Business strategy consulting focused on achieving your goals
Organisations choose to revisit their business strategies for a variety different reasons: new leadership, changes in the market, or a disappointing performance. But setting a clear strategic direction can be difficult, particularly during uncertain times.
While there are many possible triggers and many different approaches, a good business strategy must always be clear about what you’re trying to achieve. It needs to articulate who you want to serve; why customers should buy your products or services; and how you should organise to deliver them most effectively.
The Berkeley Partnership’s business strategy consultants can help you build your thinking and develop your plan. We can partner with you to refine your target market, your value proposition, and deepen your understanding of what keeps you competitive. We can ensure your strategy is set in the context of a shared vision and purpose for the organisation, and aligns successfully with your operating model.
Berkeley are the first consultancy firm I have worked with who clearly understood what is involved in creating a strategic plan and most importantly ensured my team had ownership of the plan every step of the way. The pace, structure and work style make it easy decision to recommend them to other potential clients."
CEO, a retailer
A business strategy consultancy that engages your people
A good business strategy is as much social as it is analytical. It’s about helping groups of people come to the right but often difficult decisions and to act on them. The real heart of strategy is to get people to change what they do in the right way. Our consultants can help you to engage and take people with you, gathering them around a shared understanding and purpose.
Business strategy consultants who help you take action
You can come up with some wonderfully clear and rigorous thinking but if you don’t turn that into action, you’ll waste a lot of time, money and energy while making no real difference. Berkeley can help you create an ambitious yet achievable strategy – one that’s ready to go and will turn your thinking into practical, effective action.
Business strategy consulting that delivers real business results
We would never present an expensive strategic tome only for it to sit on a shelf gathering dust, helping no one.
Berkeley’s approach to business strategy consulting not only leads to direct action but focuses on delivering the real business results you want – from growing markets, to building share, improving margins, increasing efficiency, attracting talent and more.
A business strategy consultancy that gives you real ownership
To deliver your strategy, the most important thing is that you have a leadership team who completely understand it, take ownership and commit to carrying it through.
Our philosophy is that you should be in the driving seat. Your own people often have the best understanding of the market and the business itself. Our business strategy consulting services can help by bringing structure, a fresh perspective, analytical rigour and constructive challenge to the process.
Berkeley’s business strategists work alongside our clients, helping them to explore ideas and options. By working in partnership with you throughout – from analysing and evaluating opportunities to making the tough decisions – we can help you to build a strategy that your people have a stake in and want to get behind. This is what delivers the value.
Setting your business strategy used to be something you would do in five-year cycles. With the business context now continually shifting, organisations increasingly need more dynamic strategies to achieve their goals. Berkeley can help you set the right direction and make the right choices.”
Mark Stafford, Partner
Clients often ask us…
Question 1
Is now the right time for us to be looking at our business strategy?
Question 2
How do I get my organisation to stand behind my business strategy?
Question 3
How do I ensure my business strategy is deliverable?
Question 4
Over what timeframe should we execute our business strategy?
Question 5
How do we measure the impact and success of my business strategy?
Question 6
How do I ensure my business strategy remains relevant?
Question 7
How often should I refresh my business strategy?
Question 8
How can I create a business strategy that's resilient in a dynamic marketplace?
Client stories
Go-Ahead
Berkeley was asked by the Managing Director of Rail Development at Go-Ahead Group to provide strategic advice to facilitate cross-collaboration across its diverse train operating companies (TOCs), some relatively recently acquired.
We were engaged to work with the Group Executive and leadership from individual operating companies to identify and explore opportunities for a more joined up way to grow profitability and maximise performance of new franchises across operating companies.
M&S Direct
Berkeley supported Marks & Spencer in developing a five-year strategy and programme of work for its direct-to-consumer business, M&S Direct, in response to a stretch target set by the CEO that called for a five-fold increase in the business over as many years.
A global construction advisory firm
Our client was an independent global provider of professional services for the construction and management of building and infrastructure projects. The organisation predominantly specialises in quantity surveying and project management services. The CEO called on Berkeley to help him create a new business strategy covering the business’ target markets, people and operating model.
A major UK retailer
Working closely with a handful of client staff, in just 16 weeks we were able to challenge some well-established norms of operation, raise the profile of the branches in head office thinking and really explore how best to connect this retail business to its local community. In so doing, we helped to boost employee engagement and customer satisfaction as well as increasing revenue.
M&G Real Estate
M&G Real Estate, the global real estate investment manager, had been affected by impacts in the property markets, which had proven more volatile than anticipated. The Executive Board knew they needed to take action to reflect new market conditions and asked us to help them define a future business model and strategic plan.
Working closely with the Board and a client-side Project Director, we created a cohesive and achievable strategy and operating plan, fully supported and approved by parent M&G and M&G Real Estate shareholders.
Textile rental and hygiene services
Our client was a £1bn turnover textile rental and hygiene services business operating across 15 European countries. The CEO was looking for a step change in performance and asked us to help develop a new, more focused corporate strategy.
As with many companies, the business had many excellent people with a great deal of know-how and commitment. It also had tremendous potential. We simply provided the facilitation, encouragement and guidance to help their people come together and develop their own highly effective strategy – unlocking the potential in the business and securing an impressive increase in performance and value. In the subsequent three years market capitalisation moved from £750m to over £1.7bn.
A retail organisation
As one of the leading suppliers to the rural community, our client had ambitions to grow. However, their retail strategy was somewhat constrained and not maximising their full potential. Berkeley were called in to bring a fresh perspective, to review, and where necessary, rewrite the strategy in order to set out a path and plan with greater potential. It was essentially about helping the client identify and craft a bigger ambition while at the same time creating confidence around that ambition.
Client stories
Berkeley was asked by the Managing Director of Rail Development at Go-Ahead Group to provide strategic advice to facilitate cross-collaboration across its diverse train operating companies (TOCs), some relatively recently acquired.
We were engaged to work with the Group Executive and leadership from individual operating companies to identify and explore opportunities for a more joined up way to grow profitability and maximise performance of new franchises across operating companies.
Berkeley supported Marks & Spencer in developing a five-year strategy and programme of work for its direct-to-consumer business, M&S Direct, in response to a stretch target set by the CEO that called for a five-fold increase in the business over as many years.
Our client was an independent global provider of professional services for the construction and management of building and infrastructure projects. The organisation predominantly specialises in quantity surveying and project management services. The CEO called on Berkeley to help him create a new business strategy covering the business’ target markets, people and operating model.
Working closely with a handful of client staff, in just 16 weeks we were able to challenge some well-established norms of operation, raise the profile of the branches in head office thinking and really explore how best to connect this retail business to its local community. In so doing, we helped to boost employee engagement and customer satisfaction as well as increasing revenue.
M&G Real Estate, the global real estate investment manager, had been affected by impacts in the property markets, which had proven more volatile than anticipated. The Executive Board knew they needed to take action to reflect new market conditions and asked us to help them define a future business model and strategic plan.
Working closely with the Board and a client-side Project Director, we created a cohesive and achievable strategy and operating plan, fully supported and approved by parent M&G and M&G Real Estate shareholders.
Our client was a £1bn turnover textile rental and hygiene services business operating across 15 European countries. The CEO was looking for a step change in performance and asked us to help develop a new, more focused corporate strategy.
As with many companies, the business had many excellent people with a great deal of know-how and commitment. It also had tremendous potential. We simply provided the facilitation, encouragement and guidance to help their people come together and develop their own highly effective strategy – unlocking the potential in the business and securing an impressive increase in performance and value. In the subsequent three years market capitalisation moved from £750m to over £1.7bn.
As one of the leading suppliers to the rural community, our client had ambitions to grow. However, their retail strategy was somewhat constrained and not maximising their full potential. Berkeley were called in to bring a fresh perspective, to review, and where necessary, rewrite the strategy in order to set out a path and plan with greater potential. It was essentially about helping the client identify and craft a bigger ambition while at the same time creating confidence around that ambition.
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