Archery has chosen to position itself exclusively in 3 major industrial and service sectors: Aerospace-Defense-Security, Transportation-Logistics and Energy.
These 3 sectors have in common the same degree of complexity and many structuring factors and challenges, both at the strategic and the operational level. Archery also supports Private Equity and Infrastructure funds in their investments in these sectors.
The aerospace – defense - security sector is undergoing profound changes. The accelerated development of new technologies, the growing need for mobility, the intensification of environmental constraints, the emergence of a multipolar world, the spread of terrorism and the migrants issue are exogenous structuring factors for industrials in these sectors. Archery Strategy Consulting, a strategy consulting firm positioned on these sovereignty sectors supports the Top Managements of large groups and European mid-cap companies to help them provide solutions to the challenges posed by these transformations.
The steady growth of the global air transport - driven by the increase of the global population, the development of middle-class populations in emerging countries and the growing urbanization - is strengthening the aircraft demands. Beyond the constant need for OEMs to remain competitive and differentiate themselves, at a time where order backlog are reaching historical levels, the primary stake for the industrials is to secure the Supply Chain and increase margins. Thus, OEMs are re-focusing on their core competencies of system integrators and re-integrate critical components, while Tier-1 suppliers are consolidating (and consequently Tier-2 suppliers as well) to reach critical size with partnerships ranging from vertical integration to geographical coverage extension. To do so, innovation will be a key driver, both in terms of application of technology to business issues and in terms of Business Model evolution.
The complexity and the instability of global geopolitics have led to the revival of some, and the emergence of other disturbing military doctrines resulting in a fast-paced acceleration of industrial footprints in the Defense sector. Vigilance is needed for European countries, especially since most of them are subject to Defense budget constraints. The structuring of a European Defense consistent with its original ambitions seems necessary to ensure the required level of operational performance to guaranty their security, and even their sovereignty. The primary objective of the Defense industry players is to meet army’s demand, be it for foreign operations or for the national territory. This means delivering platforms or systems in line with technical specifications, on time and within the budgets initially allocated. Furthermore, industrials must take into account MRO contracts, whose duration are increasing. Simultaneously, they need to tap into export contracts to secure growth. This requires a new approach to sales strategy, product offering and product policy. Finally, the increasing expectation in terms of local content / ToT forces industry players to rethink their marketing strategy, Core / non-Core policy, their industrial model as well as the whole supply chain design.
In a context of growing series (launchers and satellites), the European space industry is entering an period of industrialization. The arrival on this sector, historically organized according to a state monopoly model, of private industrials like SpaceX, has profoundly and durably overwhelmed it. On both technical and industrial levels and Product and Commercial policies.
This have been reinforced by microsatellites development, allowing the spread of high-speed connectivity with satellites constellations, and entailing the arrival of many private actors. The Europe of Space‘s reaction was vivid. In fact, the electroshock accelerated the innovation and simplified the industrial schemes in order to be more efficient.
In this context of high-speed transformation, the European industrials will need to re-think all their mechanisms at strategic, tactical and operational levels in order to improve their competitiveness, their profitability and their agility; all of which are mandatory prerequisites for their survival.
The rise of security threats, both in their natures (terrorism, cyberterrorism, state espionage, industrial espionage, borders control…) and in their frequencies, force states and private structures to double their efforts to protect their assets and more generally their interests.
Thus, the security market shows a very significant growth, both in systems & services offering and in sales volume. To address those needs, the industrial cluster going through a restructuring. Driven by funding, often from the public sector, it has to put in place the technological state of the art conditions, of a high level of strategic consistency / coordination at states level and tomorrow at the European level.
In this context, major players have accelerated the development of new technologies and new offers. Furthermore, they started engaging in M&A operations to reach critical size and acquire missing competencies.
Identification of profitable growth levers, for a Tier-2 supplier in the aerostructures industry | Evaluation of the product portfolio and re definition of the product strategy of a Tier-1 supplier in the military helicopters sector | Strategic capabilities assessment and construction of the transformation plan of a European OEM in the Defense sector | Review of the services offering and construction of the strategic roadmap of an OEM in the Defense sector |
Strengthening of the operational performance and monitoring of a major export Defense Program | Identification and selection of M&A targets in the low voltage sector | Implementation of a Strategic Due Diligence of a European Tier-2 from the helicopter avionics systems sector, for a Private Equity fund | Detailed illustration of an engagement conducted by Archery -> |
Identification de nouveaux relais de croissance rentables pour un Tier-2 de la filière des aérostructures | Evaluation du portefeuille produits d’un Tier-1 intervenant dans le domaine des hélicoptères militaires et redéfinition de sa stratégie d’offre | Diagnostic stratégique des « Capabilities » d’un OEM européen de la Défense terrestre et structuration de son plan de transformation | Revue de l’offre de services d’un OEM de la Défense et construction de sa feuille de route stratégique | Renforcement de la performance et du pilotage opérationnel d’un grand Programme de Défense à l’export | Identification et sélection de cibles M&A dans le secteur des Courants Faibles | Réalisation de la Strategic Due Diligence d’un Tier-2 européen des systèmes avioniques d’hélicoptères pour le compte d’un fonds d’investissement | Une intervention Archery détaillée -> |
Archery has conducted a strategic analysis for an aircraft amnufacturer aiming to review its positioning on the value chain : segmentation of critical activities, Conre / Non-Core assessment, Risk analysis related to supplier of critical sub-systems, trade-off between complete internal costs and total costs of acquisition, Make-or-Buy analysis, and evaluation of different scenarios of vertical integration. Archery has also analysed alternative « Business Models » of collaboration with strategic Tier-1 suppliers in an oligopoly and even a duopoly situation, to identify the areas with a significant risk of value destruction and propose evolution scenarios.
Strategy
2 months
Aerospace
The Transportation and Logistics sectors are undergoing a major transformation, under the combined effect of multiple challenges and disruptions: environment, sharing economy, personalization, door to door, increased competition, digital revolution, autonomous vehicle, financing and economic models, deregulation, etc. Archery Strategy Consulting works on all modes (road, rail, air…) and on all components of the value chain (operators, infrastructure managers, public authorities, manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, service providers…).
The rail transportation is marked by a strong and growing competitive intensity, not only among rail operators but also with the other ways of transport (low-cost airline companies, autocars, shared vehicles…) with at stake the vital issue of the advent of the autonomous vehicle.
In a context of scarcity of public financing, those challenges worsen the imperative of cost competitiveness and service quality all along the value chain : operators, infrastructure managers, constructors, equipment manufacturers and service providers.
The air transportation sector is described by a growing segmentation of the economic models (Low-Cost vs. Premium, long or medium range focus, specific OD, point to point vs. transit Hub…) that forces historical airline companies to constantly push forward and reinforce both their positioning and their value proposition.
The result is a severe competition both on price and on service quality. The competition also intensifies between airports, whose Business Models are evolving. These need to focus more on flying passengers and on non-aerial businesses, they are becoming more complex and have to aim for excellence on multiple dimensions (safety/security, flight operation, flows management, business, development of territories attractiveness, sustainable development, traffic development…).
In the long term, Public transportation activity will be impacted by several porwerful forces : urbanization, congestion, environmental issues, regulation, liberalization and opening-up of public markets, and obviously digital transformation. In the short to medium term, the Public transportation players (operators, regulators, digital start-ups…) must pursue and successfully complete the initiated digital transformation which led to a multiplication of mobility offers, a deletion of the public / private boundaries, and a very sharp focus on a smoother passenger experience. In this digital transformation context, Public transportation operators need to re invent the proposed mobility services, to re think inter-modality but also to anticipate the arrival of the autonomous vehicle. They also need to review their current maintenance operations to counter a strong international competition in which several new comers are emerging.
The sector is undergoing majors changes. On one hand, customers’ requirements have diversified (increasing need of options to deliver on the e-commerce promise) and have become more complex (shortening delivery lead time, customization, deliveries subdivision…). On the other side, transport operators are facing growing environmental constraints (trucks rejection outside the city centers, decreasing of carbon footprint…). In this context, digital solutions, still at the early stages of their full potential, are perceived as a threat by historical players, and as a catalyst for the emergence of new players focused on one single activity of the value chain. In fact, Digital technologies are the best tool to take on those challenges and to open up opportunities for growth and for operational performance improvement.
The wide spread of e-commerce, differing completely from the historical B2B/B2R (Business to Retail) model, is a drastic change for logistics players : decreasing order size, shortening lead time, increasingly demanding activity, SKU variance… Those differences forced the players to separate B2R logistics flows from e-commerce flows. The advent of the unified commerce pushes the customer’s requirements at the heart of logistics (permeability across distribution channels, data integration to improve the customer experience…). This, added to the growing pressure for cost reduction, challenges the current “status quo”. To answer this growing operational complexity, digital solutions and technology (augmented reality, big data, predictive algorithms…) seem to be an outstanding opportunity for operational processes improvement. Mastering these digital solutions is considered as a major challenge for the whole logistics value chain.
Definition of the development and industrial strategy of a leader of airplane food catering | Impact analysis of the market opening to competition for a Public transportation operator | Definition of a standard including the best practices for each activity and for project management for an airport concessions operator | Maintenance business model definition for a new railway company |
Definition of the vision “customer cost” of the maintenance activity of a train transportation operator | Strategic Due Diligence of a transportation operator for a Private Equity fund | Design of a transformation plan focused on the international deployment of performance standards for a Public transportation operator | Detailed illustration of an engagement conducted by Archery -> |
Définition du plan de développement stratégique et industriel d’un leader de la restauration aérienne | Analyse des enjeux et des impacts liés à l’ouverture de marchés pour le compte d’un opérateur de Transport Public | Définition d’un référentiel de bonnes pratiques Métiers et de Gestion de Projets pour un gestionnaire de concessions aéroportuaires | Définition du Business Model de la maintenance d’une nouvelle Entreprise Ferroviaire | Définition de la vision « coût client » de l’activité de maintenance d’un opérateur ferroviaire | Strategic Due Diligence stratégique d’un opérateur de transport pour le compte d’un fonds d’investissement | Plan de Transformation axé sur le déploiement international de standards de performance pour un opérateur de Transport Public | Une intervention Archery détaillée -> |
Archery has assisted a newly setup rail company in the definition of its maintenance organisation and operational processes : survey of maintenance activities to be conducted, definition and segmentation of scope of work, Make-or-Buy analysis and arbitrage, definition of contractual strategy and supplier management practices, design of organisation architecture and organisation sizing, detailed description of key processes, definition of the implementation roadmap and retroplanning.
Operations
10 months
Rail transport
The Energy sector is under the spotlight. It is at the heart of the political, social, environmental and economic debates. Besides, the players of the sector are under strong pressure to meet multiple challenges. The profound technological and industrial changes (energy transition, production and storage of electricity, smart grids, low carbon energy, fragmentation and internationalization of the value chain…) represent attractive opportunities, but at the same time threats, which force the industry players to undergo major transformations. They will have to rethink their strategic positioning, streamline their operational implementation and revise and adapt their Business Models. Those who succeed will remodel the sector to their advantage.
No doubt that renewable energies will represent a significant part of energy production in the future. The penetration of “green” electricity production technologies in the energy mix is already high in several countries. However, the technical / economical maturity of many of those technologies is still low and the associated infrastructures (grid, storage…) and markets (energy aggregation, dynamic use of the produced energy…) are still at their early stages. All the players of this sector will need to find solutions to solve this equation. The designers of renewable production systems will need to reduce the full cost of their technologies, to master their product development process, and to be able to propose efficient prototyping and industrialization. The grid administrators, facing massive investments, will have to implement a dynamic and de-centralized monitoring of their infrastructures and to review their business models partially relying on potential revenues from big aggregators. Finally, the energy suppliers will need to cope with a broad diversity of production technologies. The integrated ones will have to consider the difficult choice of vertical disintegration.
If, at the global scale, nuclear energy is an important tool to answer the climate change challenge which can go hand in hand with the development of renewable energies, the French industry is in a critical period. It is facing an unprecedented crisis while the need for competitiveness has never been as crucial for France and its industry to extend the use and renew its nuclear park. After a long period with no major program, it now has to make a competitive jump. All the industry is concerned : the major players for which the merger of EDF and Areva NP activities is a real opportunity, and the main Tier-1 suppliers that have to become partners with a high added value, more focused on R&D and export. To overcome these challenges, the French nuclear industry needs a strong industrial coordination, along the lines of the French Aerospace industry which is considered as a reference in France in terms of industry coordination and structure.
Since 2014, the Oil & Gas sector is facing an unprecedented crisis. The price war between US and Saudi Arabia, together with the embargo in Iran have led to an excess hydrocarbons offer and to a significant crash in oil prices putting all the players of the value chain under immense pressure and demonstrating once more, the volatility in this industry. Beyond this setting however, this crisis is more structural. Even if energy demand is still growing driven by population increase and the industrialization of the emerging countries, the incumbents, used to historical high margins, need to re invent themselves to better answer the need for cost reduction to remain competitive in the evolving global energy market. They also need to provide innovative solutions to the rising environmental challenges that all the stakeholders are facing.
Reorganization of a player in the transportation and energy storage sectors | Definition of the development strategy of a Tier-1 supplier in the civil nuclear industry | Support to the transformation plan implementation of an OEM in the civil nuclear industry | Research of potential M&A targets for a player in the electrical engineering industry followed by conducting a Strategic Due Diligence on one of the targets |
Assessment of the service offering of an offshore Oil & Gas services provider and identification of re positioning opportunities | Definition of the development strategy of an OEM in the renewable energies sector | Definition and implementation of the strategic roadmap of a player in the transportation and energy storage sectors | Detailed illustration of an engagement conducted by Archery -> |
Refonte de l’organisation d’un acteur intervenant dans le transport et stockage dans l’énergie | Stratégie de développement d’un Tier-1 intervenant dans le nucléaire civil | Accompagnement d’un Plan de Transformation d’un OEM intervenant dans le nucléaire civil | Recherche de cibles d'acquisition potentielles pour le compte d’un acteur du génie électrique, puis réalisation de la Strategic Due Diligence | Revue de l’offre d’un prestataire de services pétroliers offshore et identification d’opportunités de repositionnement | Définition de la stratégie de développement d’un OEM du secteur des énergies renouvelables | Définition et mise en œuvre d’une feuille de route stratégique d’un acteur de transport et de stockage dans l’énergie | Une intervention Archery détaillée -> |
Archery assisted a player in the Nuclear industry to define its development strategy and its positioning on a difficult market segment. Our approach was to implement a process of co-design with the customer leadership team on all the dimensions of the development strategy (analysis of market trends and customer expectations, lessons learnt from past successes and failures, assessment of core capabilities,...) to tap into their business acumen and secure their buy-in of the strategic roadmap.
Strategy
2,5 months
Nuclear
The disruption observed in the sectors in which Archery Strategy Consulting is positioned offers numerous opportunities for M & A, especially to meet the expectations of OEMs for consolidating whole sections of the value chain. Archery Strategy Consulting supports Private Equity and infrastructure funds in the construction of their investment strategies (investment thesis), target screening and Strategic Due Diligence, in its 3 sectors of expertise.
Working with all of the players on the value chain, Archery Strategy Consulting has gained with time a precise and hollistic understanding of the ecosystem and of the associated stakes.
This expertise allows us to provide a rapid and exhaustive overview of the opportunities and risks, both on the buyer and on the seller side (market attractiveness and accessibility, competitive dynamics, evolution of value chain positining, consolidation / carve-out opportunities,...).
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