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Case Study Firms - The Integration Imperative

The three imperatives described in The Integration Imperative are brought to life with case studies from the following firms:

The Process Imperative

Korn/Ferry International is one of the world’s largest executive recruiting firms. It used its broad array of services as a lever to integrate marketing and business development functions and to broaden the firm’s overly heavy focus on recruiting as a revenue generator. In doing so, the firm better prepared itself to compete against emerging competitors, and it shifted clients’ perceptions of its work from transactions to a valued partner.

Holland & Hart is the largest law firm in the U.S. Mountain West. It simultaneously restructured its marketing function into an internal branded service agency, reconfigured the firm’s marketing and business development processes, carved out exciting new professional growth pathways for marketing team members, and exceeded lawyers’ expectations for value.

Perkins+Will is a global design firm. It initiated a firm-wide internal study to break down the internal silos that were impeding the firm from optimally addressing clients’ broader design needs. This significant internal exploration resulted in setting a groundbreaking new direction for the firm’s future marketplace journey.

Moss Adams is the largest regional accounting firm in the western United States. It developed new marketing and business development integration tools that accelerated the process in which practitioners connected marketing to selling and selling to client service. These frameworks and new cultural norms are driving strong revenue gains, even in a difficult economy.

IBM Global Technology Services is the world’s largest business and technology consultancy. Through a set of still evolving structural and cultural initiatives, IBM’s services division has made substantial progress toward erasing the disconnect between marketing’s lead generation activities and the firm’s sales pipeline. This work has resulted in better linkage between the firm’s service marketing investment and its sales return on investment.

The Skills Imperative

Haley & Aldrich is one of the top U.S. environmental, engineering, and management consulting firms. It created a pathway to a “seat at the table” for its nonrevenuegenerating marketing leader. This structural framework, coupled with the firm’s mindful stewardship of a shared-accountability culture, has contributed to the enterprise’s continued prominence in its sector.

Baker Donelson is a regional law firm, and one of the 100 largest in the United States. It developed two new personal productivity programs to help attorneys gain a sense of accountability and improve their skills in marketing and business development. The direct result was higher billings for attorneys who participated in the programs.

Ross & Baruzzini is an engineering and architectural planning, design, and consulting firm. It is ranked one of the top 50 engineering and architectural firms in the United States by Building Design+Construction magazine. It adapted a big-time performance management tool (Balanced Scorecard) and combined it with an informal “guardian angel” mentoring program.

Jones Lang LaSalle is a financial and professional service firm specializing in real estate services and investment management. Through a new internally developed program called START, it built new marketing and business development connections that improved optimal value delivery for clients. Now globally implemented, START also has served as the springboard for other programs designed to increase the company’s value to clients, expand its book of business with them, and simultaneously grow individuals’ professional competencies.

The Support Imperative

R.W. Beck is a management and engineering consultancy. Its marketing and HR functions teamed up on the firm’s first-ever initiatives on performance improvement and organization development to formalize how professionals could better collaborate and share accountabilities. The endeavor resulted in improved teamwork to market, sell, and deliver client services.

Randstad is one of the world’s largest temporary and contract staffing organizations. It forged innovative formal shared accountabilities and created a new culture of global collaboration between its marketing and finance departments, resulting in vast improvements in the productivity of the company’s marketing expenditures.