Situation
A client’s key market had been declining by over 10% each year for the past six years. Although dominant in their field, technological changes, as well as new customer practices of doing business were slowly decreasing the need for the client’s core products. Internal efforts to find new applications and markets for their products and technology had been largely unsuccessful. Still, the client had a powerful incentive to utilize all of the existing and accumulated knowledge, infrastructure and chemical technology they had developed over the last 50 years to solve their market challenges.
Over a two year period, the Client had engaged multiple consulting firms at an expense greater than $2MM. During this period, the client and consultants had only one failed product launch that had not been vetted technologically nor via the customer supply chain. Rather than truly understanding the value of their technology to other markets, the focus instead had been solely upon simply utilizing the clients incumbent chemistry and converting technologies from an old viewpoint.
Engagement
Our firm worked collaboratively with senior management as well as core technology, manufacturing and marketing teams to step back and evaluate the client’s technical and market core competencies. Diverse industry experts with familiarity in the client’s space also participated with our team of ideation, commercial and technology development experts. Over a 72 hour period, we evaluated the firm’s technical and market core competencies, product ideas, documented the requirements from a functional, market, operation, supply chain, financial, time and resource perspective, then ranked and graded the various options. Over the next two days, the top three concepts were given to teams and functional prototypes were developed in the lab. We ultimately had a single, clear winning concept from a financial, resource, customer standpoint serving a new market with a unique application of their technology.
Deliverables & Impact
The winning concept took advantage of the client’s core platform and enterprise knowledge with a single significant new application in a new market. The new application simply required developing new partnerships to facilitate product commercialization. The new concept was demonstrated two weeks later under NDA with several major customer prospects. The customers were so impressed with the deep and thorough vetting, coupled with the concepts simplicity, that an agreement for joint development was signed within two weeks. The resulting market exceeded $500 million with three major leading industry customers engaged. This program remains confidential.
Total Cost – $36,000, Timing – One Week