Large Energy Company

The client is a nationalised energy company. Its principle terms of reference are to contribute to the national social and economic development plans by developing and maintaining sustainable and cost-effective energy generation capacity and supply networks.

Changes to the structuring of international financial arrangements by the Government forced the client to adopt a more commercial approach to the management of the organisation. The implications of this move towards commercialisation were to be addressed in the form of a Strategic Business Review that was subject to analysis and acceptance by the Government and International Lenders.

The MD and Business Development Manager were responsible for initiating the strategic review process. Their priority was to identify and evaluate progressive organisations with experience and processes that would help them deliver a relevant and credible outcome. After assessing several options, they appointed us to help them deliver this important project.

Following team selection (mainly senior Board members) their Divisional responsibilities were explored along with any issues raised by them. The Business Development Manager was then briefed on the project emphasising the need for close co-operation to ensure the success of the project.

The next major decision was to answer the question "Why did the organisation exist?" and what did the Government/Board expect it to deliver. This forced the Team to challenge issues that were enshrined in the existing culture. It also focussed their thinking on the new dynamics required to be successful under the Government policy of commercialisation. They decide to choose a performance indicator based on a derivative of "Earnings".

The challenge analysis, which compares the optimistic and pessimistic forecasts of the company on its current strategies against the required performance set by the Board, was the next major issue. The analysis indicated that the business would fall significantly short of the required performance. The veracity of this analysis was discussed in depth but as a consensus could not be reached the Team decide to set up a series of task groups to further research the forecast figures and report back. The substance of the original assessment was eventually verified as being accurate confirming that the Company had some real and unexpected challenges to face.

The Team decided to hold an off-site workshop with senior and middle managers from across the operating Divisions. The MD kicked off proceedings outlining the "Challenge" and verification process to confirm the conclusions. He emphasised the problems to be tackled, adding that creativity and open minds were needed. Amongst the big issues in question were new generating capacity, distribution/rural electrification and how do we become an efficient commercial entity.

The workshop sessions were very creative and developed an interesting mix of ideas and proposals. Agreement on the main areas for further analysis provided a satisfactory outcome. The Project Team confirmed that these ideas would be studied and a limited final selection made for final vetting at a review session with the workshop groups.

The complexity of the issues raised made it necessary to create action teams for detailed analysis and assessments. After several months the Project Team produced a range of strategies that were fed back to the workshop groups. From this emerged a selection of workable strategies that were identified as appropriate to meet the challenge.

Following several iterations of the final project plan it was approved by the Government and representatives from the International Lenders, activating the release of further capital investment in the company.