Telecommunication

Project Context

Our client was a leading local fixed line operator, whose traditional voice business was suffering from erosion. On the other hand, they were faced with too many new opportunities to make a choice, including interactive entertainment, IT service, online advertisement, etc. So they wanted Monitor help them to: (1) identify most attractive industry convergence opportunities, and ways to exploit these opportunities, (2) find more effective means to protect their voice business, and (3) promote customer-centric practices in their marketing system, including bundling design, branding and channel management.

Our Approach

First, by applying Monitor's proprietary "Cascading Choices" approach, we scanned a long list of growth sources, and identified a few of the most attractive ones. Considering the client's unique resources and constraints, we also proposed "how to win" with the combination of creativity and feasibility.

Then, a marketing plan design started from Buying Process analysis and Action Segmentation®, aiming to change purchase behavior and usage of specific customer segmentations. The plan had wide coverage, from expansion of the audience base for online advertisement, to improvement of sales force efficiency in enterprise voice and data connection market. Our team quantified revenue impact of most initiatives listed in the plan, and set targets for each of them.

In order to make the plan more actionable, our team selected two initiatives to design quick win actions. The purposes of quick win actions were to test effectiveness of the marketing plan, and to give the client good examples of customer-centric practices.

Implementation Assistance

Monitor assisted the client in implementing the plan in two ways: strategy communication and implementation evaluation. After the plan was approved, our team discussed it initiative-by-initiative with the client's working level staff. After six months of implementation, the team was sent to the client site again to evaluate the effects of every initiative. Through the evaluation, suggestions on how to improve the efficiency of the implementation system were recommended.

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Media

Project Context

Our client was a regional telecommunications company who had started looking beyond the saturated mobile market at home for growth. Our project mandate was to look at the Chinese Internet market and identify which business models and potential target companies were the most attractive for the client to invest in.

Our Approach

Using Monitor's "Cascading Strategic Choice Structuring" approach, we first analyzed and prioritized key Internet sectors and business models for our client to enter. Then, we further analyzed the chosen business models and identified key players to screen and prioritized potential investment target companies. Finally, we contacted the prioritized targets on behalf of our client to find out their needs and interests for strategic investment. We also developed an implementation roadmap for our client to pursue these investment opportunities.

Project Impact

Our client has taken our recommendations to engage in investment discussions with the prioritized list of target companies. Once successfully entered into the prioritized sectors in the fast growing Chinese Internet market via these investments, our client can grow their investments anywhere from 5x to 20x in the next three to five years, more than reaching their desired growth aspirations in China.

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Technology

Project Context

Our client is a leading company in 3G mobile communication. Currently their major revenue source in the new 3G technology is limited to some infrastructure equipment and patents. To maximize its investment in the new 3G technology, the company is looking at opportunities in the handset sector. Monitor came on board to help our client evaluate the potential growth opportunities that exist and decide how to pursue them.

Our Approach

We first analyzed key industry drivers to assess whether the macro market environment is favorable for new entrants to build the handset business. Then we developed a framework to thoroughly analyze all potential business models along the new 3G technology handset value chain. By conducting value analysis, we quickly zoomed into a few business models with high value creation potential. We then analyzed the competitive landscape for those business models to determine their attractiveness, and developed a capability diagnostic framework to assess our client's capabilities to compete there, so as to determine feasibility to pursue these business models. Finally we identified a couple of highly attractive opportunities that will both generate sizable revenue to our client and fit our client's capabilities. We then formulated a market entry strategy, in which we recommended our client to look at M&A opportunities to bridge certain capability gaps and to restructure internal assets to increase cross department cooperation and build competitive advantage.

Project Impact

Our client decided to pursue the opportunities we recommended and is in the process of implementing our recommendations on both internal asset restructuring and external M&A. Once successfully implemented, our client can triple their revenue from the new 3G technology, build unique competitive advantage in the chipset business and establish a solid consumer brand platform to facilitate future growth.

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Consumer Goods

Project Context

Our client is a global consumer goods company with presence in over 200 countries. It entered China in the 1990s with a full range of operations, from manufacturing to marketing and sales. Through organic growth and acquisitions, it rapidly scaled up to participate in all relevant food categories with wide geographic coverage in China.

Despite significant market presence in China, it is not yet profitable. Traditional competitors are aggressively investing in marketing and promotion and local players are entering at a fast pace, so it faces considerable challenges.

Monitor was engaged to conduct a thorough strategic review of the business. Over the course of seven months, we worked closely with the client's regional and local management team to rethink their opportunities, develop an integrated strategy and deploy a series of implementation plans across the organization.

Our Approach

We first developed a comprehensive market map and diagnosed the client's competitive position, leveraging desktop research and Monitor proprietary methodologies, including a customer and consumer survey, price setting, route-to-market efficiency and effectiveness diagnostics.

Building on a solid fact base, we developed views on growth opportunities across consumer segments, geography, channel, product and brand. We also identified immediate profit upsides through reconfiguration of the distribution channel.

Continued Monitor support effort was also put in place post strategy formation, facilitating the client's management team to help achieve alignment around the new strategy, designing the growth platform and building required organizational capabilities.

Project Impact

The project helped set the business on a sustainable growth trajectory: it is refocused on key geographic markets and core categories where it has the most strength; Route-to-market structure was radically redesigned to maximize availability and improve sales effectiveness. By shaping up governance and business processes, the client is now in a position to execute the strategy and compete much more effectively in the world-class level of competition in China.

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Retail

Project Context

Our client was an international investment company who had been looking for opportunities in the booming China retail industry. The company would like to take the leading role in the China retail industry consolidation process. After carefully reviewing the China market and retail industry, the company had acquired several retail chains in different geographic regions of China.

Due to Monitor's strong experience in the consumer and retail areas as well as the long-term relationship established during past projects, the client asked Monitor to help on the following issues: (1) to make strategic choices which enable the client to achieve a winning position in the China retail market; (2) to develop a comprehensive and compelling integration roadmap, realizing synergies across different chains in the group's portfolio; (3) to develop an operating plan at the local market level, identifying the improvement potentials.

Our Approach

After our assessment of the overall retail industry trend and structure in China, along with the expected changes and impact on the client, and including a strong emphasis on evaluating the client's competitive position in its major regional markets given its strengths and weaknesses, we made our recommendation on overall strategy and focus for future growth to the client.

We studied integration scope across chains as well as between the chains and the corporate center. We evaluated potential synergies and implementation costs of potential integration areas including assortment management, procurement, controlling systems, supply chain, etc. Based on the findings, we designed distinct integration programs including resources and responsibilities, a timeline and milestones, as well as expected benefit realization.

By visiting many representative stores and intensively interviewing related managers as well as external industry experts, we made recommendations on identified immediate operational "quick wins" such as store network optimization in the client's key region, and implementation of the best practices across the chains for key processes.

Project Impact

The client moved in the suggested strategic direction and pushed the integration according to plan, and they started realizing synergies from areas like procurement. The client also saw immediate improved performance from the operational "quick wins" suggested by Monitor.

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Healthcare

Project Context

Our client is one of the leading Asian conglomerates that Monitor had previously served and with whom a trustworthy relationship has been built through consecutive consulting engagements. When Monitor was called in to help with their traditional medicine business, the client was struggling in a mature domestic market dominated by its stronger competitors and needed to reposition itself for further growth.

Our Approach

The project was mainly focused on opportunity assessment, sequencing, and investment deployment choices. We deployed a cross-office team to assess the market attractiveness of China, North America and Europe. To understand relative positioning of China, we also diagnosed the capability of both the client's manufacturing base in China and its joint venture companies with Chinese partners.

Adopting Monitor's "GrowthPath®" methodology and toolkits, we segmented Chinese consumer markets, and analyzed consumers' buying process to identify potential growth opportunities. Using activity-based costing methodology, we conducted cost analysis of all plants, designed a value-added procurement and manufacturing structure, and identified significant cost reduction opportunities.

Project Impact

The client was highly appreciative of our recommendations because they shed light on immediate opportunities to reduce costs, and suggested a mid-to long term growth roadmap. The client has already started the implementation of some of our recommendations, including redesigning their procurement process and initiating deep-dive studies into specific product opportunities.

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Real Estate/Industry Cluster Development

Project Context

Our client is one of the top state-owned real estate developers in China, especially adept in regional real estate development as well as in planning and constructing eco-cities. The client has previously cooperated with one city in northern China to help it develop into an eco-city with a population of 400,000. The goal is to achieve healthy and sustainable economic development, social harmony and an environment suitable for living, while simultaneously upgrading the entire city as well as local industry clusters. Such experience in development will also provide a brand new route for cities in China to increase local industry competitiveness and harmoniously promote urbanization.

To achieve such aims, the client formed a strong planning team composed of experts in areas including civil planning, sustainable development, real estate property management, agriculture, sociology and industry strategy. Monitor was responsible for developing an industry cluster strategy for the city. During this three month project, Monitor, in cooperation with our client, the local government and other specialized experts/consultants, conducted a detailed analysis of regional economics and industry composition, developed a suitable industry cluster strategy according to characteristics of the city, and provided implementation recommendations on the cluster development and the attracting of potential businesses.

Our Approach

As the first step, Monitor reviewed the economic status quo, economic trends and the industry clusters distribution of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region (Jing-Jin-Ji region), where the target city is located. We conducted a detailed analysis covering spatial-temporal changes of regional economics, industry upgrades, industry transfer as well as government planning, and built up a comprehensive picture of the local macroeconomic situation.

Then, based on our in-depth research of the city itself, we performed a comprehensive analysis on the advantages and disadvantages of the city in terms of the local industry cluster status quo, including trends, culture, geographic location, traffic convenience and competition dynamics in the region.

We adopted regional economics competitiveness theory, systematically screened potential suitable industries, identified a list of industries of higher prioritization and forecasted the medium and long-term economic performance of the city, which mainly covered GDP, GDP composition, employment, income level, government tax revenue, energy consumption level and water consumption level. Major criteria we adopted in the screening included impact on local GDP, employment of specific industry, industry concentration level, competition in the region and sustainability.

Incorporated within national and global trends of sustainable development, we provided detailed advice targeting sustainable economic development for the eco-city. At the same time, we provided suggestions on specific development focus, along with a prioritization order and potential businesses to attract. In order to better support the effective implementation of the civil development plan and industry cluster strategy, Monitor also developed additional detailed implementation plans with recommendations on the implementation team structure, financing approaches, business-attracting approaches, support for medium-sized/small companies, and innovation promotion.

We adopted an integrated approach to analyze and solve specific sustainable development problems that Chinese cities encountered in this project. The core concept of this analysis is the ' Virtuous Cycle ' (see illustration below) which emphasizes achievement of economic and social well-being when dealing with various challenges during the urbanization process. The key point of such an approach is to form an environment that enhances competitiveness of local industries through means such as the adoption of economic regulations that encourage the formation and development of local industry clusters. Global studies show that highly competitive industry clusters can bring about local prosperity, and thus help to reconcile social conflicts, as well as to increase citizens' awareness and demand of local environmental sustainability. An attractive and sustainable living environment helps to attract top-tier corporations and talents, who in turn, further enhance the competitiveness of the city. These three stages form the ' Virtuous Cycle '.

Project Impact

The client, the local government, and civil planning consultants are developing a detailed civil planning plan while doing preparation work for the construction of the eco-city. Development of the eco-city is expected to start soon.

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Tourism

Project Context

The awareness of a South East Asian country as a tourist destination is low in China. The tourism bureau of the country has approached Monitor Group and has asked if we can help them with a marketing strategy to improve its brand image and to increase tourism arrival from China.

Our Approach

Monitor first studied the China outbound tourism market and assessed the opportunities and challenges. This was followed by benchmarking the country with other competing Southeast Asian destinations from various perspectives, e.g. country positioning, product offering, tourism infrastructure, marketing/promotion efforts in China, etc.

To have a more in-depth understanding of Chinese outbound tourists, we conducted a consumer survey in tier 1 and selected tier 2 cities in China. By applying Monitor's proprietary marketing strategy tools- Action Segmentation® and Customer Portrait®, we identified the three customer segments that our client should focus on and thoroughly studied their profile, behaviour, motivation, aspiration, etc.

Along with the consumer survey, we also rolled out the channel interview with wholesale and retail travel agencies to identify barriers and opportunities for our client. In the process, we participated in outbound travel fairs, and interviewed industry experts to piece together a more holistic picture.

In the end, Monitor and our client agreed on a China branding strategy. Aside from providing advisory, we also helped with some of the implementation in China and in the country itself, bridging travel agencies in the two countries, facilitating the client's exposure in travel fairs in China, and exploring potential cooperative opportunities with hospitality services in China.

Project Impact

The project proved to have substantial and measurable impact on our client. The tourism from China boomed dramatically after Monitor Group's intervention. The image of the country has gradually improved as tourist surveys have shown. We also helped the client set up their representative offices in Shanghai and Guangzhou in order to help streamline their campaigns in China.

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Automotive

Project Context

Our project mandate was to develop a marketing strategy to help an Asian tire company achieve their long-term goal of becoming a leading global tire manufacturer in ten years. Monitor was asked to formulate corporate strategy, marketing strategy and to identify high-level operational imperatives in four major markets �C the U.S., Germany, UK and China.

Our Approach

First we conducted a thorough research of the world and China tire markets and then forecasted the growth trend.

Then, by applying Monitor's M2C Methodology, we segmented Chinese consumer markets, analyzed consumers' buying process to identify potential growth opportunities, and developed a marketing strategy to induce changes in customer behavior toward purchasing the client's product more.

We also visited fifteen different major cities where the client had offices to observe channel management status and to develop a channel improvement program. We also did a close study of a particular tire category which holds great market potential for our client.

Project Impact

Our client has taken our recommendations to change their channel management system and promotion program. Headquarters promised to invest huge marketing resources on the China market and the client has already started instating a new channel based on our recommendations.

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