Guidehouse, formally PricewaterhouseCoopers, Corporate Strategy Case Study

Introduction

       Guidehouse, formally PricewaterhouseCoopers, provides business advisory services including strategy, management, technology, and risk management consulting (Guidehouse, 2019). In general, consulting companies aim to optimize business processes and overall performance within a specific area of expertise. For example, a company that wants to improve their technological infrastructure could contact a professional technology consulting firm to assess and determine possible technology upgrade solutions. Consulting companies do not provide a physical product, but rather provide expert advice and in some cases professional guidance based on practical experience in a related companies, fields, and industries. The consulting industry has been around in the United States for many years. Historical accounts of the very first consulting services companies can be traced back to a professor at MIT named Arthur D. Little who established the first management consulting firm in 1886 (Spencer, 2016). The notion of a need for management consulting business services implies that there must have been demand from companies seeking professional management advice. Clearly, the need for business consulting services has been in continuous demand ever since the very first management consulting firm. Since Mr. Little’s consulting firm was established in 1886, the consulting industry has grown rapidly. According to Statista, the consulting Industry’s market size is estimated to be valued at over one hundred and fifty-two billion dollars (2019). The consulting industry and related services have become very influential in the United States and have since caught the attention of major investors and companies seeking expert advice.

     Today the rebranded Guidehouse company focuses on providing professional consulting services for the United States public sector businesses, such as the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Department of Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, and the Department of State, as well as, many other types of government agencies (Veritas Capital, 2018). The services provided by Guidehouse do not necessary focus on a target customer in the traditional sense commonly thought of when thinking about a product-based consumer target. For example, a company that sells coffee might have a target audience mixture of men and women between the ages of eighteen and thirty-nine who drink coffee daily and live in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Houston. In the case of Guidehouse, their target market focuses on specific industries rather than on individual customer segments and demographics. Guidehouse’s target customers are companies with the industries of defense, financial, health, international development and diplomacy, science and infrastructure, national security, as well as, state and local governments (Guidehouse, 2019). The company provides consulting services to a vast array of customers and industries, which make up the company’s customer targets.

      There are several aspects of a company’s overall strategy and core values that guides and defines a company’s purpose, as well as, the way a company conducts business. Some companies perform better than others in the execution of business strategy. In general, there are five key steps that create a company’s strategy, which include developing a strategic vision, creating objectives, developing a strategy, implementation of a strategy, and continuously monitoring and improving the company’s strategy (Thompson, Gamble, Peteraf, Strickland, 2018). These steps provide a high-level overview of the common steps required in developing a company strategy. It is important to note that there are several sub-divisions within each of these steps that involve aspects of accounting, finance, human relations, marketing, operations, and others. The ideal goal of effectively implementing a company strategy is to yield results and achieve organizational success within all aspects of a company’s operations and efforts. This overarching goal includes setting and implementing organization-wide, department level, and individual objectives. In 2014, Guidehouse, which was at the time known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, was awarded the Baldrige Performance Excellence Award by the United States Department of Commerce (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2019a). The following case analyses will examine and evaluate the strategic decisions that lead Guidehouse to winning the Baldrige Performance Excellence Award, the company’s business model, the competitive advantage of the business, how management and leadership are implemented to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, and the perceived future strategic direction of the organization.

Case Analysis: Guidehouse Baldrige Performance Excellence Award

According to American Society for Quality, in 1987, the United States Congress developed the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, also referred to as MBNQA, to recognize national companies for achieving a high level of excellence. Baldrige is the highest presidential award that can be given for organizational performance and is based on seven criteria, including leadership, strategy, customers, data management, empowerment of the workforce, operational management, and the overall results (2019). The focus of each of these criteria pertain to a company’s overall strategy and application of quality management systems. This award is only given to companies who have achieved the highest levels of performance and organizational standards. The National Institute of Standards in Technology have developed a Baldrige framework to provide operational guidance, increase levels of performance, and achieve business results that are sustainable for companies of all sizes and industries. The Baldrige Excellence Framework is a systematic approach that follows the seven criteria required to apply for the Baldrige award. The Baldrige approach aims to help businesses achieve the highest levels of performance in an ever-changing business environment, a steadfast focus on performance-driven strategies, encouraging overall engagement of customers and workforce, increase standards of governance and ethical codes of conduct, cooperate social responsibility, maintaining competitiveness, and achieving long-term success (National Institute of Standards in Technology, 2019b). The concept of this framework is to help companies assess their performance based on specific metrics and provide organizational tools to achieve excellence and quality.

All award recipients of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Award must first fill-in a comprehensive application that covers a wide range of a company’s strategy and operations. There were several strategic decisions that lead Guidehouse to winning the Baldrige Performance Excellence Award. In general, a company strategy involves all actions taken by a company’s leadership team to make a company profitable and more competitive (Thompson, et al., 2018). Guidehouse’s award application extensively covers a wide range of the company’s overall strategy and implementation, which highlights the seven criteria required for winning the award. The Guidehouse strategic planning mechanisms mentioned in their application include the OODA loop, improving agility and flexibility, formal processes for innovation planning, SWOT Analysis, quality management systems, and more (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2014). Each of these aspects give Guidehouse a competitive advantage that are sustainable. The company can meet internal and external expectations by focusing on quality management systems.

Managing quality requires a focus on the reduction of production defects, increasing revenues, and continuously improving efficiency in operations. For example, quality management systems such as Six Sigma aims to achieve virtually zero defects in a company’s production and processes (Russel & Taylor, 2017). Six Sigma is a statistical methodology that is designed to improve the efficiency of business processes and increase overall customer satisfaction. With the assistance of quality management system consultants, the Guidehouse company developed their own internal quality management system with the aim to achieve similar results like Six Sigma. The company referred to their internal quality management system as OODA, which represents a four-step process for strategic planning. Guidehouse defines the OODA process as observe, orient, decide, and act, as well as, elements of continuous improvement (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2014). The tail of the OODA process involves elements of continuous improvement, which refers to a type of lean system methodology. A lean system is a methodology that places an emphasis on achieving business efficiency. The term continuous improvement in the Guidehouse strategic planning process, refers specifically to a lean systems practice called Kaizen. Kaizen means continuous improvement in Japanese and is a lean system that focuses on making gradual changes to improve business processes while eliminating waste (Lean Production, 2019). Thus, Guidehouse can make business processes run more smoothly through the continual efforts and focus on making processes more efficient by soliciting the participation of all employees in a company. The flexibility and adaptability of the processes in place in the overall business strategy allow Guidehouse to stay agile and evolve as conditions in the market change.

The company was awarded the Baldrige award for enacting and espousing best practices in strategical planning, execution, monitoring, and controlling. This included an independent review of their application by a board of examiners to ensure the company met all Baldrige requirements (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2014). The Guidehouse award application also included several other aspects of the company’s overall strategy and tactical processes that are implemented in the business. The company focuses on both short-term and long-term results, which helps the company maintain and achieve sustainable results.

Case Analysis: Guidehouse Business Model

The business model of a company serves an important role and provides system of structure for achieving strategic goals. Research on the influences of innovation and strategy on business models suggests there are four main types of business models, which includes Business Models for Validation (BMV), Strategic Business Models (SBM), Business Model Innovation (BMI), and Strategic Business Model Innovation (SBMI) (Cuc & Miina, 2018). Each of these business models varies by the degree of innovation that is naturally induced by the model, effectiveness at implementing strategy, and the current stage of the business life-cycle. Although it is important to note the diversity of business models, this case analysis will focus on the basic elements of a business model. In general, a business model is a guiding plan that used to help a business to earn profits beyond the total expenditures by providing value to a customer (Thompson, et al. 2018). From a financial perspective, this principle in accounting and economics is calculated by ensuring total revenues exceeds marginal costs. In other words, the company needs to make sure that profits generated by providing value to a customer exceeds the cost of providing that value. In the case of Guidehouse, this means making sure that the company’s profits from consulting services exceeds all expenses including payroll, vendors, overhead, and all other service-related expenses in providing consulting services to clients. It is important for a for-profit business to make a profit from providing a good or service, otherwise the operation is not sustainable and will soon be out of business. A company that is profitable can gainfully hire employees, expand operations, provide services to more customers, and engage in other activities that will help the company to grow and reach new clients.

Effective business strategies are typically the result of deliberate strategic plans. A strategic plan consists of creating initiatives that serves as a guide for a company’s directives, objectives, strategic and financial goals, competitive analysis, and a recommended course of actions to achieve organizational results (Thompson, et al., 2018). Each aspect of a strategic plan helps a company to define the current state of reality, imagine the desired results, and move from the current state of reality to achieve the desired results. The best practices for creating a strategic plan are the result of five commonly followed strategic planning steps.

The first step of the process involves developing a strategic vision which outlines long-term organizational guidelines or vision statement, a mission statement, and set of core values to guide a company’s overall strategic vision (Thompson, et al., 2018). Having a strategic vision creates an overarching goal for all levels of the organization to strive to achieve. This also creates a sense of identify for leadership and employees to follow, as well as, communicate to customers, vendors, stakeholders, and creates a sense of direction for where the company plans to go. In some ways, this would be like the captain of a ship telling his crew the direction they plan to sail on the open sea by charting a course before they set sail. In PricewaterhouseCoopers report, the Guidehouse vision states the company’s aim is “to be recognized as the United States Federal Government’s clear choice for driving effectiveness across Federal Agencies” (2014). This vision statement is clear, forward-looking, focused, achievable, and is concise for the consulting services provided by the company. The vision of the company clearly states the chief aim of the organization’s intent to become the main company that the Federal Government chooses for consulting services across all Federal Agencies. PricewaterhouseCoopers Baldridge award application for Guidehouse also states the company’s mission statement. The Guidehouse mission is “to promote government transparency, accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness for sustained success of [their] clients, people, and community” (2014). In general, the company’s mission statement does a good job defining what the company does and why the company exists. The mission statement also incorporates elements of a global view that aims to benefit their clients and the people in the community their clients serve as well too. The main purpose of the business is to improve several aspects of governmental processes by increasing the overall sustainability of the organizations, improving communications, and cultivating greater quality. This mission statement encompasses several aspects of the company’s consulting services, especially considering the breadth of all the company’s efforts and services they provide.

A company’s core values are also an important aspect of the overall strategic vision. The core values of a company serve many purposes, such as determining expectations of employee behavior, promoting positive attitudes, enabling the application of human resource policies, and fosters a consistent corporate identity that is relative to a business’ environment (Stankiewicz & Lychmus, 2017). In other words, a company’s core values can represent many principles, characteristics, and expectations. For example, a core value of honesty would give all leaders and employees in a company a goal to strive to practice integrity, truthfulness, and accountability in all their actions. Additionally, a company’s core values are unique to their business and can be represented by many different important values. The Guidehouse core values are summarized into four key core values, which includes investing in relationships, sharing and collaborating, putting themselves in each other’s shoes, and enhancing value through quality (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2014). Their first core value places importance on the significance of building relationships with their clients, vendors, and all partners in their organizational supply chain. This value adds a value to the company because Guidehouse is a consulting firm that does not sell a product but is in the service business of serving others. The second core value talks about the importance of teamwork and the free exchange of information and ideas. Communication is at the core of establishing rapport and building relationships, which ties in well with the company’s first core value. The third core value aims to practice empathy and try to see things from the perspective of other people. Attempting to see things from other people’s perspective can help the leaders and employees of Guidehouse to provide the most comprehensive and thoughtful consulting solutions. This core value also ties in well with the preceding core values because empathy can help build better relationships and improve communications. The fourth and final core value for Guidehouse includes how the company adds value to their clients by focusing on quality. Each of the company’s core values are in alignment and are succinct with the general direction of the vision and mission statement. It is possible that the business will move closer towards their goals of becoming the number one consultant for the Federal Government and other Federal Agencies if all leadership and employees are effective at following the strategic vision of the company.

The second of the five steps of creating a strategic plan involves setting organizational objectives. There is no way to predict the future with one hundred percent accuracy, which is why many businesses deal with a certain level of uncertainly when making decisions. Creating business objectives helps a company and all the employees to focus efforts on achieving a common set of goals. Business objectives can be tracked by measuring key performance indicators, and when successfully accomplished can lead to greater organizational compositeness, improved efficiency, flexibility, and agility (Stefanovic, Tadic, Arsovski, Pravdic, Abadic, Stefanovic, 2015). The focus on key performance indicators is an important aspect of business performance, because it allows a company to know how close a business is to achieving a goal, what can be changed to reach that goal, and if a goal has been accomplished. There are various types of business objectives that a company can strive to attain, such as financial objectives and strategic objectives. As the names imply, financial objectives are concerned with financial goals, while strategic objectives aim to improve market position and competitiveness (Thompson, et al., 2018) For example, a financial objective might be to increase sales revenues by five percent, while a strategic objective might be to develop a new service that is not provided by any of their competitors. An effective set of business objectives includes various types of objectives that are both short-term and long-term. Company objectives can also include goals that can help an organization realize their fullest potential by implementing stretch goals. The strategic objectives of Guidehouse are created on several levels, which involves objectives made individually for each of member of their team, sector teams, and for the entire organization. The company-wide objectives for Guidehouse include driving profitable growth, enhancing the people experience, improving client experience, as well as, maintaining compliant and efficient operations (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2014). Each of these objectives are aimed to achieve financial and strategic goals of the organization. Objectives at Guidehouse are created at all levels of the organization through the development of organizational objectives, departments, and individuals. This level of granular objective-setting helps the company achieve greater levels of success and creates a framework for accountability, sustainability, and efficiency. Although individual and department level objectives are not mentioned, the overarching company objectives include both financial and strategic goals. The report mentions that the Guidehouse objectives are comprised of both short-term and long-term goals too, but the specifics are omitted for privacy. Based on the level of detail provided and the statements contained therein, it appears that the Guidehouse objectives are very through, which has been a big contribution to the company’s overall success and has led to increased effectiveness and efficiency.

The subsequent steps of the strategy-making process involve the creation, execution, review, and improvement of a company’s high-level strategy. The remaining steps include creating a strategy that aligns with a company’s vision, mission, values, and objectives. The final two steps involve the actual execution of a company strategy, as well as, continuous monitoring to improve the overall strategy as new information becomes available or market conditions change. The following case analyses will cover elements that are inclusive of the remaining steps in the strategy-making process and other aspects related to a business strategy.

Case Analysis: Guidehouse Competitive Advantage

Most companies will likely face competition when selling any type of product or service in the marketplace. Having a competitive advantage can make a difference in the overall success and profitability of an organization. A competitive advantage can be defined as the factors that make a company’s offerings unique and attracts buyers to choose their goods and services over another company’s offer (Thompson, et al., 2018). In other words, a competitive advantage can be anything that sets one company apart and provides a unique offering that can entice customers to purchase in a competitive marketplace. For example, if a company sells a similar product at the lowest price it might entice customers that are bargain shopping for the best deals. Alternatively, a company might use brand recognition to solicit purchases from a lesser-known brand. Being the provider of the lowest price possible and brand recognition are not the only ways to attract customers. In fact, there are several other approaches to gaining a competitive advantage, which includes low-cost provider strategies, broad differentiation strategies, focused low-cost strategies, focused differentiation strategy, and best-cost provider strategy (Thompson, et al., 2018). Each of these strategies have different characteristics that help make their company more appealing to customers. Any one or multiple strategies could be potentially implemented by a company to attract a broader or more specific customer base. Guidehouse currently competes against other governmental consulting agencies to win contracts and clients. The company’s main competitive advantage is a combination of a broad differentiation and focused differentiation strategies. As previously mentioned, Guidehouse focuses on serving the Federal Government but they also provide consulting services for an array of various industries too. The company provides services for a broad audience of customers by appealing to entire industries, which gives the company’s service a wide appeal to a variety of potential customers. On the other hand, the company provides a focused differentiation strategy through the segmentation of their business into different industry sectors. Each of their consulting sector teams is specialized within their respective industry fields, and thus can provide competitive services that are focused on the customer’s consulting needs. Guidehouse offers a comprehensive service offering by combining both strategies that appeals to both broad and specific customer segments and groups to give the company a competitive advantage.

In addition to having a competitive advantage, a company’s long-term success will be determined based on the sustainability of the advantage. The ability of any firm to sell goods and services in a long-term competitive market is commonly referred to as a sustainable advantage (Chen & Wang, 2012). The general concept of a sustainable advantage is to be able to provide a service that is unparalleled by any other competitor. For example, Disney has created themed based amusement parks, such as Disneyland and Disney World, that are all built with a unique style and branded products unique to Disney themed characters, movies, brands. Guidehouse also sets themselves apart from their competitors in several ways. One competitive advantage of Guidehouse is their strategic planning process, or SPP, that they have refined over the course of many years. SPP is the way that Guidehouse can deliver superior performance and at the basis of all the company’s processes. Although the basic steps of their SPP are stated in their application for the Baldrige award, the specifics are proprietary to the company. Consulting agencies often depend on various characteristics that give them a sustainable advantage. At Guidehouse the main sustainable advantage is their internal processes, leadership, and a long history of providing consulting services. Additionally, Guidehouse currently has a sustainable competitive advantage as being the only consulting company in the United States who has ever been awarded the Baldrige award (Guidehouse, 2019). Although it is possible that another consulting firm could win this award in the future, there are very few companies that receive this award on an annual basis. Additionally, the award is typically given to only one company within a very broad range of industry segments. Thus, the likelihood of another consulting firm winning this award is very slim.

Over time industries naturally change and market conditions evolve. Thus, it is important for companies to incorporate time resilient strategies that are geared to change and adapt with the times. The two most common types of strategy that are geared adapt as industry conditions develop are called proactive and reactive strategies. Proactive strategies are plans that charted in advance to meet company objectives and anticipated market changes (Thompson, et al., 2018). For example, this would require setting goals to meet anticipated financial and strategic goals. In contrast, there are also reactive strategies. A reactive strategy is more of a response driven strategy that does not make changes in advance to anticipate future events (Thompson, et al., 2018). For instance, this lagging strategy means that a company will wait to see what happens in the market first before making a change. The Guidehouse strategy is very methodical, systematic, and structured. The Guidehouse strategy is considered proactive because they have deliberately created a strategy to meet the current and future needs of the organization and customer. As previously mentioned, the company as also created their own internal system for quality management, which allows the company to continuously evolve as the times and industries change too. Thus, giving the Guidehouse company the added benefit of proactively planning for future events while dynamically reacting to changes on the fly.

Case Analysis: Guidehouse Management & Leadership

The third step of the strategy-making process involves creating a plan to achieve the vision, mission, core values, and objectives that were set in the previous steps. In addition to a company’s top-level management it is important that all levels of management are involved in the creation of a company’s strategies to yield the greatest results. In general, there are four core strategies that are part of the management hierarchy, which are typically performed by different levels of management. These four core strategies within an organization include corporate strategy, business strategy, functional area strategies, and operating strategies (Thompson, et al., 2018). Another way to describe the management hierarchy is to view the different levels of strategies as being managed by different tiers from the executive level to operational managers, and all levels of managers in-between. The highest-level strategy in the management hierarchy is corporate strategy, that are subsequently followed by business strategy, functional area strategies, and finally operating strategies. The Guidehouse organizational structure is a multi-level company that includes a United States advisory board for US Assurance and US Tax, supported by a Chief Operating Officer and Risk & Quality Partner, then Operations leaders, and lastly followed by sector leaders (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2014). There are also several other divisions within the company that focus on various industries and sectors of the business in addition to these management levels that were omitted from the presentation. For simplicity, Guidehouse listed the key levels of company leadership and management. From a high-level perspective there are four levels of management in the strategy hierarchy at Guidehouse. The specifics of each of the company’s strategy-making hierarchy are individually crafted for each level of the organizational and are led by common overarching goals for the entire company. This gives Guidehouse a sustainable competitive advantage by structuring knowledgeable industry experts in sectors of the business where they are most proficient and can provide the highest levels of value to their customers. The consulting business relies heavily on the human capital and the knowledge of the individuals about specific areas of expertise. Thus, the structure of the leadership team at all levels of the organization strive to enforce the company’s vision, mission, and core values to give the company a competitive advantage that is sustainable and unique to Guidehouse based on their strategy-making hierarchy.

There are many types of business strategies. In general, the success of a business strategy can be tested by utilizing three common tests. These tests are referred to as the fit test, competitive advantage test, and performance test. When all three of these tests are passed successfully a company’s strategy is said to be a strategy winner. The fit test is to determine how well a company’s strategy aligns externally, internally, and dynamically (Thompson, et al. 2018). Based on observation the Guidehouse strategy passes the fit test for several reasons. Several aspects of the company’s overall strategy fit well with the company’s mission to engage the Federal Government as a primary source for consulting. Guidehouse has a strong external fit by providing excellent service and a wide range of consulting services for various industries that can be helpful for governments and organizations alike that need a diverse range of guidance and expertise. Additionally, the Guidehouse internal policies, vision, mission, and values make a strong internal fit to help the company achieve their goals and execute the overall strategy. The company also provides a strong dynamic fit by implementing a quality management system that is adaptable to changes in the industry and marketplace. As previously mentioned, Guidehouse also passes the competitive advantage test through the diversity of their portfolio offerings, strong strategy-making hierarchy, and being the only consulting firm to receive the Baldrige award. The final portion of these three tests involves the performance test, which accounts for a company’s competitive strength and overall financial standing. In 2017, Guidehouse reported over five hundred million dollars in revenue and an anticipated growth rate above the average growth rate of around seven to ten percent (Wilkers, 2018). It appears that Guidehouse also passes the performance test, based on the information available about the company’s overall performance. Guidehouse clearly is strategy winner by account of all three tests being passed successfully by the company.

Case Analysis: Future Strategic Direction

There are always uncertainties about anything at a future time. It is important that companies have a plan to anticipate changes in the future, while having goals to strive to obtain. A strategic plan is one way that a company can best prepare for the future. The strategic plan of a business provides guidelines for the future direction of a company, a business model, performance-based metrics and competitive strategy (Thompson, et al., 2018). Many aspects of the company’s strategic planning components have been adequately covered in depth in previous case analyses. Guidehouse has a strong vision, mission, and values that are deeply ingrained in all aspects of the company and is supported by all levels of leadership. The company is striving to be the number one consideration for consulting services for the Federal Government, various leading industries, and other Federal Agencies too. Guidehouse is diversified and provides consulting services to various related industries and business sectors that adds to the overall wealth of information, expertise, and knowledge of the organization. These skills are highly beneficial to their present and future clients too. Guidehouse has also implemented several key processes to keep the company’s strategic objectives and leadership capabilities in alignment with an overall unified strategic plan. For example, implementation of their in-house quality management system helps the company to continuously improve production, eliminate inefficient processes, and improve quality by focusing on improving employee and customer satisfaction. The highly structured nature of the company in all aspects seems to indicate that the company’s strategic plan is heading in the right direction for increased levels of performance, quality, and overall success.

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