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Case Studies
Case studies features brief snapshots of how clients have
benefited from our services:
An established retail enterprise came to
Venture Allies to benchmark their level of employee engagement. By licensing the Franklin Covey and
Coca-Cola survey model ("Getting to Great"), the company gleaned a wealth
of data from its workforce. Through kiosks set up in their stores
and the reach of the online tool, they had over 4,500 (over 80%) of
their employees offer their perspective by completing the survey. After just 6 weeks, the executives had a
report that filled a 3-inch binder. Each district manager could see
data for every question, by store and by department. The survey
results gave the company a springboard for managing improvements and
celebrating success.
A regional startup manufacturer came to
Venture Allies in 1996 in need of a business plan and a growth
strategy.
Venture Allies created a business plan
that defined
strategies for marketing, production, and finance. Since then, the firm has acted in
the role of the company's CFO, helped develop a strong management
team, and helped implement business systems to facilitate rapid
growth and operational excellence. As the company grew, it acquired
a new plant, added a warehouse for handling
materials, and opened a sales office in the Twin Cities.
This regional manufacturer, no longer a startup, is now a
$15 million company.
A national trucking company was considering how
much to invest in a new service offering. The executive team
selected 12 key managers, across divisions, who understood the
industry forces and the potential company impact of the new service offering.
Along with Venture Allies, the executive team designed a survey to
get the “right questions” answered. Within a week, the team had a
synthesis of the opinions of its key managers on the topic. This
information gave them data to support their decision about how much
– or how little – to invest in their new service offering.
A regional bank came to Venture Allies for
some strategic planning. To establish input to the strategic
planning process, Venture Allies used an online interviewing tool.
The Board of Directors' overall tolerance for risk, beliefs about
the geographic market, and various other measures were important
in understanding what strategy would be a good fit. As the
members of the Board
took the survey, they were asked to make choices and to
quantify tradeoffs. The results were valuable to the members of the
bank's Board as they were able to more objectively identify goals and
understand where they had broad agreement.
In 2002, Venture Allies conducted a
community audit, working with local partners on a grant from the
Governor’s Workforce Development Council. The resulting document, Community Assessment, was
closely followed by 2 regional summits and several community-based
initiatives aimed at developing and promoting strategic occupations
and strategic industries in Central Minnesota.
In the initial
research phase of the engagement, Venture Allies employed a
comprehensive methodology using the team's expertise in market
research and strategic planning. The firm used both quantitative and
qualitative methods with a large data collection effort and reliable
research methodologies, including interviews with key informants,
surveys of nearly 200 community leaders, and various secondary
sources.
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