"Should I hire a key executive and build a new division around him, or should I acquire one of my competitors?"

"Should I increase my R&D investment, or should I license new technology?"

"Should I expand my product offering, or the geography that I serve?"

Companies occasionally face significant choices. For the small to mid-market company, evaluating the alternatives and making a good decision is often more difficult because such decisions have to be taken by owners or executives who themselves do not have relevant experience. Beyond the issue of experience, many small to mid-market companies have a habit of making big decisions based on the intuition of the owner entrepreneur. As a company matures, and as the consequences of a wrong decision rise, many companies discover that they can benefit from a rigorous and analytical evaluation of the alternatives.

At Axxien, we meet this need with our Strategic Alternatives engagement. We follow a methodology-based, analytical approach to evaluate the alternatives and to ultimately make a recommendation. This process is the product of much experience gathered by Axxien principals, who using this framework, have made a number of strategic decisions while in senior executive roles at other companies. This process is briefly summarized below.

1. Understand the owner's objectives and the company's strategy.
2. Clearly define the alternatives.
3. Describe the implications arising from implementation of each alternative.
4. Determine the proforma financial results for each alternative. Measure the alternative outcomes using sensitivity analysis and other techniques.
5. Score the alternatives by 1) Financial Performance, 2) Market Risk, and 3) Execution Risk.
6. Recommend best alternative.

While the above steps may appear quite simple, getting to the underlying issues can be quite complex and difficult. Being objective in both formulating the appropriate questions, and in developing answers is critical. For this reason, a well trusted consultant can insure the highest possible integrity in a client's decision-making process. At Axxien, we trust that you will turn to us when it comes to making your next strategic decision.

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