GUILD Consulting

Hawaii's leading management consulting firm

Insights

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Pre-acquisition Due Diligence

Size
$5M – $10M

Situation
The client was considering the acquisition of a similar-sized company which provided services in an adjacent vertical.

Approach

GUILD performed:
1. due diligence of the business, including the identification of potential synergies,
2. weekly meeting facilitation with the potential Seller,
3. financial valuation (using different methods),
4. financials reports for seeking a bank loan, and
5. drafting the purchase agreement

Subject to a potential close, GUILD was further contracted to be the integration manager

Results
After a month of discussions, Client made an offer to purchase the business, but the offer was not accepted. Based on several considerations, Client and Seller agreed against revising the offer and revisiting the opportunity at a later time provided the Seller strengthens specific areas of the business to reduce the risk in the transition of ownership.

We have anonymized some information to retain clients’ confidentiality. The results are real and we will be happy to talk to you about our past work. Email us at [email protected] or call (808) 729-5850.

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Business Strategy Development for a Local Franchise

Size
Less than $5M

Situation
The franchise owner of a leading global corporate training provider was unable to adopt major franchise offerings to the local market needs and was consequently, losing business to other trainers.

Approach

Based on the SWOT (Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats) analysis, GUILD advised the Client on:

  • developing a Capabilities-Market Needs matrix and tweaking programs based on customer feedback
  • developing a separate website (vs having a page on franchise website)
  • leveraging the global brand to attract fewer, but larger corporate customers, and
  • incentivizing training program graduates to provide referrals

Results
Client felt confident that refocusing on larger organizations with recurring training needs is the right path forward and she is committed to pursuing that in the near future.

 

We have anonymized some information to retain clients’ confidentiality. The results are real and we will be happy to talk to you about our past work. Email us at [email protected] or call (808) 729-5850.

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Achieving Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Research

Size
$200M+

Situation
A state university committed to both pure and applied research received a 5-year $20-million National Science Foundation grant to undertake new, interdisciplinary, and stakeholder-driven research on freshwater security.

Approach
To help launch the effort, achieve a common purpose, and prevent splintering or conflict, stakeholders were interviewed to understand their uses for new empirical knowledge.

Results
A collateral effort brought more than 20 researchers from different disciplines together to develop dispute prevention protocols that would avoid future conflicts over grants, authorship, and publications.

 

We have anonymized some information to retain clients’ confidentiality. The results are real and we will be happy to talk to you about our past work. Email us at [email protected] or call (808) 729-5850.

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Difficult Conversations for (Sustainable) Economic Development

Situation
Papua New Guinea faced a true sustainability dilemma. 50,000 people had been affected by river contamination from a gold and copper mine. At the time the mine produced 20% of the country’s gross domestic product but it had disrupted traditional food security systems webs by putting 90,000 tons of daily rock waste and tailings into the local river.

Approach
The Partner facilitated 18 months of challenging meetings with delegates from the nine affected river regions.

Results
The discussions concluded with a Memorandum of Agreement that provided impacted communities with US $350 million in funds, projects, and services.

 

We have anonymized some information to retain clients’ confidentiality. The results are real and we will be happy to talk to you about our past work. Email us at [email protected] or call (808) 729-5850.

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Rethinking the Business Model

Size

$11M – $100M

Situation

A 150-year-old regional manufacturer of bread, pastries, cookies, and snacks was at a moment of inflection: increased global competition, aging industrial plant, and rising supply and delivery costs.

Approach

Owners and executives met for a series of difficult discussions leading to long-term company reorganization and a refocusing of fewer products and increased markets.

Results

The facilitated discussion created a better and shared understanding of the situation.

We ended the planning meetings with a shared definition of success, a clearer set of priorities and accountability for achieving them.

 

We have anonymized some information to retain clients’ confidentiality. The results are real and we will be happy to talk to you about our past work. Email us at [email protected] or call (808) 729-5850.

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Building a Recruitment Engine

Size
$200M+

Situation
The client was unable to fill open positions due to rapid sales growth and a tight labor market. They believed the staff constraints were leading to a drop in the quality of their customer service delivery (as measured by Net Promoter Score).

Approach
GUILD engaged talent acquisition experts, and through their industry connections, conducted interviews with recruitment heads of some of the fastest growing organizations in the world. Research topics included recruiting philosophy, process flow, metrics, recruiter compensation, employer branding and applicant tracking system (ATS).

Results
Client revised job descriptions, recruiting workflow and metrics. Some talent sourcing activities were outsourced to a contact made during our project, and a new ATS was implemented within the next quarter (GUILD managed that implementation project as well).

Clear steps were identified to create a stronger employer brand in Hawaii.

 

We have anonymized some information to retain clients’ confidentiality. The results are real and we will be happy to talk to you about our past work. Email us at [email protected] or call (808) 729-5850.