Overview
Manufacturing company that makes and distributes environmentally- sound lawn and garden products for the home market.

Opportunity / Threat
After years of focusing their efforts on direct distribution to large mass-market retail outlets, the company was considering setting up exclusive relationships with regional distributors who would sell to independent outlets.
The company's president wanted to get the crucial issues on the table quickly and decide whether to proceed, instead of going through a massive planning process.

Action / Result
A one-day Strategic Risk Analysis session involved people from all areas of the company in the discussion. Aquapore even invited a couple of its key industry advisors to the session. The dialogue revealed a number of potential challenges to the proposed project. At the end of the session, team members agreed they needed more detailed information about the scope of the potential opportunity. They decided to engage in more specific market research before proceeding.

Client Comments
"This was very helpful; I really liked it. It brought to the surface a bunch of things--some I'd already thought of and some I hadn't. It made a fuzzy picture clearer, and got some people involved who don't normally say anything."
"We've got some homework to do. But I'd rather assess that at the front end than getting hit in the middle and failing."
"We learned something; the process stimulated some great dialogue. We may not end up with the program we started with, but we will end up with something that works."

-- Shannon Bard, President