Where is your business going? How will you get there? Who's going to help? These might seem like basic strategy questions, but when you really consider them, you might find the answers don't come to mind as easily as you'd have hoped.
BDO understands the importance of getting these questions right - and our strategic advisory team is here to help you do so.
What is business strategy really?
Creating a business strategy involves developing a thorough understanding of where you want your business to go in the future, as well as knowing exactly what you need to do to get there. In practice this involves a range of different functions, which can broadly be split into four different areas:
- Strategy and growth planning: Setting a direction for the future is essential to delivering sustainable value for your organisation. To do this, you will need to develop clear strategies that allow you to cope with change, align stakeholders and drive new opportunities.
- Organisational development: Your organisation needs the right systems, people and culture to perform and grow.
- Investment advisory: Your investments must look after today but keep the future in mind. This means developing clear decision-making frameworks that align with your core values and strategic aims.
- Governance and leadership: As an organisation grows it becomes difficult to remain ahead of challenges, so developing executive skills and equipping your people to lead and govern is essential for success.
Equipping your people to lead and govern is just one element of strategic advisory.
What types of business benefit from strategy advice?
Having a cohesive strategy is essential for all businesses, and at BDO we've helped a range of organisations across many different sectors.
"We've been working with a number of different organisations, from small agribusinesses to not for profits and large corporates," explains Rhea Cowell, Senior Strategy Analyst at BDO New Zealand. "I've particularly enjoyed working with Māori businesses because of the inter-generational aspect. Māori assets are handed down to the next generation, so there's an interesting sustainability factor (they may be considering what their assets will do in 100 years time) that is often more extensive than other businesses require."
Other times the team will work with more established organisations that might have gone through a significant growth period and are wondering where to go next with governance and leadership, or are considering questions over succession planning.
What is BDO's approach to business strategy?
BDO's business advisory has been offered for many years, and our strategic advisory has allowed us to develop a unique approach based on three core pillars:
1) Understanding
We make it our mission to develop as deep an understanding as possible of a business and the industry it operates in. At the start of any strategic advisory engagement we'll complete a significant amount of market and other research, meet with the organisation and their team to understand and establish exactly what stage their business is at.
"For us it's essential to understand the sector and industry at a very profound level," says Phillip Roth, Strategic Advisory Partner at BDO. "We'll then deep dive into the key concepts that are exclusively relevant to the client."
2) Tailored
We understand that no organisation is the same and therefore their strategy must be unique as well. Because we take the time to really get to know an organisation, we can then create a completely tailored approach to their strategy, with no 'off the shelf' services.
We use the expertise of our global offices to help create strategies that work.
3) Collaborative
No one person can know everything about a particular industry - that's why we believe in collaboration. "BDO has the advantage of being a global network. Just recently, we used BDO London to talk to an industry leader to help us out with a client here in New Zealand, and we are always leveraging our global expertise," says Phillip.
We also have offices across New Zealand, meaning we really understand the environments in which businesses in this country operate in. "We can put someone in touch with other people doing similar things to make sure they can take advantage of as much collaboration as possible," explains Rhea.
Strategy is broad. It means different things to different people. To get it right, you need someone who will take the time to really get to know the business. For more information on BDO's strategic advisory services, contact the team today.