, setting up of manufacturing (including out-sourcing or off-shoring), of distribution and of management teams.
• Operational Management includes ongoing support
of the newly created international structure. This service also includes the
audit and rectification of existing operations that may not be performing
as expected or desired.
Ironwood International Company Revitalization Team
Ironwood’s international business team includes operating executives
with substantial international experience; marketing, sales and distribution
experts; turnaround personnel familiar with both domestic and foreign production,
and financing services. Ironwood’s corporate finance capacities enable
the restructuring of debt and equity on company balance sheets.
Some of the members of this internationally oriented team are (click for link):
Martin David
Frank Martin
Phillip Fier
Gene Siciliano
Johan Reskian
Douglas Murata
Edward Story
If you operate a business which currently has or wishes to have international operations and you would like to have some help, we urge you to call us at 1-866-692-1600. Ask for Edward Story, Managing Partner, or for other Senior Consultants mentioned on our web site.
Or write us: .
If you are waiting for problems to become more acute before calling in professional
assistance this simply makes the problems harder and more costly to solve.
The available options to correct the root causes of deterioration in a company’s
international (or domestic) operating drivers are more easily acted upon earlier
rather than later. Give us a call. There is no charge – and no risk
to you – for talking about the issues your company may have or for estimating
what would be involved in dealing with them.
Client:A $300 million business services corporation based in the US was losing major domestic contracts as customers were demanding global capabilities which were not being met by the corporation out-sourcing sub-contracts. Major initiatives: • Acted as President for International. Outcome:• Took annual net fees for international from $6 million to $60
million in 24 months. Client:A Paris, France “haute couture” Fashion House that had totally lost direction and which was in a downward spiral of licensing cheaper and cheaper products thereby destroying the image which was the enterprise’s core value. Major Initiatives:• Cleaned the licensee / product base world-wide but particularly
in France, Switzerland, Germany and Japan. Outcome:• Increased revenues 30% (despite license clean-up). Client:A British company manufacturer of power sources for the Ministry of Defense, OEMs and retail markets made strategic errors. This had led to construction of a new primary factory and the loss of overseas markets. The company was losing 10% on revenue. Major Initiatives:• Acted as Chairman / President / CEO. Outcome:• Company became profitable in Year 2. Client:A 2000-employee Heavy Mechanical Engineering Company based in Europe with 20% of revenues in each of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Company had huge problems created by strategic errors, misappropriations and dubious use of funds leading to losses exceeding revenue. Major initiatives:• Acted as Chairman, President, CEO. Outcome:• Company totally shut-down in 18 months with zero adverse press
or political push-back. Client:A Fortune 200 corporation had had a haphazard development in China and needed to re-structure operations while simultaneously maintaining existing business and developing new. Major Initiatives:• Acted as Chairman and CEO …. based in China. Outcome:• Consolidation permitted managerial efficiencies thereby reducing
expats by 50%. |