Feb 292012
 

Confidential cllientThis major multinational supplier to the healthcare sector had grown through multiple acquisitions. As a result, one of its product portfolios in surgical disposables contained a large number of partially overlapping product lines without a clear overall positioning. Issues included:

  • Sales staff hade difficulty with presentation of the value propositions, thus running the risk of being squeezed on price;
  • Some volume product lines were unprofitable;
  • One niche product line with clear clinical advantages was performing poorly in the market and achieving almost no volume.

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Feb 232012
 

NursingAs the population of Europe ages, the demand for healthcare will continue to rise. Yet the weak competitiveness of many European economies, low growth and high state debt means that little or no additional funds will be available for healthcare. This situation presents European health authorities and institutions with a stark choice: offer less care per head or raise healthcare productivity. Less care is essentially politically unacceptable, though in some cases it is bound to happen, so the entire sector has a productivity challenge. This challenge is many-faceted and includes subjects as diverse as: Continue reading »

Feb 222012
 

LumesseLumesse (then StepStone Solutions), the leading European provider of talent solutions, was acquired by HgCapital in 2010. The new owners required strong growth from Lumesse, both through organic growth and through acquisitions. Rapid growth in turn required professionalisation and standardisation of the sales process and sales management, and the effective integration of current and previous acquisitions. Nick set up a central Sales Operations function to drive professionalisation and standardisation. Continue reading »