Background and Challenge

Our client, a leading provider of technology-based brand and packaging solutions, recently agreed to acquire a close competitor.

With a broader offering, the combined organization was expected to have a unique market opportunity to drive growth in several regions, as well as capture a greater share of wallet among customers.

However, in order to capture this opportunity, the combined company needed to redesign its commercial model to be customer-centric and ensure it was aligned to its targeted markets and customers.

In addition, back-office functions for both legacy companies were not configured to support the new company, which would have resulted in missed opportunities to scale the business and improve performance.

Approach and Recommendations

  • Collaborated to define the right go-to-market strategy for the combined business, including defining multiple customer segments across regions to target the broader offering
  • Designed a customer-centric commercial model, and supported the organizational cascading of reporting lines and positions
  • Assessed current performance of the supporting functions — corporate center, HR, financial, IT, legal — including cost drivers, service levels provided, resource levels, and organizational strengths and gaps
  • Developed design criteria, defined new governance and decision rights, and redesigned functional organizations to support the commercial organization across the regions
  • Quantified resource levels, cost savings and timing to migrate to the new model
  • Facilitated talent retention and organizational cascading

Results

  • With a clear go-to-market strategy and a new customer-centric organizational model, the combined company was in a strong position to capitalize on its market position
  • The new model represented a significant design departure from the previous approach and resulted in much stronger alignment with the strategic needs of the business
  • The implications of each functional group’s redesign was considered across global, regional and local scales
  • Within each geographic region, governance, service delivery and strategic alignment with the broader organization were key considerations
  • Commercial integration plans were developed and carried out with very positive early customer feedback
  • The new support function model was more cost-efficient (savings estimated to be  approximately 15% of baseline), while also striking a balance between corporate control and regional/local autonomy to support the service delivery model
  • We worked with the client to ensure there was buy-in to the new design across different functional groups
  • Decision-making power and internal politics were considered in collaboration with client stakeholders
  • Our objective facilitation of organizational cascading efforts led to better decisions and greater acceptance by the broader manager and employee base, essentially de-risking significant people issues

Related Insights