Getting the winning formula across

Amid a slowed world economy, businesses need a spot-on blueprint that will promise a lasting impact, global strategist Chris Outram tells

OC&C Strategy Consultants — a London based international consulting firm — is set to expand its operations in Hong Kong and Shanghai, cashing in on the urge of both local and multinational enterprises to map out specific strategies targeting the Chinese consumer market.

T h e c o m p a n y, f o u n d e d in 1987, c urrently operates in 10 countries, focusing on four key sectors — retail, fast moving consumer goods, the media and business-to-business (B2B) services — Chris Outram, founder, chairman emeritus of OC&C, tells China Daily.

“OC&C is a strategy specialist. We only worry about where our clients are going in the very long term, what they should invest in, where should they invest, which countr y should they be present in, and where should manufacturing be if they’re a manufacturing company,” he says.

OC&C has an office in both Hong Kong and Shanghai and most of its clients in Shanghai are engaged in retail and fast moving consumer goods, which the company specializes in. The majority of its clients are multinational companies, but a greater number of local firms is getting into their fold.

Outram points out that these two sec tors complement each other as fast moving and consumer goods are sold through retail, and retail depends on fast moving and consumer goods, so there’s synergy between them.

According to Outram, Western companies started investing heavily in retailing five years ago as they aimed to tab further into the Chinese mainland market. Some of them worked, some didn’t.

At the same time, some of the local companies were growing very fast, but they didn’t really understand what was going on. So, there was a lot of uncertainty in retail, which was later amplified by the fact that the economy was slowing down, so it’s more difficult for retailers to succeed.

“When the economy is growing at 10 percent per