Gary Stibel, Founder and CEO of the New England Consulting Group, and his team were kind enough to take the time from their busy schedules to answer a few questions about the New England Consulting Group, about their Global Business Practice, and about the international management consulting industry.
Thanks to Gary Stibel, and to the team at the New England Consulting Group, for their time and for their interesting and informative responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.
What was the impetus for the New England Consulting Group to reorganize its Global Business Practice?
New England Consulting Group: NECG has always had global clients, but the formal organization only came recently as we have seen a surge in demand from our clients – many of which needed to recover from rushed globalization efforts which failed to deliver the stellar ROI and results they anticipated.
Have globalization and international expansion moved beyond the growth strategy level, and transformed into something entirely different?
New England Consulting Group: Globalization and international expansion are two different things at NECG. International expansion is not and should not be for everyone. It makes sense for certain businesses and not for others, depending on the costs, synergies, and potential upside. But globalization, on the other hand, is a strategic factor for everyone because of the changing nature of business, reach of communication, and location of resources. We offer clarification around these differences.
According to NECG Founder and CEO Gary Stibel, “We understand that doing business internationally is not the magic answer to guaranteed growth and, if done poorly, can be more complicated than constructive to our clients’ core businesses.”
The New England Consulting Group has created a three prong approach to optimizing the Global Business Practice. What are those three prongs and how do they benefit business clients?
New England Consulting Group: Very generally, NECG classifies clients into three buckets, each with its own set of objectives and unique approach.
1. Overseas clients that want to optimize their business in the U.S. market place (Penetration)
2. U.S.-based clients that are looking to grow beyond their current geographic footprint (Expansion)
3. Global clients that are pursuing best global category and brand practices (Optimization)
Many companies approach international business as a panacea. Does that mindset result in international business being conducted poorly, or even turning into a disaster for some companies?
Gary Stibel, Founder and CEO, New England Consulting Group (photo left)
New England Consulting Group: Yes, many companies do approach international expansion as a solution to their growth objectives. And many learn, the hard and expensive way, that it is not.
It tends to lead companies to spend money where they did not need to, and miss opportunities that may have had higher returns and strategic benefits. For example, Carrefour pulled out of select international markets in Southeast Asia because they were not performing as Carrefour had originally intended. They are focusing on their more profitable regions and redirecting their funds and efforts to Europe.
Many global operations leaders often see the impending fall before it turns into disaster, but after much money and time has been lost. NECG is hoping to reach them before that happens.
One of the areas were the New England Consulting Group has consulted is with clients in India, and with North American clients working in India. Is there a difference in the approach to these very different clients and their needs?
New England Consulting Group: Absolutely. International companies (clients in India) and Multinational Companies (North American clients working in an Indian branch) are distinctively different. The direction, leadership, priorities and strategy come from different places and perspectives. We find that there is a fine balance between how local and how global our approach has to be, depending on the type of client and the type of issue.
How much has demand for international consulting services grown in the past few years?
New England Consulting Group: It is impossible to answer that question with any precise numbers. Certainly, there is a growing demand in the BRIC markets, from local and foreign sources.
What are some of the new challenges that businesses face in the new global economy that require consultancy assistance?
One of the New England Consulting Group initiatives is the NECG 7-11 program. How does that work and how does it benefit domestic clients and businesses based around the world?
New England Consulting Group: NECG’s 7-11 program guarantees that any inquiry that comes in before 7:00PM will be responded to by 11:00AM EST the next day. We understand the complications time zones can pose, but we always get back to clients within a 12 to 16 hour time frame, no matter how far they are or how complicated their issue is.
What is next for the New England Consulting Group and the Global Business Practice?
New England Consulting Group: We recently developed several highly innovative tools for analyzing and predicting consumer behavior, and we are using them with great success. Stay tuned!
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The New England Consulting Group, a boutique management consulting firm based in Westport, CT, uses behavioral economics and a range of innovative marketing tools to examine and forecast consumer and business trends. We consult to a diverse range of industries (NECG’s partners’ experience adds up to more than 100 years in marketing the best-known brands), including consumer packaged goods, healthcare, retail, financial services, technology and e-commerce, among others. For more information about NECG, please visit www.necg.net.
Gary Stibel, Founder and CEO, New England Consulting Group (photo left)
Gary Stibel is the Founder & CEO of the New England Consulting Group, the premier marketing management consulting firm in the world. Gary is a prominent member of New England’s consumer packaged goods, health care, financial services, high tech, restaurant, hospitality, retail and private equity practices.
Gary’s career spans over thirty years of line management and management consulting for businesses that are marketing and sales driven for clients who are market and thought leaders.
Prior to founding the New England Consulting Group, he led the management consulting practice of Glendinning Associates (the largest marketing and sales management consulting firm in the world at the time), following multiple positions of increasing responsibility in marketing and sales management at Procter & Gamble.
Gary’s experience is focused on the development and implementation of corporate, division and brand strategies and plans. He has been equally successful consulting for small, entrepreneurial and large, sophisticated companies ranging from successful start-ups to transformational turnarounds and accelerated growth for the world’s largest corporations, in categories that are intensely competitive and extraordinarily complicated.
In recent years, Gary has consulted for over half of the world’s most admired companies, many legendary CEOs and almost all of the most valued brands on the planet. His knowledge base and analytic skills have helped countless companies and executives generate unprecedented growth and avoid costly errors.
Beyond consulting, Gary serves as a coach and mentor to many CEOs, CMOs and Boards. He is also the first choice for expert opinion on marketing and sales topics of the global business press. He is an avid game player, a voracious reader and an active volunteer. He sits on numerous boards – including local charitable, national professional, global corporate and start-up advisory boards.
He holds a BS in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Southern California, where he was a University Scholar, and an MBA in Marketing and Finance from Wharton, where he was a Chrysler Fellow. He graduated in the top 1% of his class from both schools.
