Aboutus(andyou)
Business Generation is a thought leadership practice that strengthens corporate performance through the introduction of best practice planning processes.
What are we about?
What
In nature, living things grow, reproduce and die. They grow until something gets in the way – something inside them, or something in their environment. In business there are also barriers to growth. Some are internal; some are external. Sometimes the barriers can be moved; often they cannot. Sometimes it is you that has to do the moving.
You and your organisation exist in a wider environment. That wider environment is a dynamic system, of which your organisation is a sub-system; and both are replete with behavioural feedback loops. You want to maximise your potential within that wider and ever-changing environment. You want to scan and screen the opportunities, and position your resources where they can earn their best return. Our role is to partner you in that process.
We introduce processes that model your organisation and help you to identify any feedback loops that are compromising performance.
We add value to information – yours, and others’. We help you to identify the key variables that determine your business future, and to chart a suitable course toward it.
There is usually a story to be told. We help you tell it. In an expert market report, an information memorandum, a strategic or business plan, a marketing strategy or a sales brochure.
Who
We specialise in industrial and commercial sectors – not consumer products. We work with large and small organisations in both the private and public sector. Private sector entities like GPT, Flight Centre, CSR and GrainCorp. Public entities like the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), the NSW Department of State Development, and Austrade. Membership-based organisations such as NSW Farmers Association and the Securities Institute of Australia. We contribute at two principal levels in the organisation, corporate, and strategic business unit (SBU):
- Typical corporate assignments include strategic planning, post merger integration, the assessment of specific growth options (through business case development and project due diligence), corporate communications, organisational effectiveness, and governance issues including the delegation of authorities;
- Typical SBU assignments include integrated business planning, strategic marketing, export development and feasibility studies.
In either case, our preferred approach is to complement and consolidate an existing internal ‘cabinet team’, with the inclusion of group or individual mentoring where appropriate. Geography is an opportunity, not a barrier. We have worked with:
- Australian firms focused on Australia;
- Australian firms pursuing overseas markets;
- Overseas firms targeting Australia markets;
- Overseas firms targeting third country markets (in the Pacific Rim and in the EuroMed).
Where
- Sydney base
- Multi-national reach.
Business Generation is based in Sydney. It was founded in 1989.
How
- Professional
- Systematic
- Interactive
- Robust
- Pragmatic
- Informal
We start by listening. As we come to understand the broad dimensions of the challenge, we make suggestions about how it might be addressed. Once you and we are on common ground about how to proceed, we submit a ‘plain language’ formal proposal, so that everyone has the same key expectations.
We draw from a range of proven diagnostic, planning and facilitation tools, methodologies and processes, depending on the particular challenge.
We assemble the required skills and resources.
We tap your brains first, because it costs money to gather extra information. We put an appropriate premium on what you already know – but we don’t leave it unchallenged – and then we build on it.
We also draw from a wide range of local and international contacts with specialist knowledge and skills. And if we don’t know any, we find them.
We like to talk it through. You can’t do everything in a workshop, but they can dramatically shorten the critical path. There’s a time to convene, and a time to disperse.
We believe in constantly closing the loops. Progressive feedback. No surprises.
We engender trust.
When the job’s done, we remain available, but unobtrusive.
And through it all, we become friends.
When
As organisations grow, so do their planning requirements. We assist you to develop, maintain and review corporate strategic plans and their subordinate business unit plans. The strategic framework of such plans should have a life of several years; it is appropriate to review the operational aspects at least annually. Critical events or pending major changes can also be the trigger for our involvement.
Examples include:
- Exhaustion of existing market opportunities;
- Economic trends leading to sustained poor profitability;
- Erosion of market share;
- Threatened removal of trade barriers;
- Pending industry privatisation;
- Industry consolidation;
- Acquisition opportunities;
- Emergence of revolutionary technology;
- Reallocation of responsibilities at senior executive level;
- The increasing demands of formal corporate governance.
For organisations seeking to raise funds, a business plan, information memorandum or investment profile of some kind is an essential requirement. And reciprocally, potential investors may find it valuable to commission an investigatory report of their own. The successful commercialisation of innovative technology depends on a succession of communication processes involving an expanding range of internal and external stakeholders. Or you may need someone neutral to bounce ideas around with. One to one. A ‘talking head’. Someone bright. Someone ‘outside the square’. Eyes outside. Someone professional. Someone friendly. Someone safe.
Why
Outsourcing has become a mainstream response to the pressures of globalisation. It reflects the logic of concentrating your resources where they can deliver best returns. Professional advisors, however, are of particular value to their clients precisely because they are not part of that organisation. The risks of ‘group think’ and the pressures of accommodation to seniors are well documented. As an outsider, a professional advisor or facilitator is in a stronger position to provide independent and objective advice, even when it may be unpalatable, and to provide insight which may challenge the status quo.
Professional advisors also enjoy breadth of exposure. Like bees moving from flower to flower they are able to accelerate the transfer of beneficial ideas to your organisation.
Or your resource requirement may be sudden, or short term, or specialised. It may involve piloting something whose future is not assured. Or it may require early momentum in a new direction that may conflict with the current thinking of many in the organisation.
Services
Our professional competence serves a range of appropriate corporate development contexts, including:
Our CEO
Adrian Dignam
Expertise
- Strategic planning
- Business planning and analysis
- International business development
- Commercialisation of new technology
- Market research and planning
- Project management
Qualifications
- BScAgr, University of Sydney
- MBA, AGSM / University of NSW
- ThC (Hons), Moore College
- Dip Company Directors
- Dip Project Management
Accreditations, Present and Past
- Institute of Management Consultants of Australia, Inc. (Certified Member)
- Institute of Company Directors (Fellow)
- Australian Society of Animal Production
- PRINCE2 Practitioner.
Our Contractual Approach
Business Generation is a professional services firm and it reflects the norms of that sector in its general approach. Our particular style is friendly, informal, robust, flexible and pragmatic.
Business Generation typically undertakes the commercial contract itself and assumes responsibility for overall project management and successful completion of each project. On occasion we provide specified services as a nominated subcontractor. On occasion we engage specialist subcontractors ourselves.
We assemble teams to meet the specific needs of the client and the challenge in question. Because the thrust is strategic, and the emphasis is on information quality rather than quantity, our core teams are generally small – two or possibly three individuals with the requisite mix of skills and experience. Each project has a nominated director, and all but the smallest projects include a review function as well. These core consultants are supplemented as necessary, e.g. for larger market research tasks.
We draw our core team members from a small network of experienced local practitioners who are mainly principals of their own firms, practitioners with whom we work well and who share our personal and professional standards. Many of us have previously worked together in the consulting divisions of ‘Big Five’ professional firms or the business development divisions of major corporations. Most of our associates are formally qualified at postgraduate level, and provide a pool of complementary technical and commercial knowledge in engineering, the sciences, law, business administration and commerce. Their commercial experience and maturity equip them to operate effectively at the senior executive and board levels of the client organisation.
Before every engagement we provide an appropriate written proposal that sets out the objective, scope of works, staffing, timing, fees and terms of payment. This provides a baseline against which to monitor progress and manage expectations. It is accompanied by a philosophy of continuous communication and ‘no surprises’.
The standard A1P2 strategic planning process moves through successive stages, and billing is normally aligned with completion of each stage. In other cases billing is normally monthly in arrears. Expenses are charged at cost plus GST, and significant items are approved by the client in advance. Payment terms are 7 days net.
And of course, any questions are welcome!
Ready to talk it through?
Get in touch and we'll help you find the right approach for your organisation.
Or you can email us direct:
- Email:
- adrian@businessgeneration.com.au
- Phone:
- +61 2 9964 9333