News.
Capacent invite to an opening evening in Malmö
Join us for an evening with insight into SAS's Turnaround, meet business leaders in the region and listen to the latest trends and challenges within supply chain at the opening evening of Capacent’s new office in Malmö, June 13th from 17.00.
Capacent has been present in Malmö for years and is now strengthening its position since Malmö is regarded as an important geographic outpost.
For more details on this opening event see the attached invitation below.
2013-05-15
Seminarium – Är det IT’s fel att stora förändringsprojekt inte kan leverera inom uppsatta ramar?
Hur säkerställer man att projekten lyckas med sina målsättningar?
Vilka risker måste ges särskild uppmärksamhet?
Varför är ett projekt som driver verksamhetsförändring, exempelvis ERP, en fråga för företagsledningen?
Agenda
07.30-08.00
Fruktostbuffén står uppdukad
08.00-08.30
Riskhantering och styrmetoder
08.30-09.00
Verksamhetsutvecklingen inom AstraZeneca’s forskning och utveckling arbetar med styrmodeller som visar goda projektresultat
Göran Wennberg, AstraZeneca, VP Business Delivery, presenterar sin verksamhets väg till framgångsrika genomföranden av stora projekt som levererat verksamhetsstödjande informationslösningar och samtidigt drivit förändringar i arbetssätt. Förändringstakten inom läkemedelsforskning och utveckling är idag mycket hög. Stora krav på effektivitet inom företaget och ett ökande antal samarbetsformer med andra aktörer ställer stora krav på förändringsvilja och stödjande informationssystem.
09.00-09.30
Avslutande paneldiskussion
Tid
4 juni 2013
08.00 – 09.30
(Frukostbuffé från 07.30)
Plats
Capacent AB
Östra Hamngatan 18, Göteborg
(för bilburna, rekommenderas parkering i Östra Nordstan)
Anmälan
seminarium@capacent.se
senast 24 maj.
Ange i anmälan ämne/subject som "Verksamhetsförändring" samt namn på de som avser komma.
Seminariet är kostnadsfritt.
Kontakt
Johan Henriksson
johan.henriksson@capacent.se
076-778 59 35
2013-05-13
Capacent Seminarium - Kundlönsamhet
Capacent hälsar dig välkommen till ett frukostseminarium som handlar om att aktivt arbeta med kundlönsamhet.
Vi kommer behandla följande frågeställningar:
Varför är kundlönsamhet en fråga för företagsledningen?
- Hur beräknar man kundlönsamhet och använder det som styrmedel?
- Hur utvecklar man marknadsstrategin och genomför aktiviteter som leder till långsiktiga kundrelationer med lönsamhetspotential?
- Vilka särskilda utmaningar kring kundlönsamhet finns i B2B-företag?
Tag gärna med dig kollegor som är intresserade.
Frukostbuffé serveras från 07.30. Själva seminariet börjar klockan 08.00 och slutar 09.30.
Seminariet är kostnadsfritt!
Datum: Fredagen den 31 maj
Tid: 08.00 – 09.30 (Frukostbuffé från 07.30)
Plats: Clarion Hotel Sign (Östra Järnvägsgatan 35, Stockholm)
OSA: Fredagen den 24 maj
Anmälan görs till e-postadress seminarium@capacent.se
Ange i anmälan namn på de som avser komma.
Hjärtligt välkommen önskar vi på Capacent!
2013-05-03
Article in Kauppalehti 24.4.2013 about Capacent's successful work in Working Capital Optimization
No free days
Growth can also be financed with operating capital
What to do when the company's Board of Directors requires growth, but the owners are not willing to make any further investments nor is a loan from a bank an option either?
What to do when the company's Board of Directors requires growth, but the owners are not willing to make any further investments nor is a loan from a bank an option either?
"Working capital! A lot of money is often tied in inventory, accounts receivable and payable”, says Juha Järvelä from consulting firm Capacent.
Capacent recently announced in conjunction with the release of Outokumpu’s annual report how Capacent had helped Outokumpu Group to diminish its working capital by 500 million euros in 18 months
"The management's active interest determines the outcome. Projects will not be successful if management is not involved in them," Outokumpu project responsibles Juha Järvelä and Björn Kölerud underline.
Not only large but also medium-sized enterprises should start thinking about their working capital levels with a fairly simple exercise that focuses on one-day value:
How is the amount of cash affected if inventory turnover is diminished by one day, payments are received one day earlier or payables are delivered one day later?
"Exercises don’t require computer programs; paper and pen are sufficient. But the analysis must extend beneath the surface, the numbers do not tell the whole story," says Järvelä.
It may sound obvious, but in everyday life and particularly during positive business cycles, increased inventories and overdue receivables are easily overshadowed by the revenue itself. Company’s own bills might, on the other hand, be paid in advance.
During negative business cycles companies tend to restructure and cut costs at random, with a knife on one’s throat.
"Nevertheless, progress has been made. In the early 2000s, working capital improvement was often very simple, but nowadays, you may need to change the production process itself," says Järvelä.
The need for working capital liberalization often arises from lack of capital, but the exercise itself focuses on hands-on improvement of work-related processes, and not on restructuring. The end result, however, is shown as an improvement in cash flow and, ultimately, in the bank account.
In the Capacent method, the company's key employees responsible for working capital management are interviewed. After this, they attend workshops, where future action plan committing all the key employees is created:
"Sales and production must work together, so that they can trust each other. Responsibilities must be clear: sales cannot make requirements to production in terms of time tables, if they don’t hold,” explains Kölerud.
Kölerud and Järvinen both have experience of more than a hundred projects, around the world:
"In the Nordic countries, people are usually sincere, whereas in other countries people tend to answer how they are expected to answer. Everywhere managers are less direct and tend to whitewash the situation," says Kölerud.
Read the whole article in Finnish here
For more information please contact:
Juha Järvelä
juha.jarvela@capacent.se
Björn Kölerud
bjorn.kolerud@capacent.se
2013-05-02
PLAN Conference
Capacent will participate as exhibitor at this year’s PLAN conference. Come and meet us at Münchenbryggeriet in Stockholm 15-16 of April.
During the two days you will get to listen to both leading experts in the field and interesting customer cases. You will also get a great opportunity to network with other industry people working with supply chain and operations. Professor Jeffrey Liker, author of the very influential book The Toyota Way, will lecture on Creating Compatible Cultures as a critical factor in order to strengthen the competitiveness of the supply chain as well as the company. Keywords are lean and leadership.
Also Coca-Cola Company will give some insight in how they have used supply chain management as a success factor, by doing their own thing in a highly competitive industry.
Jörgen Oom, appointed Speaker of the year in 2010 and a well-known psychologist, will talk about the importance of having the right mental attitude in order to create a successful corporate culture.
For more information and the entire program please visit www.plan.se/konferens_2013.
Best regards,
Capacent
2013-04-03
Increased focus on pricing in Swedish companies
Capacent has taken the pulse on pricing with a brief benchmark survey in 50 Swedish companies. The result is clear, 83% of the companies say that they will increase their focus within the pricing area in the near future.
Even though pricing has a substantial and an immediate effect on profitability, companies still tend to have a higher focus on reducing cost than improving pricing. When asked what areas they would focus on to improve their bottom line, cost reduction was prioritized. Pricing is, however, gaining in interest.
Main pricing focus areas included:
- Discount structures and price monitoring
- Need for more dedicated resources in pricing
- Better tools and processes for pricing
- Better customer segmentation and understanding of customer value creation
68% of the companies in the survey see their pricing abilities as equal to, or worse than, competitors. This indicates big opportunities to take the lead and gain competitive advantage
by improved pricing practices.
To take part of the entire study please contact:
Johan Larsson, Capacent
Tel: +46 73 913 2379
E-mail: johan.larsson@capacent.se
Do you want to know how Capacent can help you improve your pricing? Please contact:
Bengt Walerud, Capacent
Tel: +46 70 355 5255
E-mail: bengt.walerud@capacent.se
2013-03-21
Outokumpu had 500 million reasons for choosing Capacent
This morning Outokumpu released its annual report for 2012. One of the most eye-catching events was the remarkable decrease in the company’s working capital, a reduction of close to 1000 million euros of which more than 500 million comes from Project 250. It has been a project aiming to optimize Outokumpu’s inventories and product flows. Due to its impact, and despite the harsh times in the steel business, Outokumpu has strengthened its position as the leader in stainless steel.
Project 250 has been run in close collaboration with Capacent, the leading working capital consultancy in the Nordic region. The project started in September 2011 under the leadership of Eran Hubert at Outokumpu, with the Capacent consultants responsible for planning and implementation.
”From our twenty years in Working Capital Optimization we have learnt that basic structures within companies has to change, if we are to create sustainable effects. The management at Outokumpu has shared this crucial insight from day one in this project”, says Juha Järvelä, client director at Capacent.
”Their CEO and top management have supported our implementation with an impressive focus and presence. A contributing factor to the success”, according to Björn Kölerud, Capacent’s project manager.
Eran Hubert at Outokumpu: ”The co-operation between our line organization and Capacent’s consultants with their down-to-earth approach functioned really well. We had not yet found a partner who could perform in the entire spectrum – from the top management all the way to our factory floors, where the vital changes have to take place. But Capacent performed in every aspect. And the result speaks for itself”.
For more information, please contact:
Juha Järvelä, Capacent
Tel: +46 70 558 5363
E-mail: juha.jarvela@capacent.se
2013-02-14
Capacent buys Resight from a-com
Press release
Stockholm February 12, 2013
With the ambition of becoming the leading management consultant company in the
Nordics, Capacent continues its rapid growth by expanding its business further. Today,
the acquisition of Resight AB was concluded. Resight AB consists of 20 employees
focused on Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Customer Intelligence (CI) and
Business Intelligence (BI).
Seller is a-com that has previously owned Resight AB to 100%.
“Resight’s core competence is an important addition to our already existing customer
offerings. Their view on the importance of implementation in order to add true value
corresponds with Capacent very well. Resight already have a bit of the Nordic way, so
the integration will go smoothly”, says a satisfied Hendrik Trepp, Capacent’s CEO.
“This move gives us great possibilities to create even greater customer value through
the wide span of existing offerings at Capacent”, says Stefan Lund, Managing Director
at Resight.
”The sale of Resight to Capacent gives Resight a solid foundation to continue
developing, which is a very positive thing. For a-com the deal is a natural part of the
streamlining of our business”, concludes Martin Hultqvist, a-com’s CEO.
For more information, please contact:
Hendrik Trepp, CEO, Capacent
Tel.: +46 70 558 53 64
E-mail: hendrik.trepp@capacent.se
2013-02-12
Capacent continues to grow with a strengthening of its operations in Gothenburg.
Capacent continues to grow with a strengthening of its operations in Gothenburg. Effective September 1, Martin Gustafsson will take over as head of Capacent's operations in Gothenburg.
Capacent's Swedish operations are conducted from offices in Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg. To date, the operations in Gothenburg have been focused on two different areas – operational excellence services, i.e., matters surrounding capital and production efficiency, logistics and supply chain management, and finance operations, i.e., matters involving the efficiency of a company's accounting and financial processes.
Capacent's management has now made the decision to broaden and expand the consultancy's operations in Gothenburg in an effort to better meet the market's demands there.
2012-09-06
We are hosting a seminar on Working Capital Management in Shanghai, Sept 19.
Optimizing the level of working capital is an increasingly important strategic challenge for most companies. Working Capital Management (WCM) involves taking a comprehensive view of the entire value chain – from purchasing to receipt of payment, and optimizing capital efficiency by process improvement. Capacent has, over the last 20 years, developed an extensive expertise within this area.
On Sept 19 we run a seminar on this subject at the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. You are most welcome to attend. Click here.
2012-08-23
Capacent is on the marketing move
Launching a more client-oriented communications strategy and a new visual identity.
Capacent, the Nordic management consultancy, has had considerable growth during in recent years. Today the company has more than one-hundred consultants in Sweden and Finland and is also active in China and Russia.
The ambition is to keep up the aggressive growth rate, both organically and by acquisitions. It was only last fall that UnitedLog Consulting was successfully incorporated. New market communication is another prioritized tool for creating new business and more satisfied clients.
Download the press release in English.
Download the press release in Swedish.
2012-06-30
Change in management consulting industry – Capacent and UnitedLog Consulting join forces
Capacent and UnitedLog Consulting are joining forces to form a leading management consulting company in Sweden and Finland. Together with Capacent's activities in the other Nordic countries, and with its 275 employees, Capacent offers the market an alternative to the global consulting firms.
Capacent and UnitedLog Consulting are joining forces to form a leading management consulting company in Sweden and Finland. Together with Capacent's activities in the other Nordic countries, and with its 275 employees, Capacent offers the market an alternative to the global consulting firms.
With operations in Sweden, Finland and China, UnitedLog Consulting has a strong position in Operational Excellence and Supply Chain Management consulting services.
The merger entails that Capacent will acquire the consulting business – UnitedLog Consulting – from UnitedLog Group. Through the deal, UnitedLog Group will become a major owner of Capacent in Sweden and Finland.
As a result of the deal, Capacent's operations in Sweden in Finland will include a total of 100 employees.
"UnitedLog Consulting's orientation and strong position in Supply Chain Management strengthens Capacent's management consulting offering. Together we will have a comprehensive offering, and Capacent will now have a clear position as the largest and leading Operational Excellence consultancy in the Nordic countries", said the two companies' boards' in a joint statement.
For further information, please contact:
Hendrik Trepp, Chairman, Capacent Sweden and Finland
Tel: +46 70 558 53 64
E-mail: hendrik.trepp@capacent.se
Jimmy Tjärnlund, Chairman, UnitedLog Group AB
Tel: +46 70 299 97 72
E-mail: jimmy.tjarnlund@unitedlog.com
2011-06-29
Overwhelmingly positive response to Capacent’s pricing seminar
How much can we charge our customers for a strong brand? Which price model generates the highest revenue? How should we set prices on service packages? These are examples of questions the pricing experts in Capacent’s Business and Customer Management group are asked by clients all the time. Although Business Intelligence is much buzzed about, Price Intelligence often gets left behind or missed in management improvement projects. Improving not only the pricing strategy but also internal processes and administrative routines can result in major improvements in profitability, without disturbing or having a negative impact on sales.
On Wednesday December 1st, Capacent hosted the seminar “From Business Intelligence to Price Intelligence”. The seminar, held at Hotel Sergel Plaza, entertained close to 100 guests, including many Capacent clients. A mingle and socializing event after the presentations provided guests with an opportunity to discuss and network with other participants from a wide range of industries.
Erik Pettersson, CEO of Capacent Sweden, introduced the seminar and gave a short presentation about Capacent; our background, service offerings and future direction. The main event on the agenda was the presentation by Bengt Walerud, Partner with Capacent Sweden, previously with KW Partners. Bengt delivered an interesting mix of theoretical insights and relevant and real-life cases, related to pricing strategy, including aspects such as price sensitivity analysis, customer-value based pricing, and price controlling. In connection to Bengt’s presentation, questions asked by the audience created interesting and vivid discussions on topics such as price controlling and the challenges and potentials of detailed and complex data analysis.
“Most positive was the interesting and lively Q&A at the end of the seminar! There were no tongue-tied Swedes at this event”, summarizes Bengt Walerud.
The next Capacent seminar is scheduled to take place during the end of Q1, 2011. Please contact us if you would like more information about this event.
2010-12-07
Capacent expands to the Gothenburg region
The Nordic management consulting company Capacent is growing and expanding its operations to Gothenburg. Spearheading this expansion will be Kristian Hamberger, with a background as CEO of Alfakonsult. Capacent's focus will initially be on advisory services related to capital and production efficiency, logistics and supply chain management.
Capacent has 300 employees in five countries in the Nordic region, and to date the Swedish operations have been centred around the Stockholm office. The establishment of the Gothenburg office is based on strong demand from customers in south-west Sweden for operational excellence services, i.e., matters pertaining to capital and production efficiency, logistics and supply chain management.
"We have a clear ambition to develop business in Gothenburg from our initial focus to gradually offering a wide range of management consulting services," says Kristian Hamberger, head of Capacent's Gothenburg office.
Erik Pettersson, Managing Director of Capacent's consulting activities in Sweden, adds: "This move strengthens our ability to offer our clients a comprehensive range of services throughout Sweden. At the same time, we are very excited about the new expertise we will be able to bring to Capacent, which will accelerate our work on developing consulting services in the field of operational excellence.”
Capacent has a distinct growth strategy focused on organic growth as well as on acquisitions and partnerships with other consulting companies. An example is the consulting firm KW Partners, which became part of Capacent in late 2009.
"We offer an attractive alternative to the major multinational players," says Hendrik Trepp, Regional Director for Capacent in Sweden, Finland and Norway. "Our cultural base here in the Nordic region also gives us a deeper understanding of the market. We believe this is crucial for achieving our growth ambitions.
Press release Capacent opens in Gothenburg
Press release Capacent satsar på Göteborgsregionen
2010-10-18
Supply Chain Financing panel led by Capacent at international conference
Capacent chaired a highly appreciated session on Supply Chain Financing (SCF) at the Supply Chain and Logistics Summit in Prague, on June 7-9 in Prague. The session included a brief introduction by Capacent and presentations by AB Volvo and the International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank Group), as well as a panel discussion with the presenters. The attending delegates appreciated the presentations. AB Volvo primarily presented the strategy, key success factors and lessons learned from its successful SCF program, and the IFC provided an overview of its global SCF study, focused on SCF for companies sourcing from emerging markets, and how IFC intends to support this.
“It is clear that SCF is a solution that interests many companies, and that it has the potential to unlock substantial value in many supply chains, but also that so far relatively few have managed to fully realize this potential”, concludes Peter Stenbrink. “It is always a pleasure to participate in seminars and conferences to help spread the knowledge and insights in this area”.
Read the article About Supply Chain Financing.pdf for an introduction to SCF.
2010-06-09
Capacent completes successful study for the World Bank Group
Capacent completes successful study for International Finance Corporation (IFC, a member of the World Bank Group)
In May 2009, following a global RFP process, Capacent was selected by the International Finance Corporation (the private sector arm of the World Bank Group) to advise them on Supply Chain Financing (SCF). The initial project was a Global Market Study to review the market development and best practices in SCF, and evaluate the attractiveness of SCF to support export from emerging markets. This project was completed in November 2009, and based on the results of the study, IFC again selected Capacent to support the IFC in evaluating, how it can best support increased use of Supply Chain Financing for exporters in developing countries, selling to major companies in Europe, USA and Japan.
Full press releases regarding the study:
2010-01-28
Capacent acquires KW partners
Following the acquisition of Capto Financial Consulting during 2008, another acquisition in Sweden is now being carried out. In November 2009, the final steps where being taken in acquiring KW Partners, a specialised management consulting firm with 11 employees based in Stockholm.
KW Partners is based in Stockholm and has a strong position in its consulting niche that is to improve its clients' earnings and competitive ability. The benefit for KW's clients can be seen in improved market strategy, more effective pricing, higher customer profitability, stronger customer relations and a more competitive offering, among other areas.
The acquisition of KW Partners will enable Capacent to both grow and broaden its activities in Sweden.
Erik Pettersson, Managing Director of Capacent's consulting operation in Sweden, comments: "The acquisition of KW Partners will enable us to expand our contact interface with clients and also to offer services focusing on market strategy and business development. At the same time, it gives us an opportunity to develop our offering together.“
"Together we can offer clients an improved and broader offering of services, giving us an opportunity to grow further in the Nordic region," says Ann Bergström, Managing Director of KW Partners.
The acquisition of KW Partners will be completed in November 2009, and its activities will be integrated in Capacent's Swedish operations. KW's personnel will be moving in to Capacent's offices in late November. The KW Partners name will continue to be used during a transitional period and will change over to Capacent during the spring.
Hendrik Trepp, Regional Director for Capacent in Sweden, Finland and Norway, comments: "This is the start of a journey whose destination is to position Capacent as a leading player in the Swedish consulting market. I definitely feel that our vision – to build the leading Nordic consulting company – is spot-on.“
2009-11-23
Capacent announces results from CFO survey performed in Sweden
Capacent has performed a survey among 200 CFO´s in Sweden during April 2009. The focus of the survey was the response of CFO´s to the current financial turmoil. Particular focus was on issues such as financing, recession management, risk management, reporting, incentive systems etc. The survey was part of a larger Nordic survey that will be published after summer together with the detailed results of the Swedish survey.
2009-10-06
Capto Financial Consulting changes name to Capacent
Capto Financial Consulting has been active in the Swedish market for more than 20 years and has built a strong position in financially oriented management consulting. In 2008 Capto Financial Consulting became part of the Capacent Group, and now we are taking the next step by changing the name in Sweden to Capacent. With this step our 50 consultants become part of a force of more than 500 people across the Nordic region. In Sweden, Capacent will focus on management consulting with a financial edge, but our long-term ambition is clear – to broaden our offering and in doing to, to present a powerful alternative to the multinational consulting houses.
In connection with the name change, Erik Pettersson will take over as the new Managing Director of the Swedish consulting operations. Erik Pettersson is currently a Business Unit head within Capto and, together with a new management team, will further develop our consulting services. The current Managing Director, Hendrik Trepp and Deputy Managing Director, Joakim Hörwing, will take an overall responsibility role in Capacent with a focus on working with key customer relationships, driving growth in Scandinavia, and creating an even stronger Nordic offering.
2009-04-02