One of the biggest problems currently for the company is a lack of a cogent business strategy and model. The company seems to be flying by the seat of its pants, so to speak, taking business when it comes but not having a strategy for how to attract it for how to maximize its profit. In order to fix this, the company needs a scalable business model. It currently works on projects as they come in, but the company should be figuring out precisely how many man hours per week it takes to facilitate a project. It should then price its consulting services accordingly, leaving enough room for the company to product a profit. This would help with other problems within the company, including its current lack of an HR strategy. By handling its projects on the basis of how many man hours they would require, the company can know precisely when it add more employees to its office.
The company also needs a strategy that will allow it to stand out. At current, it is just a bland consulting company not specializing in much of anything. It needs to determine precisely where its strengths are. The company used to do that by basing its strategy around the strengths of its founder, but it got away from that and began basing its strategy off of the strengths of its employees. The company should determine its core competencies and limit the number of services it offers. It should develop a real specialization in communication services, including speech writing, business communication, grand writing, and the like. From there, the company can begin to hire employees who can advance this strategy rather that completely changing the company’s approach based upon who the next person to come into the company happens to be.
Another problem for the company is that it has no target market. The company does not know who it wants to sell its services to, which is why it does not have a marketing approach. It relies on word of mouth and referral business, but does not have a well-defined body of companies it goes after. This company should develop a market strategy where its unique offerings will be valued. One of the strengths of the company is its size. It is a small company that can provide consulting services without the red tape and difficulty of larger consulting companies. While this might keep the company from gaining the business of large corporations, it can carve out a niche by offering consulting to up and coming startups. The consultancy’s new market strategy should focus all of its attention on providing directed, targeted consulting assistance to businesses that are just getting off the ground. These businesses often have need for tremendous amounts of strategic consulting and for communications consulting. They are businesses trying to figure out how to integrate new messaging in order to get established. MacPhie is in a good position to go after these companies and compete on a price basis. Because MacPhie can provide some of its consulting services at a lower price than one might get from a larger consultancy, its business is perfect for companies that need help but remain cost-conscious.
MacPhie must put into place a business strategy and model based upon man hours, adjusting its pricing not according to clients, but depending on how much time is put in. This will allow the company to scale its consultancy in the future for better growth. It must narrow down its target market, preferably to new and upcoming companies, rather than simply going after any old client that comes along.
- Blumberg, M. (2013). Startup CEO: A Field Guide to Scaling Up Your Business,+ Website. John Wiley & Sons.
- Kohli, R. (2016). How important HR consulting is for organizational structure and its success. IRA-International Journal of Management & Social Sciences (ISSN 2455-2267), 2(1).
- Tsamenyi, M., Tsamenyi, M., Antwi-Gyamfi, N. Y., & Antwi-Gyamfi, N. Y. (2016). mSimps: decision-making in scaling up a small business. Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, 6(2), 1-26.
