“RevelX has challenged us to make clear strategic choices and has helped to create a structured implementation plan.”
Robbert-Jan Ter Horst
Managing Director and co-owner of Merford Group
Merford, established in 1956 is a Dutch family-owned business and a market leader in noise control solutions, acoustic materials and acoustic/fire resistant doors for various markets such as construction, energy and the industrial sector. Their high-quality solutions are designed to reduce noise pollution from energy infrastructure and cooling & heating installations and to enhance the sound experience in working and living environments. This contributes to their mission: “shaping sound to enhance people’s well-being”. Over the years, Merford has successfully expanded internationally and now has a relevant position in Belgium and the UK as well.
Merford wanted to develop a strategy for realizing sustainable and profitable growth that is supported by its entire management team. The challenge was to select the most promising growth opportunities and to increase the scalability of the organization. Merford wanted to make sure that the growth strategy was pragmatic and translated into a clear implementation plan to ensure a successful execution of the strategy.
RevelX has structured the strategy with the RevelX Growth Strategy Canvas and developed the strategy in close collaboration with the management team of Merford.
The first step was to critically evaluate the previous strategy in the context of the current market conditions, to assess Merford’s competitive position and to identify the drivers and opportunities for growth. In several well-structured and interactive workshops with the management team, this strategic assessment was translated into the growth engines that will drive future growth of Merford and the internal improvement initiatives that enable them. In between the working sessions, Merford managers have elaborated the opportunities in forecasts and strategic action plans.
The collaboration between Merford and RevelX has resulted in a market-driven, well-structured and actionable 4-year growth plan. Strengths and weaknesses have been mapped on the opportunities and threats which resulted in a number of strategic challenges. Four growth engines were selected based on an assessment of their market potential and feasibility. This has been translated into a strategic forecast of the revenue and portfolio development over the years, with a breakdown per country and product group. The strategic plan also includes five growth enablers, which are the internal improvements that are preconditional for firing up the growth engines.
Both the growth engines and internal enablers have been translated into SMART objectives, projects and action plans and an approach for monitoring progress. The plan also clearly defines ownership for the strategic initiatives among Merford’s management. Because of their close involvement throughout the strategy process, there is a clear commitment to the new strategy which was one of the important objectives of this project.
