Why Sutcliffe & Associates?

Why Sutcliffe & Associates?

          Ian started the firm in 1985 after 5 years with Coopers & Lybrand. The first Hallmark of the firm was to marry strategy with execution and this has been a central deliverable in every project undertaken. The second hallmark of the firm was to create long term strategic advantage for clients with a mandate to recognize and implement paradigm shifting approaches to doing business.

Hallmark # 1 - Strategy and Execution. Effective execution depends on not only a clear and comprehensive strategy but a thorough understanding of the trade-off's and core principles that support the strategy.
          We do not believe that Strategy and Execution should be separated. We do believe that they are independent activities but a mediocre strategy that is well executed will outperform a superior strategy that was never implemented as envisioned.

          We bring in the best people available in terms of hands on experience, objectivity, analytical skills and ability to communicate to work with management to develop their strategies. The same resources are available for support and evaluation as execution is rolled out.

Hallmark # 2 - Paradigm Shifting Business Models. Examples are the best way to describe this Hallmark. For the Port of Vancouver we examined the Port from a customer perspective and recognized that the port was not competitive with alternate ports on the West Coast. The solution was to bring in all the stakeholders (Port, Police, Customs, Immigration, Sawmills, Rail & Road Transportation, Grain Growers, Unions, etc.) to agree on a set of changes to make Vancouver a better competitive alternative to Seattle and LA.
          A second example was an assignment to redefine IBM's worldwide go-to-market approach with a sophisticated marketing decision tool that could be applied in all regions and to all products, distribution channels and customer needs. The resulting tool (Route To Market) ensured consistent and measurable marketing activity and as importantly, profitability for IBM manufacturing and marketing. The approach also ensured the profitability of distribution channel partners while delivering a competitive value proposition to the customer. RTM was rolled out worldwide in 1995 and is IBM's primary market planning tool today.

          A third example was developing a low cost approach to attracting highly qualified visitors to Mediconsult.com, the successful health web site (now WebMD). The result was that Mediconsult.com was able to attract 5 million unique and qualified visitors a month to Mediconsult.com while maintaining the stickiest visitor experience on the web. The visitor acquisition cost was the lowest in the health sector by a factor of 10. This high traffic / low cost model was a key factor in the success of the company's IPO on NASDAQ.

          Why Sutcliffe & Associates?. We are a small firm with a passion for finding new ways of doing business, building a strategy around the true capabilities of our client and staying the course through successful execution. We bring high value to our clients that translates directly into higher revenue and higher profitability. Why not try us?