Portfolio Strategy

NATIONAL ANALYSTS HELPS CLIENTS MAXIMIZE PORTFOLIO VALUE BY:

• Understanding each product’s competitive set
• Characterizing and quantifying the opportunities for incremental portfolio revenue vs. cannibalization
• Identifying optimal portfolios
• Supporting implementation of portfolio strategies

Portfolio Strategy… Competitive Product Set Analysis

Understanding and quantifying the competitive products for each candidate portfolio is a critical first step in portfolio strategy selection. We help our clients measure share capture from competitive brands as well as cannibalization from existing products.

Consider the choices XYZ Inc. confronts. Portfolio A consists of a set of related products. By offering Portfolio A, XYZ Inc. would have a family of products which could result in category dominance while leveraging existing sales resources. Portfolio B is compelling because XYZ Inc. senses that there is a growing opportunity for a new product line. XYZ Inc. has to choose between Portfolios A and B.

Portfolio Strategy…Characterization and Cannibalization

Optimal portfolio creation often involves a balancing act between two considerations: (1) selecting products that are similar enough to allow companies to leverage industry expertise and company resources across more than one product while (2) avoiding cannibalization because products are so similar that they compete primarily with each other rather than with competitive manufacturers products.

Characterization can help clients determine whether positioning or repositioning on the perceived advantages of each product can minimize cannibalization

Portfolio Strategy… Product Portfolio Optimization

The objective of Portfolio Optimization is to maximize incremental revenue while minimizing hard and soft costs. National Analysts can apply industry expertise, market research skill and proprietary optimization modeling to help clients create or select the optimal portfolio strategy.

In our example, Portfolio B, the introduction of a new product line, would generate more incremental revenue than Portfolio A, the expansion of an existing product line. When hard and soft costs are taken into consideration, Portfolio A will produce the greatest net gain.

Portfolio Optimization

Portfolio Strategy… Implementation

Once a strategy is selected, we are able to draw upon our extensive industry knowledge, research skills and analytic tools to help clients implement various aspects of the strategy, including:

• Segmenting, targeting and locating prospective buyers
• Positioning, messaging, and promotions
• Selecting and supporting channels
• Locating and capturing cross-sell and up-sell opportunities
• Identifying, obtaining, and protecting high value customers
• Customizing offers