About

Articles

Strategy Teams: Delivering Value in the Downturn

During recessions, management teams tend to prioritise operational efficiency and delivery; typically, big-picture thinking takes a back seat. This presents a challenge for strategy teams in ensuring that their contributions are still appropriate given the business context, and are ultimately valued by management. In this article we share a framework and some examples to guide strategy teams on prioritising their activities in a weaker economic environment, and help them effectively fulfil their mandate as the custodians of the future success of the business.

The emerging strategic M&A play in private equity

In this article, Marakon’s Yassir Ahmed explores the potential for opportunistic M&A as the private equity industry adjusts to an era of higher interest rates.

About

About

Brian Burwell has recently transitioned to a senior advisor role at Marakon. In concert with this change in role, I, along with the global partner team, want to take this opportunity to recognize and celebrate Brian’s truly exceptional and impactful career at Marakon.

There are few people who devote 37 years of their career to one company. Brian joined Marakon as a Stanford MBA in August 1979, just one year after the firm was founded.  Over the course of his career, he served as both CEO and COO of the firm, and has worked out of offices in San Francisco, London, New York, and Melbourne.

Brian’s work has spanned sectors including healthcare, consumer products, retail, hospitality, entertainment, and education. He has been critical to the success of many of Marakon’s biggest and most important flagship clients over three decades including: Diageo, Roche, Cadburys, Boots, IHG, Heineken and Prudential.  Brian can truly say he spent his career advising the CEOs of some of the world’s most admired companies.

On the firm front, Brian has always been passionate about our people and people development. ~10 years ago, Brian set an ambition to have a partner team with more gender diversity, and set the groundwork for a talent model that would support that ambition.  Perhaps one of his greatest legacies is the partner team he is leaving behind; one that is comprised of 35% women. 

As he embarks on his next chapter, Brian is continuing to pursue his passion for philanthropic consulting as a partner at Bridgespan, and as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at UC Davis. He will remain a senior advisor to Marakon, supporting us where his experience, expertise and relationships can be helpful.

Brian is also very much looking forward to spending more time with his grandchildren, traveling with his wife Bieke, and drinking more Brunello (which as he describes, can be paired with anything or can stand on its own).

Please join me in giving our deepest appreciation and thanks to Brian for all he has done for Marakon over the past 37 years.

Mason Kissell and the Partner team

Articles

Building the Organizational Capabilities to Achieve Sustainable Organic Growth

Achieving sustainable and profitable organic growth requires more than new ideas, innovation, and strong execution. Rather, organic growth exemplars embed a set of institutional capabilities and a growth culture that define the organization and that are key enablers to realizing advantaged performance.

About

Articles

Food, Inc: Making the Coming Agricultural Revolution Work For You

The information and technology age is coming to agriculture – and the outcome will be a food system that is more reliable, more efficient, and more sustainable. This transformation is not happening on industry fringes – it is changing the fundamental wiring of the food industry, and will bring significant risks and opportunities for established businesses. Now is the time for established businesses to plan a comprehensive response.

Responding to a Rapidly Changing ESG Policy Landscape

The Biden administration has signaled a strong desire to make environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations more central themes in government policy, corporate disclosure, and investor and corporate behavior. Policies directed at addressing climate change get the most attention, but we expect significant policy shifts across all areas of ESG. These shifts will not only change disclosure requirements, but may fundamentally affect the economics of certain value chains, capital-labor relationships, and the legal risks of corporates. As a result, US corporates need to step up their ESG orientation. One place to start is a simple set of questions management teams can ask themselves to better understand how prepared they are for the expected policy shift.

About

Articles

Looking under the Hood: UK Economic Outlook and Implications

The UK’s macro-economic outlook is rapidly evolving. Read our latest macro-economic briefing to understand what it may mean for you and your company – a lost quarter, or a hidden opportunity? 2021 was expected to be a year of recovery and growth – both globally and in the UK. However, as we are now in a race between a more infectious virus strain and vaccine rollout, recovery has been stalled at least by a quarter. In the midst of this all, Brexit is a side show. Forward-looking executives are closely monitoring these macro-economic indicators to find hidden opportunities, e.g., how does this outlook impact my cost of equity and WACC, or how am I adjusting my short term consumer offering to take advantage of the expected unlocking of pent-up demand?

Strategic Resource Management - The Hidden Secret to Outperformance

Solid operational performance matters; if your team can’t reliably execute you’re finished. However, our comprehensive study of 1,200 companies revealed that the path to superior performance is determined by management’s decisions about where to focus the firm’s strategic resources (time, people and capital). At least 60–75% of the difference in performance can be attributed to high-level portfolio choices. The implications for senior management are stark and the report outlines the common challenges they face and six actions they can take to help ensure outperformance is within their grasp.

About

Alex has over 10 years of experience in strategic resource management working with senior executives across the UK, Europe and North America.

The main sectors Alex focuses on are consumer packaged goods and financial services. He has worked with clients on a broad range of topics including defining their enterprise strategy, portfolio management and reshaping, consumer-centric organic growth strategies, large scale M&A and transaction support.

Some of his more recent work included building alignment on the strategic direction for a global health and wellness company, translating it into a set of actionable growth drivers and working with country units to realign resources with opportunities for profitable growth.

​

Articles

Strategic Resource Management - The Hidden Secret to Outperformance

Solid operational performance matters; if your team can’t reliably execute you’re finished. However, our comprehensive study of 1,200 companies revealed that the path to superior performance is determined by management’s decisions about where to focus the firm’s strategic resources (time, people and capital). At least 60–75% of the difference in performance can be attributed to high-level portfolio choices. The implications for senior management are stark and the report outlines the common challenges they face and six actions they can take to help ensure outperformance is within their grasp.

In search of alpha: Unlocking value growth in CPG

Despite pressures on recent performance, market expectations for the consumer and packaged goods (CPG) industry are high. Growth has been trending up and margins are expected to continue to improve. Taken together the rate of profit growth in the next three years is forecast to be three times what was delivered in the last five. The challenge for CPG companies is how to meet and exceed the high expectations imbedded in their valuations, given the considerable headwinds.

About

Neal is a Managing Director at Marakon and leads the firm’s operations in the UK and Europe.

For over 20 years, Neal has been advising chief executives and board-level management in developed and emerging markets on strategic, operating and organizational changes needed to deliver superior shareholder returns. He has a particular interest in portfolio shaping and design through organic and inorganic means.

Neal is a recognized authority on improving corporate performance both in the customer and capital markets and has extensive experience in financial services, energy, and health care. His recent work has focused on developing and implementing new growth platforms in the accumulation rollover and de-commutation phases of the retirement markets.

In addition to his client work, Neal has been a guest lecturer at LBS, authored many articles and contributed to the FT and Sunday times on topics of management.

Prior to joining Marakon, Neal worked as an attorney and spent several years as a professional free-style skier in Aspen Co.

Articles

The risk of incrementalism and the importance of clear strategy during periods of uncertainty

Chairpersons and CEOs are at risk of becoming incremental in their thinking as a natural defense to today’s uncertain environment. We observe companies that are at risk of getting stuck given the extreme set of existential risk CEOs and Board members face in managing through today’s environment. They may take comfort from managing operational improvements within their control and shy away from bold choices that might deliver competitive advantage by fundamentally altering their strategy.

Your net-zero plan may be "good" but is it "right"?

As businesses release a wave of net-zero plans to great fanfare, discerning investors and executives alike will look beyond the headlines to assess whether the plans hold water, determining whether what seems to be a ‘good’ plan on paper is actually the ‘right’ one for the particular enterprise. This evaluation will ultimately guide their decisions around which companies to invest in, and whom to partner with.

About

Ron has advised senior executives on issues ranging from corporate and business unit growth strategies to organization design and leadership. His expertise spans an array of industries, including financial services, energy, chemicals, consumer products, telecommunications and technology.

Ron joined Marakon in 1980 and later relocated to the East Coast to help establish the firm’s presence in the region. In 2000, he joined the London office, where he oversaw global practice development and partner management. He has authored a number of articles on senior management issues, including how to fuel profitable growth through improved customer insight and investment, how to make M&A more consistently profitable and how to better link pay with performance.

Prior to joining Marakon, Ron worked for Security Pacific National Bank (now Bank of America) in marketing and for Applied Decision Analysis as a consultant.

Articles

Sales Force Effectiveness - How to Balance Customer Centricity and Shareholder Value

In this paper, we identify five common organizational tendencies that can reduce sales force effectiveness and upset the balance between customer and shareholder value. We also provide observations on what makes an effective, customer-centric sales performance system as well as its benefits, challenges, and avoidable pitfalls.

Economics of Breakups - Conglomerate Discounts and Premiums

Top diversified companies command premium multiples and outperform their pure-play peers through overcoming four distinct disadvantages that diversified companies have vs. pure-plays.

About

Articles

Making Elephants Dance: Enabling Agile in Large Corporate

Agile techniques are increasingly used to alter the DNA of large corporates. However, the agile elephant remains an elusive beast; to date many large corporates have used agile working practices to improve efficiency and effectiveness of operations, but until decision-making processes, standards and culture are rewired from the boardroom down, the full benefits of agile will not be realised.

2020 Emissions Regulations - A Storm Brewing for Global Shipping

The shipping industry, oil refiners, and commodity traders will all be impacted by the new IMO sulphur emission regulations that come into effect in 2020.

About

Articles

Leading Through The Oil Glut

One simple idea has driven Oil and Gas strategies for the last decade. Now, with the industry facing a supply glut, and expectations this will last for several years, it is time for a new approach. David Roxby discusses the options available, beyond cost cutting, and why some strategies work better than others.

Making Better Technology Investments in Oil Sands

Ramping up your investment in innovation and technology is a logical response to increasingly complex and marginal – but potentially huge - oil and gas projects. And the numbers confirm it: despite the recession, overall R&D spending by oil and companies has jumped by several billion dollars in the last 5 years as national oil companies and independents have piled in. Yet chief executives cite “making technology work” as one of the hardest challenges of the industry. In this article, we highlight what oil sands operators – as owners of the largest volumes of marginal barrels and growing investors in technology – are doing to improve their odds of success.

About

Johann is a Director in Marakon’s London office.  For over 15 years, Johann has advised senior executives on corporate and business unit strategy, organisation design, and the governance models that enable successful strategy execution and sustainable value creation.

His primary focus is on supporting clients in the insurance and energy sectors, but he has also served clients in the industrials and petrochemicals sectors.  In addition to working with clients in Europe, he has engagement experience in Africa, Asia, and North America. 

Johann’s recent engagement experience includes: (1) supporting an integrated downstream and petrochemicals business in South Asia in setting its long term strategic direction and investment programme, (2) designing a growth orientated operating model for a mid-sized E&P company in Europe, and (3) determining the future participation model for a global health insurance and healthcare company headquartered in Europe.

Articles

Energy Transition: Making Money with Renewables

The promise of growth from renewables is unquestionable, but the attractiveness of the sector’s returns is widely debated. In this short article, we look at the emerging evidence of relative corporate returns in renewable energy production, by energy source, and discuss approaches for securing value creation in this fast expanding sector.

The Future of Oil and Gas: The Writing Is on the wall

Renewables will take an increasing share of global energy supply over the next decades. It is no longer a question of whether renewables will begin to replace traditional sources of power and chemicals but when. O&G players need to decide what markets to focus on and how to win in the future by leveraging current assets and capabilities.

About

Articles

Are Acquisition Multiples Too High?

Companies should not think about acquisitions in terms of pre-deal multiples, but through analysis of fundamentals. This in turn will create better post-deal strategies.

Economics of Breakups - Conglomerate Discounts and Premiums

Top diversified companies command premium multiples and outperform their pure-play peers through overcoming four distinct disadvantages that diversified companies have vs. pure-plays.

About

Articles

The Power of Portfolio Focus: The Chemical Sector

Arnie Lowenstein discusses the importance of portfolio strategy in executive suites and boardrooms. A fast changing world, shifting growth dynamics in key sectors of the economy and across regions, plus often conflicting views of value between management and investors place portfolio choices at the top of many management agendas.

Managing Differentiated Commodities

Most industrial businesses are neither purely commodity nor fully differentiated, but are a combination of the two—in essence, differentiated commodities.

About

Articles

Making Better Technology Investments in Oil Sands

Ramping up your investment in innovation and technology is a logical response to increasingly complex and marginal – but potentially huge - oil and gas projects. And the numbers confirm it: despite the recession, overall R&D spending by oil and companies has jumped by several billion dollars in the last 5 years as national oil companies and independents have piled in. Yet chief executives cite “making technology work” as one of the hardest challenges of the industry. In this article, we highlight what oil sands operators – as owners of the largest volumes of marginal barrels and growing investors in technology – are doing to improve their odds of success.

About

Click Here to views Todd's profile at Heidrick & Struggles

Articles

Winning with Digital in Consumer Financial Services

Lessons from Leaders and Laggards

About

Click here to view Ryan's profile at Heidrick & Struggles

Articles

Winning with Digital in Consumer Financial Services

Lessons from Leaders and Laggards

About

Roland Foxcroft is a Principal in Marakon’s London office with over a decade of experience in strategy advisory across Europe, North America and Asia.

Roland has supported senior executives at group, business unit and functional leadership levels as they define and shape their corporate portfolios; launch new businesses and accelerate the organic growth of existing ones; design and execute transactions; and enhance their operational performance. He has worked with clients across the consumer goods, healthcare and financial services sectors for both listed and privately owned clients.

Roland has previously published articles on adjusting business models to changes in industry structure; building new data-driven commercial models; and developing digital alliances. He has designed and led programmes that have won the MCA Strategy Project of the Year award and have been shortlisted for the prestigious Prix Galien UK prize.

Prior to joining Marakon, Roland worked at Barclays Wealth and at Monitor Group. He is a graduate of Churchill College, Cambridge.

Articles

Re-Base the Plan; Regain Control - Food and Beverage

Covid-19 has created significant uncertainty for the Food and Beverage sector. How can business leaders re-gain a measure of agency over their short-term business performance? Marakon recommends formulating a 12-24 month plan to re-base your strategic plan to re-gain visibility and control over the alternative futures possible. This can arm you with the knowledge needed to make the right cost, investment, and financing choices now and over the next few months – choices that will help you not only survive, but also outperform when the recovery comes.

4 Distinct COVID Response Choices for Consumer Goods and Foodservice Companies

While the Consumer Goods and Foodservice sector has shown some resilience in light of Covid-19, there is significant variation between sub-sectors and individual company performance. Each company’s strategic response should therefore depend on their unique reality – their ability to withstand the short term turbulence, and their readiness to take on what lies ahead in the new normal. Marakon’s Covid Response Framework maps 60 S&P 1200 companies to their unique reality, and accordingly suggests a tailored strategic response.

About

Articles

Your net-zero plan may be "good" but is it "right"?

As businesses release a wave of net-zero plans to great fanfare, discerning investors and executives alike will look beyond the headlines to assess whether the plans hold water, determining whether what seems to be a ‘good’ plan on paper is actually the ‘right’ one for the particular enterprise. This evaluation will ultimately guide their decisions around which companies to invest in, and whom to partner with.

Global Macroeconomic Outlook

As we enter 2022, the global economic engine is overheating with inflation higher and more broad-based than anticipated, worrying investors and Central Banks alike. Additional risks to monitor include new potential COVID-19 variants, a mounting global debt pile, and ongoing geopolitical instability. The UK despite a successful vaccine rollout faces challenges of its own with a cost-of-living crisis threatening short-term recovery and Brexit likely to exert a long-term drag. Forward-looking executives are closely monitoring these macro-economic indicators to anticipate challenges and find hidden opportunities, e.g., building capabilities in an inflationary market, managing the energy transition amidst an energy crisis.

About

Articles

Winning with Digital in Consumer Financial Services

Lessons from Leaders and Laggards

About

Articles

Winning with Digital in Consumer Financial Services

Lessons from Leaders and Laggards

About

Articles

Winning with Digital in Consumer Financial Services

Lessons from Leaders and Laggards

The Digital Wealth Management Imperative

Following the financial crisis, there is a wave of new startups that are trying to redefine or refresh traditional models of wealth management. Their services are priced to sell, and traditional firms have not been able to deliver the quality of customer experience of these startups. While some startups have been able to grow to a modest level relatively quickly, the question is whether they will be able to sustain this rapid pace of growth, and what more can traditional players do.

About

Articles

Smart Growth: What B2B Can Learn From Consumer Companies

Consumer companies ‘know’ their customers – who they are, what they buy, when and why they switch brands, what motivates them, and how much they are worth – in an increasingly granular way. Many B2C firms are driving towards ‘segments of one’ in how they target and engage customers to win business. By contrast, B2B companies tend to view the world through a product and end market lens, with actionable customer insight on where and how to grow profitably often underdeveloped. This creates a big untapped opportunity to reignite growth in what are often slow growth markets.

Are Acquisition Multiples Too High?

Companies should not think about acquisitions in terms of pre-deal multiples, but through analysis of fundamentals. This in turn will create better post-deal strategies.

About

Articles

Utilities Are Not Immune This Time

In this white paper, Marakon and CRA colleagues Quan Li, Neal Kissel, and Jim McMahon analyze the intense pressure on affordability, uncertainty in utility rate base growth, the heightened scrutiny on investments, and pressure on regulated ROEs in the current environment. Most of these issues were at play to some degree before the current economic downturn. The COVID-19 crisis has brought them to the fore at an accelerated pace. Consequently, there are deep strategic implications that all utility CEOs need to consider to better weather the storm in the current crisis, be better prepared for the next crisis, and increase the odds of creating long-term business resilience.

About

Articles

People, Planet, Profit

Here are our top five ideas for helping CEOs drive more joined up thinking between people, planet and profits to positively impact more of all three, more of the time.

About

Articles

A total capital approach for developing a sustainability agenda

The gap between what markets value and what society values is closing. Financial markets and investors are increasingly focused on the fact that risks and opportunities linked to sustainability are tangible and can have a significant impact on business performance. By better understanding the relationship between stakeholder and shareholder value in the context of what a company does, leaders can shape more robust sustainability agendas. Once these agendas are progressed via an appropriate approach for institutional change, the company is then well on the path of simultaneous growth of both shareholder and stakeholder value.

About

Articles

Beyond ESG: Building more confidence and assurance in corporate sustainability practices

Sustainability and ESG are the buzzwords of the day, and indeed much progress has been made to bring transparency and focus onto these issues in the business world. As capability and sophistication in this space evolve, many companies and investors are understanding the need to move beyond using relatively simple, sometimes self-reported ESG scores to build more confidence and assurance in corporate sustainability strategies and policies. Charles River Associates, via Marakon and its Investigations practice provides an effective supporting capability that enables corporates and investors to do just that.

About

Articles

Hydrogen: 10 Questions CEOs and Their Boards Must Ask Before Investing

There is a great deal of renewed enthusiasm for hydrogen as a major element of a clean energy future. Hydrogen can support longer term decarbonization alongside electrification, but there is still a great deal of uncertainty. Many CEOs feel pressure to invest in clean hydrogen to avoid being seen as “back-footed”, but there is real risk of moving too fast and too far in front of economic viability and demand. Before committing material time, money and human capital, there are 10 key questions CEOs and their Boards should be asking themselves and their teams.

About

Articles

Responding to a Rapidly Changing ESG Policy Landscape

The Biden administration has signaled a strong desire to make environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations more central themes in government policy, corporate disclosure, and investor and corporate behavior. Policies directed at addressing climate change get the most attention, but we expect significant policy shifts across all areas of ESG. These shifts will not only change disclosure requirements, but may fundamentally affect the economics of certain value chains, capital-labor relationships, and the legal risks of corporates. As a result, US corporates need to step up their ESG orientation. One place to start is a simple set of questions management teams can ask themselves to better understand how prepared they are for the expected policy shift.

About

Articles

Hydrogen Market Primer

Hydrogen has the potential to play a critical role in the energy transition, but the space remains nascent and is highly complex, with a dynamic value chain of supply and demand possibilities. CEOs and business leaders looking to invest into hydrogen need to work through significant strategic, organizational, and operational questions. Why hydrogen, when to invest, and where in the value chain? Whether and who to partner with, and with what commercial construct? What are the economics and drivers? As a starting point, some basic level setting on the market fundamentals will support decision makers contemplating these types of questions. To that end, Marakon and CRA are pleased to provide this hydrogen primer as a point of reference.

About

Rod leads Marakon’s integrated hydrogen offering to support clients navigate and realize the opportunities in clean hydrogen.

He has more than 30 years of broad energy sector experience from a career at BP that included senior leadership roles in hydrogen, gas/LNG, renewables and energy systems, including the transition to net-zero. Most recently, he led the firm’s hydrogen strategy and implementation plan, including financial frame, organization design, technology strategy and partnership model.

Rod’s experience includes strategy development, commercial leadership, business development and programme delivery. He is proficient at interacting with executive leadership and developing relationships with stakeholders. Rod represented BP at the global Hydrogen Council, Hydrogen Europe and UK Hydrogen Taskforce, and was a member of the Energy Advisory Board at the University of Nottingham.

Articles

Ukraine War and Five Lasting Changes for the Energy Sector

The war in Ukraine is creating geopolitical, social, and economic disruption in the energy sector and beyond, just as the world is beginning to recover from the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the energy sector, it is compounding the trilemma of security, affordability, and sustainability. Increasing sanctions on Russia’s energy exports and moves to reduce dependence, notably by the EU, are limiting access to a previously reliable and low-cost global energy source, and the ripple effects could be felt in the form of higher costs of living and of doing business. There will also be implications for the energy transition. In this Marakon Commentary, Rod Davies and Quan Li outline five potentially lasting changes the energy sector could encounter and that companies and investors should account for.

SAF to be used in Singapore departing flights from 2026

In this article, Marakon’s Rod Davies shares his thoughts on Singapore’s commitment to mandate the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) for departing flights.

About

Articles

Your net-zero plan may be "good" but is it "right"?

As businesses release a wave of net-zero plans to great fanfare, discerning investors and executives alike will look beyond the headlines to assess whether the plans hold water, determining whether what seems to be a ‘good’ plan on paper is actually the ‘right’ one for the particular enterprise. This evaluation will ultimately guide their decisions around which companies to invest in, and whom to partner with.

Global Macroeconomic Outlook

As we enter 2022, the global economic engine is overheating with inflation higher and more broad-based than anticipated, worrying investors and Central Banks alike. Additional risks to monitor include new potential COVID-19 variants, a mounting global debt pile, and ongoing geopolitical instability. The UK despite a successful vaccine rollout faces challenges of its own with a cost-of-living crisis threatening short-term recovery and Brexit likely to exert a long-term drag. Forward-looking executives are closely monitoring these macro-economic indicators to anticipate challenges and find hidden opportunities, e.g., building capabilities in an inflationary market, managing the energy transition amidst an energy crisis.

About

Articles

The Business of Climate

In the aftermath of COP27, where world leaders met at Sharm El-Sheikh to address delivery of net-zero goals and planning, we recap the progress made since Paris and COP26, simplify the conference agenda, and share what all this might mean for business.

Is the insurance industry a barrier or facilitator of net zero?

In this article, Marakon’s Ofir Eyal outlines how the insurance sector can harness its unique capabilities to facilitate the low-carbon transition across the real economy.

About

Heidi Hellmann is a Director to Marakon based in the London office.

She specializes in corporate and business unit strategy, sustainability matters, and business development with a particular focus on creating value through the transition to net zero.

She has more than 30 years of energy sector experience working with companies ranging from large scale, global utilities and oil & gas companies through to early stage cleantech start-ups. Most recently she was Group Head of Strategy & Environment at Centrica plc, prior to which she held a variety of senior strategy and commercial roles. Heidi’s past experience includes strategy development and implementation; strategic planning and portfolio management; climate scenario analysis and climate transition planning; as well as business development and early opportunity identification. She has experience leading projects in the UK, continental Europe, and Asia.

In addition to her client work, Heidi is also the Chair of Sarasin & Partners’ Climate Active Advisory Panel and previously she was on the Board of Centrica Innovations and a Director of SNRG, a PropTech start-up.

Articles

The risk of incrementalism and the importance of clear strategy during periods of uncertainty

Chairpersons and CEOs are at risk of becoming incremental in their thinking as a natural defense to today’s uncertain environment. We observe companies that are at risk of getting stuck given the extreme set of existential risk CEOs and Board members face in managing through today’s environment. They may take comfort from managing operational improvements within their control and shy away from bold choices that might deliver competitive advantage by fundamentally altering their strategy.

The Business of Climate

In the aftermath of COP27, where world leaders met at Sharm El-Sheikh to address delivery of net-zero goals and planning, we recap the progress made since Paris and COP26, simplify the conference agenda, and share what all this might mean for business.