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Performance Improvement

Delivering end-to-end solutions to companies at critical inflection points

The Performance Improvement team brings the right resources with extensive industry and consulting experience to client projects, delivering end-to-end solutions to companies at critical inflection points. We work side-by-side with management teams to develop sustainable goals and targeted operating plans while driving results aimed at maximizing Earnings Before Interests, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) and cash flow – with an emphasis on speed and sustainability.

Our industry experience, blending both operators and consultants, allows us to quickly address critical strategic and operational challenges and provide transformative solutions for our clients in a manageable time frame. Our data-driven approach, including an array of analytical tools that we utilize and deploy, provides a competitive advantage that allows us to better serve our valued clients in a more efficient and productive manner.

Offerings

Top Line Growth and Cost Transformation 3D Assessment

Our Ankura “3D” assessment focuses on diagnosing challenges, defining quick wins, and delivering results to drive top-line performance while reducing costs to serve a competitive advantage, in as little as four to six weeks.

Digital Marketing, Performance Marketing, and Customer Engagement

In today’s highly competitive digital environment, marketing can be one of the most complex and costly components of Profit and Loss (P&L). We help our clients recognize the effectiveness of their digital strategies to understand working and non-working advertising spending, profitability by channel, customer segments, and product category. The Ankura approach links digital performance with marketing and drives alignment of content strategy with omnichannel Key Performance Indices (KPIs) to improve effectiveness and grow customer acquisition and lifetime value.

Margin Erosion

We help companies identify margin leakage and assess the revenue impact of pricing, promotions, and markdowns. Our analytical approach identifies and quantifies promotion overlaps and other conflicts often outside of the merchants’ view across product categories and sales channels, driving profit directly to the bottom line.

Merchandising, Demand and Supply Planning, and Working Capital

Utilizing our proprietary suite of analytical tools combined with industry and subject matter expertise, we quickly uncover working capital and profit optimization opportunities in areas such as SKU rationalization, choice counts, size curves order frequency, and product allocation focusing on more profitable markdown management. Our proprietary tools also include SKU-level demand planning, supply planning, and ordering and allocations with a full 18-month forecast view.

Location/Site Portfolio Optimization

We help companies define a clear long-term strategy and vision for their multi-site locations, supported by a defined set of key performance metrics linked to the strategic plan. Many attributes exist and are modeled, such as new customer acquisition, customer retention loyalty penetration, email capture, number of BOPIS (buy online pickup in store) orders, and e-commerce shipment volume at market level. Our approach drives critical analysis of key operational and financial levers, helping companies drive a coordinated effort to address shortfalls and improve 4-wall profitability, identify white space for additional locations, and identify locations to close.

Labor Workforce Optimization

Ankura experts bring a fresh, “square one” approach to analyze workforce optimization to drive maximum value and organizational efficiency for our clients. We identify labor optimization opportunities and expedite implementation across all facets of site operations and field management, delivering solutions to improve efficiencies and increase customer conversion. Our proprietary tools also include labor forecasting, labor planning, and scheduling models which can be deployed by our clients. For more information about how Ankura uses data-driven tools to enable strategic labor planning and childcare operations success, click here.

Manufacturing, Distribution, and Logistics

Assessment of overall manufacturing cost and production network leads to optimization of plant utilization, staffing, and scheduling to reduce waste and streamline operations. In-depth analysis of inbound and outbound logistics uncovers opportunities to improve the efficiency of modes, reduce rates, achieve service level requirements, and align speed of delivery at the lowest costs.

Our Latest Thinking

The Ankura Difference

Our team has decades of experience advising executives, board members, private equity, and other stakeholders. Our unique skill set combines our global consulting expertise with our direct corporate tenure, and collectively brings a blend of operating, financial, and digital transformation skills to our valued clients, having worked on some of the most widely recognized brands and highly regarded companies in the world. We have a proven track record executing strategic plans to achieve sustainable performance improvement and targeted operating plans aimed at maximizing EBITDA, cash flow, and ultimately shareholder value. We work side-by-side with management and other stakeholders to manage periods of uncertainty and subsequently accelerate growth and value creation.

Key Contacts

Photograph of Keith Jelinek
Keith Jelinek

Senior Managing Director

New York, NY

Photograph of Rick Maicki
Rick Maicki

Senior Managing Director

Chicago, IL

Photograph of Michael Casey
Michael Casey

Managing Director

New York, NY

Photograph of Chris Ventry
Chris Ventry

Managing Director

New York, NY

Photograph of Laura Wheeler
Laura Wheeler

Managing Director

New York, NY

Photograph of Craig Bowen
Craig Bowen

Managing Director

London, England

Let’s Connect

We solve problems by operating as one firm to deliver for our clients. Where others advise, we solve. Where others consult, we partner.

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