Perspectives

On Strategy
Anand Kumar Padmanaban

The word ‘strategy’ means ‘the art of the general’
(from the Greek Strategos )
Who Am I ?
Degrees in engineering and management, an alum of
Guindy College Of Engg., IIMC and UToledo
23+ Years experience – primarily in life sciences and
technology
Arbor Management ConsulPng, GD Searle, Pharmacia
Upjohn, Pfizer, ProPva, Monsanto
Started social entrepreneurship firm building an
employability eco-system in 2007, scaled the model and
exited in 2010, Built and sold a health assist device
Business advisory consulPng journey started –
HealthSo[, MingleBox, Acclerys, Fortune 50, Fortune
100, PowerOne, Tyco and a host of startups and growth
stage ventures
Angel Investor/LP for a VC fund and NGO journey started
– PET Trust, WasteImpact, Startup Network with IIMB,
IISc.
Run social hackathons with IISc and IIT Mumbai and
mentor startups (Everwise, Innoberator), exploring
healthcare stuff
Strategy Woes

Fewer than 15 percent of organiza3ons

around the world report that they are
successful at strategy implementa3on.

The majority of strategies fail in the strategy

implementa3on phase. Many organiza3ons
have a fundamental disconnect between the
formula3on of their strategy and the
implementa3on of that strategy into useful
ac3on.

Source : journal of management and organizaPon, March 2017

Key Success Factors

source : strategic insights

Typical Scope Of Work

A CAPABLE
JACK OF ALL
TRADES
The Typical Strategy Puzzle

Doctor informing
Diagnosis paPent of disease

Guiding TherapeuPc
Policy treatment process

PrescripPon
AcPon
Strategy Consulting =~ Structured Problem Solving

Define
Commu
the
nicate
problem

Determi
ne the
Review
key
issues

Develop
Perform
hypothe
analysis
ses

Business
OrganizaPonal OperaPonal
Strategy FormulaPon Canvas /
Model Model
Model
Some Personal Experiences
Value Selling : Healthcare services
u Healthcare services company providing
low end medical services to customers in
US / AUS
u Hit a glass ceiling in terms of growth and
profitability
u Founder was unsure of next steps and
contemplaPng increasing sales numbers
or increasing profit margin
u Founder extremely agached to setup and
willingness to change was a challenge

u Problem statement : Explore opPons to

merge / regroup or outright sale

u State : profitable with extremely good
customers and glowing references

What was done
•  Explored mergers with other complementary skills companies,
unsuccessful in driving merger due to tentaPveness from
founder
•  Explored outright sale, founder not happy with valuaPon
presented
•  Developed a 1 year plan around various key drivers to help the
organizaPon move forward – retooled the team, provided
ESOP’s, revisited customers and experiences, explored market
landscape
•  Developed a transiPon plan from a pure services to a produPsed
service plahorm due to idenPfied possible changes in the
industry
•  Built a product pipeline which leveraged the capabiliPes but also
enabled the organizaPon to upsell to their customers
Outcomes
•  Helped grow valuaPon to 4x over 3 years.

•  Facilitated a sale of the company to a UK firm in the same

space
Exit Plans : Education Space
One of the Top online educaPon
services company in India
Problem statement : differenPate
and explore opportuniPes to
increase valuaPon as investor
senPment was waning and pricing
pressure due to increased
compePPon
Status Then : profitable enPty,
fragmented market and players all
fighPng for mind share of customer
and economic decision maker
The Gist
Revisit the problem statement and idenPfy
if there were any challenges internally
Perform a SWOT analysis of the industry
and marketplace
IdenPfied a hypothesis and presented a
path forward with a go/nogo in 4 months
Developed a POC ecosystem concept which
integrated 2 of the key stakeholders (job
seekers and job provider network)
What was done

Built up an employability eco-system model with

3 pivot points - educaPonal insPtutes , students
and job providers
Ecosystem was built from 2 aspects - career
seekers and career providers
Enlisted over 100 educaPonal insPtuPons ,
enlisted Pmes jobs and naukri as the back end
Built a video resume capability, assessment test
engine, academic achievement management
portal
Outcome

so[ launch and engagement was

iniPated
company saw renewed interest from
investors
founders sold to a middle east group
and exited
Exploration : Strategic Go To Market - India

Fortune 500 company in the

discovery science space with a small
support team in India
Problem Statement : Explore the
india market in terms of launching
its enterprise life sciences soluPon
Status : ambivalent, were not happy
selling soluPons through a
distributor model, wanted to
explore large accounts in India but
not sure how to proceed
What was done & outcome

Forces at work framework analysis

Study customers, distributors, compePtors, subsPtute products, decision makers
Evolve a hypothesis
Develop a 90 day plan and dipsPck test model
IdenPfy key innovators and decision makers in the market
Conduct market research on product features, pricing and localisaPon
Assimilate feedback from market

RecommendaPon to ExecuPve leadership team in US
Do NOT waste Pme entering India at this price point with these features or
expanding you team here as market is sPll not there
Evolve to a subscripPon model with minimal features and sell for value pricing
Struggling Business : Business Revamp

A promising venture perennially in

startup mode
Problem statement : need to fix things
inside the company was the dictum
issued by the investors who were in the
US
Status : Product pipeline was sPll WIP for
the last 2 years, key staff were moving
out on a regular basis, irregulariPes in
business operaPons were rouPne and
common
What was done

Interviews with investors and key stakeholders (Chairman,

CEO, MD) on their perspecPve of where things stood
Define a 90 day plan on the approach to address key issues -
product readiness, organisaPonal fitness, market readiness
Built up an organisaPonal model based on product and not
funcPon (reduced infighPng) and focused everyone on the
product
Worked up a plan for product readiness and compliance ,
reviewed it every week with key team
Developed a BD plan for exploring channel partners for POC
What was done

Built up the organisaPon block by block - introduced rewards

and recogniPon programs, learning and development
programs, referral hiring models, developed HR policies and
other compliance policies
Pursued BIS cerPficaPon (ISI mark) for the products a[er
doing a feasibility test using DA tesPng.
Built a channel partners in North and South India where
POC’s could be performed without regulatory compliance
approvals
Got the company on track with quarterly goals and bonus
programs
Outcome

Third round funding obtained

Built the valuaPon of the company upto 14 crores

Currently in the process of being sold to a Indian

subsidiary of a large auto major
Some Key Lessons Learnt
Problems are everywhere and somePmes
idenPfying the right problem is by itself a
challenge
Strategy is about looking at a cluger of issues,
idenPfying the 1 or 2 issues which may have a
significant impact, focusing on them and work
towards resolving them in a planned manner
Typically follows this model - idenPfy facts and
disPnguish causes from symptoms , structure
the findings, evolve a hypothesis on what could
be the key issues, develop a plan and
implement them
Remember Pareto’s principle - 80/20 rule
Extrapolating to the Sundry

What am I doing to solve the

problem ?
Is what I am doing solving the
problem at hand ?
Is it the most important thing I could
be doing ?
Am I moving the problem resoluPon
forward or backward ?
Tools and frameworks
•  SWOT Framework (Strengths, weaknesses, opportuniPes and
threats)
•  Scenario thinking (walking the baglefield before the bagle)
usually used for future think
•  The BSC – financial, customers, internal processes and
innovaPon and learning
•  7 S model ( strategy, structure, systems, shared values, skills,
staff and style)
•  The Service Profit chain (linking people in the organizaPon
with profit by focusing on key people drivers )
•  BCG, Pareto, Ansoff etc. etc.
Learning to Balance the Paradoxes

ImaginaPon & Many possibiliPes

The future vs. the Dreams vs
passion vs. vs. few
present pracPcal reality
analysis & reason opportuniPes

CreaPng
Process (how we Growth engines
Long term vs. condiPons vs.
plan) vs. content vs. gap-closing
short term grasping
(what we plan) iniPaPves
opportuniPes

Holism (big
Thinking vs. doing picture) vs. focus
(making choices)
What does strategic think do in a
career ?
Business structure elements: compePPve market
posiPoning, distribuPon channels, customer contact points;
OrganisaPon elements: organisaPon charts, strategy
development process, people policies and pracPces,
informaPon architecture, culture and values;
Interpersonal structures: roles and responsibiliPes,
interpersonal relaPons;
Individual structures: the way I think, my interpretaPon of
my role and responsibiliPes, my values and beliefs.
Pointers As You Tackle A Project
Being skep3cal of Always make sure the
Most 3mes, the
everything is a good Never make the facts solu3ons fits the
problem is not always
thing, ques3oning is fit the solu3on customer internally
the problem
good and externally

Some3mes, taking a Don’t boil the ocean Many factors affect/

Some problems you
step back allows the and work using the effect the business,
cannot solve, solve
solu3on to come to boundary of find out the most
them anyway
you constraints all the 3me relevant ones

Be careful what is
Pluck the low hanging
Hit singles are always promised, always Don’t mistake the
fruit all the 3me, it
beQer than an album under promise and forest for the trees
shows progress
over deliver

Don’t bite off more

than you can chew
Pointers As You Move In Your Career
Know what drives
Balance Deliberate Allocate Resources disrup3ve innova3on Weigh short term Vs.
and Emerging Issues wisely (experience + cause long term payouts
and effect)

Know the difference Watch out – Don’t Marginal Thinking is Figure out exactly
between good capital sequence not good , all the what your customer
and bad capital investments 3me wants

Commit 100% Vs. Likeness,

Test assump3ons Never outsource the
98% percent all the commitment and
before taking ac3on future
3me metrics

Test theories by
looking for anomalies
 Thank You

Any QuesPons Or Need Any Help ,
contact me @ anand@elado.co.in
Phone: 9901014134