Advisory & Strategy

Supply chain and operations problems, measured in cash and margin.

Every problem here is an operating problem with a financial consequence, and the consequence is usually larger and later than it looks. We size it, build the case, and where you want it, implement the fix and stay to keep it in place.

  • Phase One

    Assessment and solution definition

    Most problems arrive stated as a symptom.

    • Size the problem in the numbers it actually moves: cash, margin, working capital, service level
    • Trace it to drivers rather than to the function it surfaced in, and separate the presenting complaint from the constraint underneath it
    • Define what is being solved, and what is explicitly out of scope
    • Identify the options, including doing nothing, priced, so the comparison is real
    • Recommend the best fit, with what it rules out and what it commits you to stated plainly

    What you get. A written assessment that frames the problem in cash and margin, the options priced including doing nothing, and a recommended path with what it rules out stated plainly.

  • Phase Two

    Business case, budget, and roadmap

    Built to be interrogated, not admired.

    • Expected return on the recommended solution, with the assumptions exposed
    • The cash, margin, or working capital at stake, and the investment required in money and in your team’s time
    • Budget shaped against your actual capacity and the priorities already competing for it
    • A roadmap with sequencing and dependencies: what has to be true before the next step is worth taking
    • How it will be measured once it is underway, agreed before it starts

    What you get. A model you can open and challenge, a budget shaped to your real capacity, and a sequenced plan showing what has to be true before each next step is worth taking.

  • Phase Three

    Design and implementation

    Built and stood up, not specified and handed over.

    • Process design, roles, and decision rights
    • System configuration and the data underneath it
    • Contracts, terms, and supplier transitions where the solution needs them
    • Planning parameters, thresholds, and the reporting that makes them visible

    What you get. A standing process running in your systems, a named owner for it on your team, and documentation written for whoever inherits it rather than for whoever built it.

  • Phase Four

    Sustainment and oversight

    Optional, and only where it earns its place.

    • Operating cadence and the meetings where decisions actually get made
    • Scorecards measuring what was agreed, internally and with suppliers
    • Named ownership on your side, with the handover done deliberately
    • Periodic oversight where you want a check rather than a presence

    What you get. A review cadence, a defined set of measures, and a written account of what is still open, including the decisions deliberately left to you.

  • Scope

    Entering at any phase

    You do not have to buy the whole arc, or run it in order.

    • Some engagements are an assessment and a business case, and stop there
    • Some arrive with the case already made and need only the design and the build
    • Phases overlap in practice: design often starts while the case is still being sharpened
    • Each phase is scoped and priced on its own, with the next one optional
    • Nothing rolls into an open-ended retainer by default

The Through Line

Decided in operations. Settled in finance.

The decisions sit in one org. The consequences land in another. Most companies staff those two things separately and then wonder why the numbers move without warning.

DECIDED IN OPERATIONS SETTLED IN FINANCE Inventory how much, where, and how long Contract terms payment, commitment, penalty Category strategy what we buy, and from whom Working capital Balance sheet Cash flow Cash flow statement Margin Profit and loss where it lands what else it moves
Inventory how much, where, and how long lands in Working capital Balance sheet Contract terms payment, commitment, penalty lands in Cash flow Cash flow statement Category strategy what we buy, and from whom lands in Margin Profit and loss

Inventory. Every unit on a shelf is cash already spent and not yet earned back, so how much you hold and how long you hold it is a working capital decision. It gets made in a planning meeting. It shows up on the balance sheet. It reaches margin too, because what does not sell eventually gets marked down.

Contract terms. Payment terms, commitment levels, and penalty clauses decide when money leaves the business and how much room you have when it does. Sourcing sets them. Treasury lives with them. Margin moves as well, because price and term get negotiated in the same conversation.

Category strategy. What you buy, from whom, and on what basis sets the cost base before anyone negotiates a single line item. It is a margin lever that often has no owner. Working capital moves with it, because minimum order quantities and lead times come attached.

Where We Apply It

Eight problems, and the route each one takes to your financials.

These are the engagements we are asked for most. Each is a supply chain or operations problem that reaches the financial statements by a path most operators can describe but few companies have measured.

YOUR OPERATING CYCLE What youcommit to What itcosts you What you holdand for how long What youpromised What actuallysettles REACHES CASHposition three weeks out MARGINand the cost behind it WORKING CAPITALcash tied up in stock SERVICE LEVELon time, and what late costs YOUR OPERATING CYCLE What you commit to What it costs you What you hold What you promised What actually settles REACHES CASHposition threeweeks out MARGINand the costbehind it WORKING CAPITALcash tied upin stock SERVICE LEVELon time, andwhat late costs

Category strategy. Enters at what you commit to. Spend nobody owns gets renewed by default, so price becomes whatever the incumbent proposes and terms are never negotiated.

Spend control. Enters at what you commit to. Purchases made outside the process are commitments made before anyone decided they should be.

Sourcing execution. Enters at what it costs you. A signed rate card is not a saving until someone buys at it, and the payment terms you won only count if they are applied.

Planning. Enters at what you hold. Forecast error sets the wrong stock position and the wrong promise date at the same time.

Working capital. Enters at what you hold. Stock accumulates faster than it sells, and the longer it sits the worse the disposition options get.

Continuity. Enters at what you promised. You learn of a supplier problem when the truck does not arrive, so you buy the gap with premium freight and the customer still waits.

Contract leakage. Enters at what actually settles. The contract says one price and the invoice says another. Rebates go unclaimed and increases go in without notice.

Integration. Enters at what actually settles. Two supplier lists and two sets of terms, against one synergy number the deal underwrote.

  • Category Strategy

    No one owns the category

    You know what you spent last year. Nobody can tell you what you should have spent.

    • Spend segmented against real transaction data rather than the GL, so categories reflect what is actually bought
    • The addressable opportunity separated from the spend you genuinely cannot move
    • A strategy per category: compete it, consolidate it, renegotiate it, or leave it alone
    • The case for acting, with savings, working capital, and risk stated separately rather than blended into one number
    • Left alone: renewals happen by default, and price becomes whatever the incumbent proposes

  • Spend Control

    Buying happens around the process

    By the time it reaches finance, it is an invoice, not a decision.

    • Spend taxonomy and reporting built first, so the numbers can be argued with
    • Purchases made outside the process identified, along with the reasons people go around it
    • Duplicate vendors, invoices paid without a match, early-payment discounts left unclaimed
    • Process and system configuration fixed underneath, not a policy memo laid on top
    • A late close often starts here rather than in finance: spend committed outside the process is a liability nobody can size at period end, so the close waits on accruals that are really estimates
    • Until spend is visible, every sourcing saving is an estimate

  • Sourcing Execution

    The savings were agreed and never landed

    A signed rate card is not a saving until someone buys at it.

    • RFI and RFP run properly: structured scope, comparable bids, and a negotiating position built before the first call
    • Terms beyond price: payment terms, service levels, indexation, exit rights
    • Supplier transition managed, with the new buying process your team will actually follow
    • Scorecards and a review cadence, so performance is measured against what was signed
    • Where it breaks: the award is made, nothing changes operationally, and the old run rate returns within two quarters

  • Planning

    The forecast is wrong in both directions

    So everyone plans around it, and you pay for that twice.

    • Forecast accuracy and bias measured where decisions get made, not reported after the fact
    • S&OP with decisions attached and owners named, rather than a monthly meeting that reviews slides
    • Inventory targets and safety stock set against service level and lead-time variability rather than habit
    • The private buffers people build to protect themselves, made visible and priced
    • The planning system that was bought and never adopted, where the license is paid every year and the forecast that gets used still lives in a spreadsheet on one person’s desktop
    • Wrong one way you carry stock you do not need; wrong the other you miss revenue you had already earned

  • Working Capital

    Inventory that stopped moving

    Cash on a rack instead of in the business.

    • Work-in-process and finished goods accumulating faster than they sell
    • Separating what will still sell from what is already dead
    • The planning and ordering logic that created the build-up
    • Disposition options with the margin consequence of each
    • Where it ends untreated: a liquidation event rather than a margin conversation

  • Continuity

    No line of sight upstream

    You learn a supplier has a problem when the truck does not arrive.

    • Dependencies mapped past tier one, where the real constraints sit
    • Early signals that buy weeks of warning instead of days
    • Contingency and qualified alternates before they are needed
    • The cost today: late orders, expedite freight, and customers who stop treating you as reliable
    • What recovery costs once it is already happening: split shipments, premium freight, and the order you filled late anyway

  • Recovery

    You are paying more than you agreed

    The contract says one price. The invoices say another.

    • Contracted terms reconciled against what was actually invoiced, line by line
    • Rebates never claimed, volume tiers never applied, increases that went in without notice
    • Duplicate and erroneous payments identified, with what is realistically recoverable separated from what is not
    • The control gap that allowed it closed, so the same leakage does not refill next year
    • Recovery is one time; the control fix is what changes the run rate

  • Integration

    The synergy number is in the model, not the P&L

    Two supplier lists, two sets of terms, one number the deal underwrote.

    • Vendor, category, and contract overlap identified across both entities
    • Consolidation onto the better terms rather than the incumbent’s, with the transition sequenced
    • A combined operating and spend picture the acquirer can report against
    • What was underwritten separated from what is realistically achievable, and by when
    • A value-creation plan behaves the same way: a workstream carrying a number in the sponsor’s model, with no owner, no baseline, and no line in the operating budget
    • Left late, contracts auto-renew on the old terms and the window closes

Most engagements begin with a conversation about what is actually happening in the numbers. Start there.

Next Step

Bring the problem, not the brief.

Thirty minutes with the person who would do the work. If the first phase is not worth buying, that is a useful answer and you will hear it on the call.

Book a 30-minute call See CXO Services