The Arrow Flies Annual Report 2006/2007
Copenhagen Consulting Company
CONTENT
5
MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD
7
THE ARROW FLIES 2007
8
FACTS AND FIGURES 2007
10
BREAKING AWAY
12 13 14 14 15 16 16 17 17 18 18 19
THE FLIGHT MAP The alternative facts & figures Air Greenland Maersk Line and Maersk Logistics A-Pressen, Egmont and TV2 Norge Path Solutions On Time Zone Company PANDORA Jewelry Amrop Hever SanomaWSOY Ecco
23 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
2008 BUSINESS AGENDA Business Development Management Globalisation Economic Slow-Down Carbon Management Strategy Execution Digitalisation Private Equity Outlook
32
Onwards
Copenhagen Consulting Company
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MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD
It is not traditional for management consultancies to provide much information to stakeholders and the general public. Copenhagen Consulting Company publishes this yearly report exactly because we strive to be something different from a traditional management consultancy. We want to be a company that interacts with stakeholders in constant dialogue on how we best fulfil our role within the Nordic business community. Copenhagen Consulting Company was founded in 2002, with the aim of providing a real alternative to the US consultancies in the Nordic Region. We wanted to set a new agenda. We wanted to build a sustainable business with a high-end brand. We wanted to work for the biggest, fastest and most profitable companies in the Nordic Region (within our areas of expertise). We wanted to work globally. But first and foremost, we wanted to do it “our way”. As you will see in this report we are delivering on this vision.
“Given the same amount of intelligence, timidity will do a thousand times more damage than audacity.”
Our current strategic action plan, “Breaking Away”, is the main vehicle for delivering on the vision (decided at a memorable CoCoCo-trip to Athens in May). “Breaking Away” refers to positioning Copenhagen Consulting Company, or to “break away”, not from who we are, but from where we are. It is a massive undertaking but a necessary one. You will learn more about it on the following pages.
Carl von Clausewitz,
It is our hope that you will enjoy this report. If not for the 2007 facts and figures, or for the 2008 outlook, then the stories about how our projects are actually delivered – rooted in traditional professional management consulting values, but with greater emphasis on experience, insight, client involvement, collaboration, pragmatism and simplicity.
“On War”, 1832
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Copenhagen Consulting Company team as a whole for a fantastic year with many professional and cultural highlights, and even more so the Copenhagen Consulting Company clients for the impressive trust they have shown our company and our ability to deliver.
Christian Hvidt (chairman)
Asger Flygare
General Rtd, Former chief of defence
CEO, Arnold Busck
Jørgen Vig Knudstorp
Gert Hansen
CEO. Lego Group
Former practice lead, PwC
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Copenhagen Consulting Company
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THE ARROW FLIES 2007
Going into 2007 we felt that we were prepared for a big step, we felt that the bow was drawn, and that we were ready to release. Today, I think that we all agree, from the chairman to the newest employee, that we have seen the arrow fly during the year that passed. We managed to create record top and bottom line results, defined and received massive buy-in to our new strategy, discussed our company values thoroughly and coined them anew, signed an alliance with the global strategy consulting house, L.E.K. Consulting, moved into new premises in Copenhagen and opened an office in Oslo, lifted our internal HR-processes to a new level, appointed one new partner and two associate partners, and had a lot of fun! Some of the most fun and memorable moments were during our company outings to Athens, Greece in May and Båstad, Sweden in August, but also during the two “sold-out” Club evenings at our office in Copenhagen, and at our recent Christmas celebrations with our families. It’s a cliché, but when all has been said, the most important aspect of the year is that we expanded and strengthened our relations to key clients. On the following pages you will see examples of how we worked together with clients both in Denmark and globally to deliver results and build relations. This is the essence of Copenhagen Consulting Company. In 2007, we also published a Business Development Management (BDM) book and hosted a BDM seminar at the Danish National Gallery with more than 250 participants. Looking to 2008, we hope to continue the current trajectory of the arrow. We will continue to strengthen our sector insight, our service line capabilities, our partnership with L.E.K. Consulting and our relations with clients. Further, we expect to contribute to the theme of carbon management by working with clients and academia to build intellectual capital on this important subject. As global climate change emerges as the greatest challenge of our time, the reduction of carbon emissions will be on top of the government and corporate strategic agendas for 2008 and the years to come. The management consulting industry can take a pivotal role in securing that carbon management best practices are developed and implemented across industries and borders. We pledge to invest and do our part.
Torsten Hvidt Managing Partner
Copenhagen Consulting Company
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FACTS AND FIGURES 2007
Copenhagen Consulting Company has shown consistent year-on-year growth since we started – through the slow-down in 2002, through the development of our offering and infrastructure in the years that followed and finally through a merger in 2006. There are indications that 2008 might me be a less favourable year than 2007 for the Nordic business community. However, at Copenhagen Consulting Company we expect continued growth - in 2008 and onwards. The following pages will explain why. Strong industry focus drives growth In our “Breaking Away” strategy we identified three industry areas where we already had deep insight and a critical mass of consultants with significant experience: Retail+, Media+ and Transportation+. In these sectors, we also advise private equity players on acquisitions and transformation programs. The Retail+ sector competence was strengthened even further in 2007. Our position as a leading consultancy for Nordic retailers was already backed by global reference clients such as IKEA and Bestseller Retail Europe and furthermore by the regional retail banking giant, Danske Bank. In the year gone by, our retail team was fortunate to continue our work for world renowned brands such as ECCO and LEGO, while we started international projects for Cartier and Bang & Olufsen. We expect the retail sector to show further growth, helping clients with their international expansion and strengthening their retail concepts and performance. Our Media+ team has continued to offer strategic and implementation advice to Nordic media groups, especially within broadcast distribution and digital business development. We are proud to have a truly Nordic media practice working with leading companies such as SanomaWSOY, Egmont and A-pressen in the Nordic region, but also in Eastern Europe and Benelux. We look forward to servicing existing clients with their strategic development, M&A as well as getting their companies ready for tighter economic conditions. The Transportation+ team works with transportation in a broad sense, with a client portfolio that includes airlines, shipping, postal and rail companies. In the future, we expect to continue our work both with strategy development and strategy implementation,
2006/07: 86
2005/06: 80
2004/05: 39 2003/04: 32
2002/03: 9
Revenue, in MIO DKK.
Our M&A and Transactions team works both for private equity and corporate clients, helping them with pre-screening, commercial due diligence and postacquisition turnaround. Our Corporate Finance team also works with divestments, managing the entire auctions process from start to sale. A Nordic management consultancy with global reach Our business outside Denmark shows significant growth. Over the last two years, 30% of our turnover comes from companies with headquarters outside Denmark; 21% from Norway, Sweden and Finland, and 9% from the rest of the world, especially from the Middle East. We estimate that more than 75-80% of our work has an international scope, i.e. is delivered partly or wholly outside the Nordic region. We expect our Nordic and international presence to grow in the years to come. This growth will be driven by our partnership with L.E.K. Consulting as well as by the opening of our office in Oslo.
focusing on issues such as CO2 compliance, yield management and readiness for declined volumes. Well-defined competency areas with a broad client portfolio If the sectors are our vertical dimension, the horizontal half of our business is driven by strong competencies in key service lines, where we assist clients across industries. The Strategy Execution team helps clients reduce the gap between strategic intent and actual results, for example assisting Maersk Line and Maersk Logistics with the global roll-out of new sales processes and CRM system in the “One Bridge” project. The Operations Team works within the broad area of increasing profitability, using a toolbox that includes purchasing, profitability analysis, lean processes and supply chain management. Clients include SAS and Novozymes. Media: 16%
In Sales & Marketing Excellence, we help clients such as PFA Pension and Post Danmark get in-depth knowledge of their clients, and create world-class sales organisations and sales training programs.
Transportation: 19% Retail: 21% Other sectors: 44%
Revenue, % split by sector, (2005/06 and 2006/07)
Denmark: 70% Nordic: 21% Rest-of-World: 9%
Revenue, % split by geography, (2005/06 and 2006/07)
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Copenhagen Consulting Company
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BREAKING AWAY Carl von Clausewitz was our source of inspiration when the Copenhagen Consulting Company partners sat down in early 2007 to define our 2010 strategy. We wanted to be bold, keep the initiative, remain entrepreneurial and stay hungry. The strategy was presented in Athens to our team with a view to the Acropolis in May 2007. It is an ambitious Nordic growth plan aimed at breaking Copenhagen Consulting Company away from the mid-tier consulting market by leveraging our unique industry insights. The “Breaking Away” document is a source of inspiration that helps us keep our sense of direction while being busy solving complex issues for our clients. Mission and vision Our mission is to be a management consultancy with a Nordic presence and global reach. The vision is that priority clients and Nordic executives within our chosen sectors rate Copenhagen Consulting Company as their number one business advisor. Our value statement is a commitment to fight “status quo”, armed with professional experience, personal substance and a well-defined company culture.
THE FLIGHT MAP The “Breaking Away” strategy contains our operational priorities for the coming years that enable us to focus, grow and develop the company. While our mission and vision is what ultimately distinguishes us from the competition and unite us as a team, our strategy 2010 is deliberately designed as a bolt-on/off plan allowing us to expand and tighten our efforts as new opportunities emerge within our areas of expertise.
One of the most memorable of the internal greetings was from an experienced consultant conducting a workshop in Manila, Philippines during the fall, managing to get hit by a typhoon, a tidal wave, a 6.0 earthquake and a failed military coup – all within a week. Who said consulting is all about PowerPoint?
• Deliver consistent superior performance in everything we do (Quality, Reputation, Career) • Establish Nordic presence and ensure true global reach (Norway, Sweden, L.E.K. Consulting) • Build undisputed leadership positions in three sectors (Retail +, Media +, Transportation +) • Specialise our offering within four service lines (Strategy Execution, M&A and Transactions, Sales & Marketing Excellence, Operational Strategy)
It was only after one of our board members noted the frequency of messages from around the world that it dawned on us that we were indeed involved in global business on behalf of our clients. We would regularly share photos and war-stories from Mumbai, Nuuk, Panama, Stockholm, Beijing, Struer, Dubai, Warsaw, Seattle, Tønder, London, Sao Paulo, Oslo, Helsinki, Shanghai, Madrid, Paris, Cape Town, etc. If not “lost in globalisation,” then overtaken by it. The flight map shows where the arrow took us during 2007. In the following pages you will find snapshots from our work around the globe. We would like to thank the clients who trusted us with critical assignments and believed in our ability to deliver no matter what – and where. We enjoyed it immensely and hope to see you all again in 2008.
Our strategy is a direct continuation of things gone well in the past. There is no magical Swiss knife. No silver bullet. Only a more sharply defined direction underpinned by hard work.
The cococo team enjoys the sunset from the lycabettus hill in athens, may 2007
2007 was a remarkable year for many reasons. Looking back, it occurred to us that the scope of our projects had become truly global, earlier than we had planned, and at a pace that has surprised us.
The acropolis, taken during a company outing to athens, may 2007
Copenhagen Consulting Company
THE ALTERNATIVE Facts & Figures
Around the World IN 2007 Children when founded in 2002: 19 Children today: 73 Children born in 2007: 12 Number of employees (start-of-year): 52 Number of employees (end-of-year): 67 Clients served: 102 Projects initiated: 255 Flight miles flown: 650.000 miles Distance from northernmost (Ilulissat, 69.1째 North) to southernmost (Cape Town, 33.5째 South) destination: 12.721 km Hotel night sleepovers: 773 Workshops conducted: 300+ Major foreign metropolis worked out of: 44 Continents worked out of: 6 (Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Australia) Highest temperature: 49 degrees Celsius in the shadow (Kuwait City) Lowest temperature: minus 38 degrees Celsius (Greenland) Difference between max and min temperature: 87 degrees Celsius
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Copenhagen Consulting Company
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corporate strategy in the arctic
one bridge – global change
challenging a market leader
Air Greenland
Maersk Line and Maersk Logistics
A-pressen, Egmont & TV2 Norge
Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, Mexico, Madrid, Sofia, Cambridge, New York, Sao Paolo, Sydney, Tokyo and Dubai were some of the locations, spread across five continents, that the Copenhagen Consulting Company team visited, working with local management of Maersk Line and Maersk Logistics on the “One Bridge” project.
Throughout the last four years Copenhagen Consulting Company has built a stable and increasing Norwegian client base within our focus industries, especially in the Norwegian media market. An illustrative example is our engagement with A-pressen, Egmont and TV2 in creating a NewCo, where the digital assets of these companies are included to offer consumers and advertisers an alternative to the dominant Schibsted site-portfolio in the Norwegian online advertising market.
The project is aimed at transforming an operationally focused organisation in 125 countries by introducing a new sales approach, supported by global processes enabled by a CRM system. It is one of many projects, where Copenhagen Consulting Company throughout 2007 had the distinct pleasure of assisting one of the largest corporations in the world: A.P. Moller - Maersk.
In May, when the sun never sets north of the Arctic Circle, the former Olympic cross-country skier and former Sales & Marketing Director of SAS Denmark, Michael Binzer, received an offer he could not refuse. He became the youngest ever CEO of Air Greenland – a company enjoying the fruits of the booming tourism and scientific exploration industries in Greenland, but also a company that plays a pivotal role as infrastructure provider to the local community.
A unique workshop driven roll-out approach has been developed together with the client in the “One Bridge” project. Among other things, it has led to the introduction of interactive management commitment workshops, and untraditional tools such as business dilemma cards as well as a competitive board game with a match race theme to facilitate the transformation.
Michael Binzer asked members of our aviation practice to assist in establishing a comprehensive corporate strategy aiming to define Air Greenland’s priorities for the next 5 years: • Ensure full exploitation of the growing tourism and helicopter charter business • Define a corporate business model and asset base enabling Air Greenland to uphold its competitiveness and service levels • Exploit corporate synergies to other subsidiaries within travel agency services, hotel operation and cruise services • Prepare Air Greenland’s organisation for “open skies” competition from other North Atlantic operators For five months, a Copenhagen Consulting Company team worked their way through dog sledge trips and whale-watching in temperatures as low as -38 degrees Celsius to engage Air Greenland’s Board and Executive Management team in defining the “Connector++” strategy. “Connector++” signals that Air Greenland will move from “connecting the dots” to become a proactive developer of tourism, exploration and infrastructure in Greenland. The strategy also implies an unprecedented investment program that upgrades the aircraft and helicopter fleet as well as makes new investments in hotels and infrastructure that will benefit not only Air Greenland, but also the Greenlanders.
Copenhagen Consulting Company has acted as strategic and financial advisor to A-pressen and Egmont in establishing this new digital company in Norway. Through our facilitation of the vision and strategy discussion, assessment of the commercial potential of a joint traffic network and evaluation of what assets and competences to include in the transaction, the parties were able to draft a shareholder agreement and form the NewCo.
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“We wanted to challenge Schibsted seriously. That was why we together with Egmont back in November 2006 decided to buy out the third equity partner Schibsted in the Norwegian TV-broadcaster TV2. One of the strategic rationales was to create an ambitious market player in the attractive digital segment in Norway.” Jon Espen Lohne, Boardmember of TV2 and Executive Vice President in A-pressen.
In 2007, Copenhagen Consulting Company decided to take this positive development to the next level. As of October, Copenhagen Consulting Company in Oslo is a reality in new attractive offices on Kirkeveien 64B centrally located on Majorstua in Oslo. Local staff is in place and a small acquisition has been made in order to broaden the client base, service key clients and show our strong dedication to the Norwegian market. We wish to strengthen our position in the years to come as a clear alternative to the traditional US-based consultancies. We wish to deepen our relationship with our current clients, engage with new clients in our key industry sectors and work for the private equity houses in Norway. Strategically the Norwegian market is now considered as part of our home market.
The Copenhagen Consulting Company team and Maersk Line and Maersk Logistics employees have shared tough, challenging, but very rewarding times. Our team has shown this fine company that we are not only capable of giving good advice, but also willing to roll-up the sleeves, walk the talk and stand passionately alongside the client during implementation. In short, it has been an extraordinary project for an extraordinary client, requiring an extraordinary effort by everyone involved. Nothing, however, gives us more pride than making a small but significant difference in exactly this company. The project will shortly be at “the end of the beginning” and will continue towards completion in 2008.
OSLO
Copenhagen Consulting Company
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Islamic Banking on the move
On Time in 49 degrees celSius
RETAIL Launch in Eastern Europe
ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR
Path Solutions
On Time
ZONE Company
PANDORA Jewelry
Lebanon-based Path Solutions is a leading provider of software to Islamic banks and financial institutions. Copenhagen Consulting Company has facilitated the development of an aggressive growth strategy and execution plan in close cooperation with a management team of Kuwaiti, Lebanese, Indian and Syrian origin. Path Solutions had flourished and grown strongly for years, so it was truly both the best of times and the worst of times.
Warsaw. Although there are reminiscences of a once communist metropolis, today Warsaw is better described as a fast-growing European city, home to a growing segment of affluent people, with an appetite for globally recognized brands.
The management team was facing a large number of possibilities and at the same time risk of complacency. Based on this, they defined a new set of aspirations that seemed astounding at first, but despite this, Path Solutions wanted to face the challenge and went for the summit.
In 2006, ZONE Company was acquired by the private equity fund Procuritas. Copenhagen Consulting Company became involved in the transaction and the following strategic clarification and preparation for growth.
In the process, Path Solutions sized up and addressed their most pressing issues while simultaneously embarking on the strategic journey with an admirable vigour.
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As a result, Warsaw also became the location, where the home ware brand ZONE decided to initiate its branded retail strategy.
It was not just another day at the office when Copenhagen Consulting Company got a call from Kuwait to assist the Kuwait-based watch retailer On Time with international expansion in the Middle East Region.
Several vehicles for driving growth were identified. Branded retail was the strongest, and it was planned to drive retail in a few selected regions. Analysis pointed towards Eastern Europe, starting with Poland as an attractive region for ZONE Company to grow.
PANDORA Jewelry was founded in Copenhagen 1982 with a vision of offering women across the globe highquality, hand-finished, modern and genuine jewelry at affordable prices. Since then PANDORA Jewelry has developed into one of the world’s largest jewelry companies with sales in 7.000 stores across 20 countries.
On Time is a multi-brand watch retail chain with a successful concept operating only in Kuwait. The chain owner saw an opportunity in expanding into Saudi Arabia, a move that would impose challenges as neither the concept nor the organisation was geared for internationalisation.
In 2007, millions of people around the world wore PANDORA jewelry. In fact, a piece of PANDORA jewelry is sold once every two seconds, and the factory in Thailand now employs over 1.000 people. As a consequence, PANDORA Jewelry was awarded the title of “Entrepreneur Of The Year” in Denmark in 2007.
The task for Copenhagen Consulting Company, along with a motivated and extremely skilled local retail management team, was to prepare the organisation, the shop concept and the supporting processes for the challenge of entering into new markets in the region – initially Saudi Arabia, and subsequently Iran.
For Copenhagen Consulting Company the project was special in many ways. Partly because its “proof of concept” across time zones, cultures, business practices and geographies, partly due to the complexity of navigating within Islamic finance, which poses cultural challenges that are becoming increasingly relevant in more traditional branches in the financial sector.
During the day time, the 49 degrees Celsius in the shadow encouraged a hard indoor work ethic. A oneweek retail immersion workshop kick-started a project team that ran on equal amounts of good humour, strong coffee, great visions and a will to deliver. The project stretched full circle from preparation and planning, over business design, to implementation in world-class shopping malls surrounded by desert.
The process involved touchdowns in most of the Middle East including substantial burning of midnight oil in Beirut – a city of myth and magic.
A year later and many nights under the Kuwaiti sky with a Shisha (waterpipe) the “conquest” of Saudi Arabia is well on its way.
The history of the PANDORA brand is a reminder that the best fairy tales come from Denmark. However, the man behind this story is not H.C. Andersen but goldsmith and entrepreneur extraordinaire, Per Enevoldsen.
In the planning phase, relations to retail brands with a strong foothold in Poland and Eastern Europe were established, shopping centres were prioritised, company and retail concept presentations were prepared, and landlord meetings were planned and held – a process driven by Copenhagen Consulting Company in close collaboration with a Polish partner. During the summer of 2007, ZONE Company signed three top locations in the most attractive shopping centres in Warsaw, prepared IT systems, analysed consumer preferences, planned marketing activities, recruited staff, etc. In due time before the Christmas peak season, the three ZONE retail stores welcomed consumers on the grand opening on November 24th, and ZONE Company’s branded retail strategy started to take off.
Due to the almost overwhelming growth, PANDORA approached Copenhagen Consulting Company in 2006 to help develop a strategic plan for the coming years to ensure direction, ambition and a platform for profitable growth. A rewarding cooperation between two entrepreneurial entities followed a few months later – the PANDORA strategy 2010 “Designing our Future”. One of the main strategic initiatives in PANDORA Jewelry’s “strategic navigator” for 2010 was the development of a comprehensive retail concept – ranging from concept stores over shop-in-shops to different categories of wholesale partners. The project drew on Copenhagen Consulting Company’s insight in international retail best practices as well as already existing PANDORA retail formats in the US and Germany. The implementation of the 2010 strategy continues with opening of concept stores, new market entries, strengthening of the PANDORA Jewelry setup and much more.
Copenhagen Consulting Company
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Growth strategy in san franCisco
digital strategy for A media group
DEVELOPING WORLD LEADERSHIP IN SALES
Amrop Hever Group
SanomaWSOY and Sanoma Digital
ECCO Shoes
Over the last few years, Copenhagen Consulting Company has assisted SanomaWSOY in formulating a digital strategy for the group (in Finland, Benelux and Eastern Europe)*. SanomaWSOY is market leader in digital media in a number of its markets, but had not established a clear leadership position in the Finnish market at that time.
ECCO Shoes is the undisputed world leader in direct injection shoe manufacturing*. Although ECCO was posting record sales growth, this prompted the company to ask the question: “What if ECCO was also the undisputed world leader in sales?”.
In 2006, we recommended SanomaWSOY to establish a NewCo that could take advantage of SanomaWSOY’s size in advertising sales, consolidating management of the different online classified brands and serve as a platform to launch new digital media brands. Sanoma Digital was launched in December 2006.
San Francisco – Golden Gate – Alcatraz. The city of diversity formed a fantastic venue for the Amrop Hever Group’s global partner summit in the spring of 2007. A Copenhagen Consulting Company team was among the participants, invited by the executive committee of the Amrop Hever Group to raise firm-wide awareness of a new vision: “Growing Together”. But we were also there to play a game: “The Growth Game.” A few months earlier, Copenhagen Consulting Company had been engaged to complete a global study of the growth prospects of the group, recognising that the “Growing Together” vision could be launched successfully only if each of the member firms were able to: • • • •
Understand barriers and enablers to accelerate growth Embrace cultural diversity to improve ways of working together Establish a common professional foundation Share best practices and strengthen cross-border collaboration
In 2007, we were invited to follow up on the initial strategy work by facilitating the first annual strategy session for Sanoma Digital. The workshop focused on bringing the initial strategy to market, creating an organisation to bring compelling new media brands to consumers, lead product development and sales in the classified markets, and provide excellence in new media sales. The workshop, planned in close cooperation with the new management team, took place in Sanoma Corporation’s remarkable cottage situated in the beautiful Finnish countryside, Vierumäki, – complete with Finnish sauna. Thanks to the hard work of Sanoma Digital, the first visible results of the strategy came already in November 2007 with an acquisition of a blog community (Blogilista.fi) and launch of six new digital services. Copenhagen Consulting Company looks forward to supporting SanomaWSOY in becoming the leading digital media company in all its key markets.
* SanomaWSOY has activities in more than 20 countries, covering newspaper and magazine publishing, television, radio, book and
To support the launch of the new vision among the 231 partners, the CoCoCo team created “The Growth Game.” The game was designed to reflect real life, everyday dilemmas and situations in the life of a consultant in the Amrop Hever Group. It is a unique solution allowing the individual member firms to circumvent cultural, geographical and political constraints. With “The Growth Game”, the Amrop Hever Group received a tool for collective sharing of opportunities and for unlocking the global growth potential of the group.
educational publishing, digital media and press distribution.
The question gave birth to the Wholesale Management System program – or “Customer Pulse” – aimed at making ECCO the most professional and efficient partner for shoe retailers worldwide. During the initial phase, a customer segmentation model and segment service levels were defined, a sales toolbox was established based on best practices from the sales organisations in Europe, Asia and America, and finally a best practice sales management approach was launched. In the second phase, a cycle of best practice workshops was launched to roll out the WMS program to sales managers and salespersons across the globe. The cycle followed the natural pulse of the ECCO operations, the seasons, with workshops every six months aimed
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at disseminating best practices. During 2007, this has brought the project team from Tønder to Tokyo, Helsinki to Hong Kong, Montreal to Miami, Ryesgade in Copenhagen to Rosmalen in the Netherlands, Godalming south of London to Londonderry in New Hampshire, and from Vejle to Varberg and Warsaw. Although the best practice workshops were initially only planned as part of the roll-out of the WMS program, it has quickly become clear that being the undisputed world leader is not just a question of getting ahead – it is a question of staying ahead. And so the pulse continues.
* Direct injection is a production technique where the sole is injected directly onto the upper of the shoe under high pressure – a production technique that guarantees unrivalled flexibility and durability of the shoe.
Ilulissat
nuuk
Reykjavík
TRONDHEIM
HELSINKI
OSLO
STOCKHOLM copenhagen warsawa
liverpool cambridge london
AMSTERDAM
paris evian
geneva milano
firenze
BOSTON SAN FRANCISCO
NEW YORK
sofia
madrid
beijing ATHENS
tokyo
Antalya BEIRUT AMMAN CAIRO
kuwait Manama
shanghai DUBAI HONG KONG MUMBAI
MANILA PANAMA
COLOMBO SINGAPORE
Sao Paolo
AUCKLAND CAPE TOWN SYDNEY
Copenhagen Consulting Company
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WHAT’S ON THE 2008 AGENDA
As always around the new year, we reflect on the year gone by and the year to come. Here’s our bid on what should be on the business leader’s agenda in 2008. As mentioned in the introduction, we believe that climate change and carbon management will be necessary top issues on the agenda for many corporations and organisations. It is certainly on the top of our agenda. We have pledged to become a carbon neutral company during 2009, but more importantly to invest in our ability to assist our clients develop and implement their own tailor-made carbon management initiatives. 2008 BUSINESS AGENDA • • • • • • •
Business Development Management Globalisation Economic Slow-Down Carbon Management Strategy Execution Digitalisation Private Equity Outlook
We believe that many agendas will be more dual than in the previous years. Companies will need to focus on business development and at the same time assess how fit their organisations are after the “fat” years, facing a possible slow-down in the American and European economies. We also believe in a continued focus on execution. No growth strategy or operational effectiveness scheme is better than its implementation, a fact that will require increased focus on the mechanisms that enable organisations to get things done. Even though the capital markets are less favorable, we believe that we will continue to see investments and transactions in 2008. The private equity community will be less aggressive but will follow through on portfolio strategies and strategic development and consolidation within their portfolio companies. We also believe that globalisation will increase its relevance for the majority of our clients. They see market opportunities in Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and we believe that most of the companies that are trying to seize these opportunities can organise and manage their efforts in a more effective way. Finally, we foresee that digitalisation will continue its strategic relevance, as e-business and online advertising are approaching maturity and entering the mainstream of business models, consumption and trade patterns. In the following pages, you will find our bid as to why these themes should be on your business agenda in 2008.
Copenhagen Consulting Company
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BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT The new corporate support function
BOARD ORCHESTRATE STRATEGY PLANNING TOP MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
BU1
BU2
INVESTIGATE STRATEGIC OPTIONS
BU3 EXECUTE STRATEGY PROJECTS
In today’s fast-paced global business environment, the ability for companies to possess fact-based strategic foresight, deliver systematic exploration of new growth opportunities, and to institutionalise a continuous drive to improve international business practices is more important than ever. In response to the new clock-speed challenge, Copenhagen Consulting Company has studied the emergence of a new corporate support function called “business development”. Business development has become a way for top management to dedicate a permanent team of high-calibre professionals to deliver accelerated development of their business. It is a concept that has rapidly entered the corner offices of many large scale organisations as a way to strengthen strategic agility and internalise strategy management and execution. Through our work as consultants we interact with top managers, private equity houses and venture capitalists, all seeking an answer to the questions: • • •
How do we accelerate business development? How do we manage and organise business development? How do we bridge the gap between strategy and implementation?
In May 2007, Copenhagen Consulting Company published our point of view about the new leadership discipline in the book: “Business Development Management – best practices in Managing & Executing Business Development”.
The book defined three critical roles for business development functions - in order for them to act as the integrative link between strategy and execution. The Task: To improve speed and quality of strategic decision-making The Challenge: To bridge the gap between ambition and execution The Dilemma: To orchestrate the strategy management process efficiently The theme proved to be a hot topic and the book has been distributed to more than 2.000 corporations, organisations and academic institutions across the Nordic region. In June 2007, Copenhagen Consulting Company hosted a BDM Symposium at Statens Museum for Kunst (the Danish National Gallery) with more than 250 attendees, where the findings of a questionnaire to top-100 corporations in Denmark were presented and discussed. The conclusions were clear. Business development management will grow in size and importance, become still more integrated, and continue to be a key investment area. And Copenhagen Consulting Company will continue to be at the forefront while business development management continues to mature.
Copenhagen Consulting Company
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focus on market opportunities
Is your company prepared for an economic slow-down?
New perspectives on globalisation
Risk of recession calls for preventive action
Globalisation has been on the management agenda for a number of years. Could it be time to replace it with something new? Is the gold rush over? No, is the short answer, although the dynamics of globalisation are certainly changing. Lately, we have seen more clients shift their focus from production and supply chain towards a more comprehensive look on globalisation, and more and more often companies approach globalisation from a market opportunity perspective.
The global economy is on the verge of an economic slow-down and some even say a recession. While economists argue on different scenarios, Copenhagen Consulting Company believes that the risk of a recession has risen significantly and now calls for companies to get prepared. Companies should prepare a two-fold response. Shortterm, they should take measures that strengthen the generation of free cash flow in order to ensure room for maneuvering during the slow-down. Secondly, they should re-focus on core business and actively explore the slow-down to outpace its peers. While most companies manage to excel during the happy days of high market growth, we believe it is during tough economic conditions that winning companies distance laggards.
In the course of 2007, Copenhagen Consulting Company has assisted a host of Nordic companies pursuing obvious market opportunities in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China), Eastern Europe and in the Middle East. These are markets that increasingly become focal points within any expansive brand manufacturer’s wholesale and/or retail strategy.
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In order to start this journey, companies can start asking themselves a couple of fundamental questions. This list is far from exhaustive but can hopefully trigger a constructive discussion. Read more about the topic in the article: “Preparing for an Economic Slow-Down” (available on www.cococo.dk).
Timing of the slow-down •
When will the economic slow-down hit my industry?
•
Are we relatively less/more sensitive within my
industry vs. others?
•
What are the industry and consumer trends?
Capacity utilisation and flexibility
Already, the window of opportunity in the Chinese consumer market is closing after 10 or 15 years of high investments. However, new markets are quick to follow. India is becoming a strategic focus area for many Nordic retailers and manufacturers due to the significant market opportunities that have been left largely unexploited so far.
Are the ownership structures that were relevant in one setup also the right models to accommodate growth in the new markets? Does the company have a clear, fact-based insight into how it performs from the HQ, to the region, to the local market organisation? When did the company last make major changes in the way it structures, processes, manages, recruits and measures its business? These are questions that Copenhagen Consulting Company will continue to address with clients in 2008 - and well beyond.
6.275
RUSSIA CHINA
4.285 3.243
3.003
3.968 2.917
2.663
2.589
2.199
2.339 1.757
2.155 1.383
3.670
4.396 3.287
3.901 2.984
3.625 2.582 1.941
4.884
5.481
BRAZIL
1.159
So the real discussion is not whether globalisation is on the agenda for 2008 and onwards, it is about how companies should prioritise and execute these opportunities. And this is indeed a relevant discussion where many companies need to look at how they are organised and managed. Do the structures, systems and culture reflect a global reality, or do they perhaps draw more on a historically based national or regional model?
INDIA
What is the problem? While European and most US key economic figures look fine, US leading indicators point to a slow-down, and housing prices are under pressure. In conjunction with the current credit crunch sparked by the sub-prime crisis, this may trigger swift change and move into other parts of the economy as well as into other countries. Financial markets have already reacted to the rising risk of recession. Meanwhile, it is our experience that most companies still chase growth strategies, suggesting that these organisations may be ill-equipped for an economic slow-down. Does your company run the risk of not having prepared for the slow-down and not being able to make the most of the situation? When preparing for the economic slow-down we suggest three steps
•
How flexible is my cost base (fixed vs. variable)?
•
Which cost parts could be made more flexible in order
to absorb falling demand?
Company margins •
Which customers, markets, segments and products
contribute to company margins?
•
What possibilities does the company have to optimize
this mix and what are the implications (strategic,
cost-base, execution)?
Cost improvement levers •
Which “no-regret” savings exercises can be executed
in the short term (e.g. process excellence, procurement
excellence)?
•
What are the resources needed in order to capture
this potential?
Investments 2007
E2008
E2009
E2010
E2011
E2012
CONSUMER SPENDING (ESTIMATED), BRIC COUNTRIES, BN DKK.
• Step 1. Actively evaluate the impact of the current situation. Admittedly, the slow-down is not going to hit all industries with even force. What are the overall implications for your industry and company? • Step 2. Construct 3-4 possible market scenarios that your company is likely to face – from no impact to the hard landing of the late 1980s. With a couple of welldescribed scenarios, key decision-makers can start building consensus around what the world may look like from their point of view in one year’s time or less. • Step 3. Define the necessary countermeasures in each scenario in order to secure continued growth and healthy margins. While companies and economic experts may consider one scenario to be the most plausible, companies need to think through even the tough scenarios and develop contingency plans with a catalogue of ideas for each market scenario.
•
Which investment types could/should be postponed,
and what are the implications?
•
What are the overall investment priorities?
Copenhagen Consulting Company
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coming to a boardroom near you
THE ART OF GETTING THINGS DONE
Carbon Management becomes of vital interest for all companies
Execution increases its importance in strategic decision making
Carbon reduction has evolved into a number one priority on the global political agenda over a mere two-year period. In Denmark the issue is fuelled by the climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009 and recent creation of a climate ministry in the newly formed government.
Execution is about getting things done. Strategy execution is about getting the right things done. At Copenhagen Consulting Company we acknowledge the big idea, and the great strategy, but without the ability to execute, strategy is nothing but hot air.
At 99º Celsius water is hot, at 100º Celsius it boils. And with boiling water, comes steam. And with steam, you can power a train.
Strategy and execution go hand in hand, and the ability to convert strategies into real performance is more important than anything else! Research shows that companies typically realise only about 60% of their strategies’ potential value because of defects and breakdowns in execution. We believe that working with strategy assignments always requires an eye on execution, and working on more operational assignments needs a close link back to the strategy.
S.L. Parker
Furthermore, the anticipation that carbon emissions is becoming a major driver for consumer choice has established the commercial rationale for an important board issue. In a recent consumer analysis by L.E.K. Consulting from the UK only 27% of the participants stated that carbon footprint on products would be of no use. In the UK more than 150 companies are working together with the Carbon Trust Foundation on establishing common measures for the carbon footprint. Companies targeting mass consumers have been among the first to launch carbon reduction plans, and major retail companies such as J Sainsbury and Marks and Spencer have launched very ambitious carbon management strategies reducing or eliminating the companies’ carbon emissions by carbon reduction initiatives as well as carbon offsetting strategies. Similarly, Wal-Mart is currently conducting a pilot project on carbon emissions reporting, where all major (potentially all) suppliers are forced to measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions. We believe that carbon management will be one of the few issues that all companies must develop a view on - simply because consumers and regulators force them to do so. Consequently, knowledge on how to deal with carbon emissions throughout the value chain will become important, and questions on how to minimise and offset emissions, how to organise carbon management internally, how to set and follow up on targets, how to ensure internal capabilities, etc. will have to be answered in 2008. This challenge - with all the trade-offs to cost and growth strategies that lie within – will be at the very top of the agenda in the years to come.
2007: 12469 2006: 3431 2005: 2197 2004: 1347 2003: 828 2002: 867 2001: 1264 2000: 675 1999: 320 1998: 478
Assisting clients with executing their strategy or a specific strategic initiative is not a new discipline within consulting. In 2007, we have worked with ambitious clients such as A.P. Moller - Maersk, ECCO and Danske Bank, and we have experienced that these very different companies, competing in very different industries have one thing in common - the need to execute strategies faster, in more complex environments, involving a broader organisation, in an increasingly global context. At Copenhagen Consulting Company we have successfully introduced creative and untraditional approaches to strategy execution. Combining the traditional breakdown of strategies, strategic KPI reporting and individual performance appraisals with storytelling, games, online edutainment, movies and creative workshops have proven extremely efficient in unlocking the potential of organisations.
We foresee that 2008 will be the year when: • More creative and untraditional execution approaches will be used in executing strategies, eg. a combination of storytelling, online edutainment, movie making and viral marketing in implementing strategies or strategic initiatives. • Personal transformation of the management team will be in focus in order to succeed with the organisational transformation. Coaching of the individual leader will be part of most successful strategy implementations. • Strategic communication will increasingly be seen as a critical enabler to successful strategy execution, in order to ensure proactive internal communication of change initiatives, and to manage external stakeholders across partners, media and public opinion makers. • Execution aspects will be better integrated in the strategy making process, since at the end of the day the ability is to realistically balance the company’s goals and resources.
number of Press clippings on climate change, danish media
Successful change programs mobilise the energy of an organisation and use this energy to move in the right strategic direction. Behind these change programs stand high-caliber managers (and consultants) with solid business insight, a second-to-none change experience, and the ability to orchestrate multiple issues and stakeholders simultaneously. Strategy execution is about transforming organisations from one state to another. At Copenhagen Consulting Company we believe that organisational transformation can only happen through individual transformation. The success of a change effort can be measured on the ability to change the behaviour of people and managers to better support the strategic directions laid out.
Overall, for 2008 we wish that more companies will be better at bridging strategy and execution, since, “Strategy without action is a daydream. Action without strategy is a nightmare.” (Old Chinese proverb)
Copenhagen Consulting Company
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from marginal to mainsTream
Private equity 2007 review + 2008 outlook
Digital business’ growth continues
Transactions still strong in 2008
“We tend to overestimate change in the short term and underestimate it in the long term” is a well-known adage when it comes to market change driven by innovation.
2007 344 Mio DKK 2006 232 Mio DKK 2006 220 Mio DKK 2005 216 Mio DKK
Digital business, in media, e-commerce or B2B digital trading platforms, has been viewed with suspicion since the dotcom bubble burst in 2001. With deep know-how of digital business, Copenhagen Consulting Company has spent many hours in boardrooms on digital strategy issues, and over the last years we have seen questioning and doubt replaced by a keen sense of urgency. In 2007, new media advertising became a mainstream channel and in the UK, it is larger than both print and radio. E-commerce is entering a rapid growth phase, both in number of users and share of wallet. Digital trading platforms and globalisation of supply chain continues to offer service and manufacturing firms opportunities to transform their cost base and customer relationships. We have identified a number of challenges companies need to master to get ahead in digital business: • Keen interest in customer needs and readiness to move decisively when customer behaviour shifts. • Getting the timing right, investing in opportunities when they gain traction, and not getting blinded by hype. • Mastering the internal organisational tension between threat and opportunity, allowing internal champions to explore the right new business opportunities, even when “old” business is affected. • Determining the risk profile of the company, identifying the business opportunities that can successfully be managed within the financial targets and culture of the company. • Understanding how web-platforms can transform processes, identifying elements that successfully and inexpensively can be managed by technology, lowcost labour or directly by the consumer. • Adapting the same product development pace as best-in-class competitors. Small nimble companies set the standard for customer involvement and product update speed.
2005 176 Mio DKK 2004 154 Mio DKK 2004 138 Mio DKK
Q3/4 Q1/2
Despite the credit crunch in the second half of the year, 2007 has been one of the most high-profile years in the history of private equity. 2007 was once again a year where private equity firms and institutional investors were interested in Scandinavian companies, especially retail and FMCG companies. A main reason is the dramatic customer increase that many Scandinavian retail companies have experienced. This creates noteworthy opportunities to accelerate strategic and operational business development and harness value from combined efficiency gains, international expansion and consolidation. So what will 2008 bring? Despite turmoil in the credit markets, a string of broken deals and a dramatic slowdown in M&A in Q4 2007, private equity is still in good shape, with enormous reserves of capital to invest.
Banner advertising, Denmark, mio dkk
Copenhagen Consulting Company will continue to assist our clients with digital strategy and implementation. Currently, we see a large increase in projects connected with e-commerce, both in consumer retail and B2B trade, while the transformation of the media industry is starting to accelerate.
At the core, the underlying fundamentals for the private equity industry remain rock-solid. Research of 2007 performance shows that the enterprise value growth of private equity owned businesses outperformed the like-for-like enterprise value growth of listed companies. EBITDA and headcount growth were also far ahead. On this basis, pension funds will continue to direct their funds towards private equity and, indeed, fundraising continues without a pause for breath. However, all things being equal, Copenhagen Consulting Company expects a more challenging fundraising environment. New deals will be done on more traditional terms, signalling an end to the unusually generous financing agreements in the past few years. As a result, more and more investment companies have to finance their projects themselves. This, in turn, results in smaller deals and often a postponement of planned takeovers. There will be a demand for smaller European mid-market companies, and banks will be more selective and require more in-depth focus on commercial due diligence work.
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To ensure realisation of an investment, private equity companies will focus more on achieving value during the holding period through a series of actions but most importantly through active involvement by management in restructuring and strategically realigning the company. Copenhagen Consulting Company will continue to assist our clients covering a broad spectrum of services from pre-studies, valuation, commercial due diligence and 100-day plans, within our focus sectors: retail, media and transportation.
Copenhagen Consulting Company
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ONWARDS
This was the 2007 Annual Report from Copenhagen Consulting Company. Thank you for reading - we hope it was worth your while. At the end of 2008 we aspire to present an equally fantastic voyage. However, we do not expect that our next report will contain significant adjustments to the strategy. 2008 will be an implementation year – where the arrow continues to fly and “break away”. This is in itself a positive thing, as it leaves more time, resources and indeed pages in the annual report for the main thing: problem solving for Nordic clients - worldwide. We hope to see you out there. Best regards, The CoCoCo team
Søndre Strømfjord, Greenland 2007, On the way to Nuuk for a workshop with air greenland.
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image credits
pages 06, 22, 24
page 16
page 18
COCOCO OFFICES
BEIRUT
Helsinki, SANOMA HEADQUARTER
Photo: Lars Wittrock
Photo: Erik Ibsen,
Photo: Sanoma
CoCoCo Consultant pages 10, 11
page 19
athens
page 16
ECCO SHOE
Photo: Jens Høgsted,
KUWAIT
Photo: ECCO
CoCoCo Consultant
Photo: Image Bank
page 14
page 17
Leh, Ladakh District, India
Greenland
Warsaw
Photo: Image Bank
Photomanipulation: Air Greenland
Photo: ZONE
page 14
page 17
BEIJING
DUBAI
Photo: Pandora Jewelry
Photo: Image Bank
page 26
page 28
Photo: Sebastian Cadell, CoCoCo Consultant
page 18
page 32
San Francisco
GREENLAND
Photo: Jakob Wedel Christensen,
Photo: Jesper Flach,
CoCoCo Consultant
CoCoCo Consultant
Copenhagen Consulting Company Copenhagen office
Oslo office
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Kirkeveien 64B
DK-2200 Copenhagen N
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Tel.:
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Email: nicolai.strate@cococo.dk
www.cococo.dk
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