Case Studies

The owner of a mid-sized machine shop was concerned with business performance. The business had struggled through the economic downturn of 2008/2009, but had failed to regain strength in the ensuing years. Management was feeling a squeeze on margins. The limited number of suppliers of specialty items increased prices leaving the company little room to negotiate. Meanwhile, customers were aggressively shopping products and driving prices down. The company had increased shop floor efficiency and saw limited room for additional improvement. We were asked to benchmark the company to identify areas for improvement as well as provide recommendations on how the company could improve profitability.

A machinery manufacturer was experiencing double digit growth. The finance department was taxed with increased workload, along with the added complexity of a recent shift from selling to leasing product. They tried to keep pace but were struggling with late reporting, missed deadlines, inaccuracies and increased tension in the department. As a whole, the company was challenged with balancing revenue growth, cash flow and infrastructure build-out. We were asked to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the Finance Group and to identify and prioritize opportunities to help the organization succeed.

A health care provider was concerned that cash flow was declining despite the perception that nothing had changed in the operations of the practice. The owner was unexpectedly required to make a capital contribution to the practice to cover the shortfall. We were asked to perform a thorough analysis to determine the root cause of the recent declining cash flow.

A fortune 500 health care provider was in the process of evaluating an internal start-up business: a new Electronic Health Records system for the physicians that use their services. Initial software development was complete and a small team was in place to assess market feasibility and software functionality.

The business office of a commercial real estate company was lacking work prioritization, accountability and good communication with office leadership. Management wanted a better understanding of the current workload as well as a staffing plan with defined roles and responsibilities. They hoped such changes would provide workload balancing, improved efficiency and increased accountability.

A manufacturer and distributor of flooring had recently undergone an initiative to improve overhead efficiency and costs. They believed that there was still room for improvement, but had no standard by which to measure their performance relative to others in the industry. The company wanted to benchmark their performance to identify opportunities for continued improvement, set operating and financial targets and provide input for the upcoming budgeting process.

A $100 million multi-generation family-owned discount retailer was experiencing significant sales decline over the preceding four years. Cash reserves were declining and the family suspected that additional capital would be required. The retailer operated 40 stores in 3 states, employing nearly 1,500 staff.

A solo practitioner radiologist with a very successful practice asked us to review his business. While he was generating a good income, he was also working long hours. He wanted to better understand the economics of the business in order to set the most advantageous strategy for the practice. Ideally, he wanted to make modifications to the business model which would result in the same level of income with less physician hours and no impact to patient care.

We were retained by a CPA firm to assist in the due diligence and post-merger integration for a client which was contemplating the purchase of a $20M business. The entity operated two companies in Canada and the Western United States and would potentially complement the potential buyer’s existing business interests.

A financial services company wanted to extend their existing credit card offerings. They currently only served the consumer market and hypothesized that small businesses would be a logical extension of their product line.