CORPORATE POSITIONING: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Case Study 1: Management Consultants With Specific Expertise

MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS WITH SPECIFIC EXPERTISE

challenge

Pursuant to a government procurement process, a management consulting firm won a contract with the Government of Ontario to retool and upgrade the province's welfare delivery technology system. Concurrent with, but independent of, the system redesign, the Government also reformed welfare policy. With welfare reform a political hot potato, the project came under intense scrutiny. Concerns raised by the Provincial Auditor in a review of the project further ignited attacks against the firm by the Official Opposition. In the absence of a rigorous defence by the Government, the firm wanted to step in to respond to critics and safeguard its corporate reputation.

strategy

We developed and implemented a government relations and strategic communications program designed to redirect attacks away from the firm. We undertook focus groups, developed key messages and engaged in outreach with key Opposition MPP's and their influencers to assist the firm in explaining to the Opposition that it had designed an effective, politically neutral system which would serve the people of Ontario and be capable of responding to any changes in welfare policy. We engaged in media relations to assist the client to respond to adverse media stories. We also moved to position the firm with members of the Opposition as the "go to experts" on public-private partnerships as the Opposition, hoping to form the next government, began to think about the role for P3s in addressing Ontario's challenges.

results

Opposition MPP's, while still critical of the project, tempered their criticism of the firm and directed criticism towards the Government. In addition, when the Opposition party formed the new Government after a provincial election, the firm was already well-known to key Government decision-makers as having expertise and experience in public-private partnerships, and in a position to help resolve outstanding concerns with respect to the system.