Services Utilised;

• Knowledge Management – Particularly relevant to establish company's history in this activity and to review the background performance and capability of its existing EU distributor network. In turn, significant knowledge from this network was obtained that pointed towards an unexpected solution.

• Competitive Intelligence – Detailed discussions were undertaken with key EU customers to ascertain reasons behind barriers to entry. Also valuable intelligence was gained about anticipated customer needs. In addition, discussions were held with new forms of material suppliers with the aim of assessing if a “leapfrog” advance in technology was possible.

• Partnership & Collaboration Sourcing – Two alternative forms of partnership were identified that could remove barriers to market entry. The first source offered the possibility of innovative material use, the second was a marketing collaboration with a competitor whose product was more widely accepted in the EU market. The second route was chosen.

Results - The early stages of the partnership showed even more synergy between the companies than anticipated. This led to our client making a successful offer to acquire the partner. This partnership now has the potential to become an international market leader in this sector.