Situation
A global biopharmaceutical organization recognized a need to improve the value of its annual strategic planning, FP&A, and budgeting processes. They believed the new strategic planning process should support real-time strategy-making and facilitate innovation and creative initiatives. The organization asked us to assist the Corporate Strategy Group in designing and implementing a new global strategic planning model and supporting its integration into Financial Planning.
Approach
After determining business objectives, we ensured that the decision-makers had a solid understanding of the current strategy’s assumptions. We identified critical issues related to the past year’s strategic planning process to manage initiatives aligned with finance and business areas. We established clear milestones for the Strategic Planning Calendar ready to execute and with cross-functional collaboration among multiple BUs, and delivered a robust board presentation and strategic long-range plan.
The consulting work began by establishing shared executive objectives. The team worked with leadership to clarify business assumptions and helped decision-makers understand strategy fundamentals. They collaborated with the Corporate Strategic Group to address process issues related to top-down initiatives, finance alignment, and business unit coordination.
Impact
By creating a tangible milestone plan, we prepared business stakeholders to deliver their strategic suggestions and financial impact cases on time and based on a fair vetting process. We improved the cumbersome past process and reduced the impact on Strategy Aggregation and the Finance Team responsible for creating the overall Business Case and P&L impact. With enough lead time, the core team was able to aggregate assumptions into an appropriate decision document for the board.
Best Practices Delivered
- Individual stream execution and deliverable management
- Project governance and change management
- Concrete milestones and strategic planning calendars
- Cross-functional business unit collaboration
- Robust board presentations and long-range planning