Cairneagle Consulting: Business Services

The last 15 years have seen a widening of the gap between the leading edge of the various segments that collectively make up the business services sector and the trailing firms in what remain highly fragmented markets. Many new business models have evolved, placing extraordinary pressure on traditional competitors in their particular segments, whilst others players have concentrated on nurturing new niches of higher profitability.

We have worked with CEOs in many different market positions; eg.,
  • helping new entrants to develop investment and market entry strategies to maximise the value of intellectual property and assets
  • working with traditionally dominant firms in their struggle to transform themselves in a way that maintains their position
  • working with smaller, nimbler companies that are looking to adopt the right technologies and processes to grow share at the expense of their slower peers

In this space we see again and again the importance of maintaining alignment between customer focus and a company’s products or services, combined with its internal capabilities – particularly in changing marketplaces. Despite the simplicity of this framework it is seldom easy to assess this alignment clearly for any but the most self-aware management teams, even in a steady environment.

We have found that fundamental economic analysis can uncover the size of existing and potential revenue and profit pools, and that a disinterested articulation of trends and driving forces can develop a small set of market scenarios on which a business can frame its own strategic planning leading to performance improvement.