Strategic Agenda

The Strategic Agenda as a Business Framework

Challenge

A leading manufacturer of powered recreational products approached Dewar Sloan with a two-part dilemma. Their first concern involved slower growth in business profitability, due mainly to mature product offerings, and costing issues. Their second concern involved the emergence of new recreational product categories that were reshaping customer interest, experiences, and spending preferences.

Management wanted to focus on four main points:

Profitable Growth

Understanding the broader landscape of business evolution—how growth, performance, and change align with the company’s vision.

Category Strategy

Evaluating opportunities for expansion—balancing core business development with adjacent market options, both organic and external.

Portfolio Planning

Enhancing existing product lines while exploring new offerings that align with market demand and operating advancements.

Options & Choices

Weighing the best options for sustainable growth while considering the financial and operating risks: near-term/long-term.

The broader issue at stake?

How to address the near-term concerns of the business while exploring the options for profitable, resource-efficient, and sustainable business evolution.

Options and Solutions

Dewar Sloan worked with senior executives and the company’s board to draw different perspectives and frame options for moving the company forward.

Three main stages of work were generated over 180 days.

  • Stage 1: Assessment of conditions, options, and scenarios.
  • Stage 2: Appropriation factors – the alignment of potential strategy options with different resource assumptions.
  • Stage 3: Accountability for Progress, Results, and Risk Factors.

The executive team and board arrived with an updated Strategic Agenda for Growth, Performance, and Change.

Intent and Impact

The original intent of this work was to build out the company’s near-term and long-term Strategic Agenda. The practical impact that was realized was something more. With a different view of strategy direction, integration, and execution as a frame for planning and decision making, the company moved the needles for culture, category development, innovation, M&A approaches, portfolio management, and more. A Strategic Agenda is more than a Plan.

The Challenges of Today, and the Options for Tomorrow

Opening the Conversations that Matter

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