We work with top management to beat their competitors and generate substantial, lasting financial impact.
We look at a business as an integrated, cohesive whole. Bain Korea helps companies find where to make their money, make more of it faster and sustain its growth longer. We help make the big decisions: on strategy, organization, operations, technology and mergers and acquisitions.
Where appropriate, we work with clients to make it happen—which may mean fundamentally changing the company. Our work is most successful when we work closely with clients that are dissatisfied with the status quo.
Create a winning strategy
Bain has worked on more than 5,000 projects across every industry and geography to help companies develop winning strategies.
For example, Bain has helped to:
- Focus and turn around a multinational company. Closed or sold over 150 non-strategic, unprofitable businesses and developed strategies to grow the profitable ones. Market capitalization grew from $150M to nearly $6B.
- Develop a repeatable template for the expansion of a technology company with a revolutionary business model. Successfully penetrated ten new product segments, 15 countries and eight customer segments. Market capitalization went from $2B to $60B.
- Size a new business opportunity for a logistics company, valuing it at ten times more than originally estimated. Client moved quickly, made additional acquisitions and within three years had grown business to over $1B.
- Reignite profitable growth and regain share in core business of a financial services company that had pursued a flawed "financial supermarket" strategy. Launched new products and built customer loyalty. Created $28B in market value.
Build an effective organization
Effective organization is at the heart of successful execution. So the majority of our work touches on organizational issues required for successful implementation.
For example, Bain has helped to:
- Reorganize the competing business units of a consumer products company operating in 140 countries into a single integrated global business. Generated over $300M in direct profit improvements.
- Unite ten single-country telecom operators to form one of the top global telecommunication companies. Created $2.5B in value.
- Transform a bankrupt commercial bank from a corporate-focused to a consumer-focused business. Profits rebounded from a heavy loss to $250M in one year.
- Design a leaner and flatter organization for a construction company. Reduced product development cycle from 18 to six months.
Ensure excellence in operations
Bain has worked on more than 4,000 projects helping companies improve their top- and bottom-line performance through better operations.
For example, Bain has helped to:
- Improve supply chain effectiveness for a top consumer electronics retailer. Resulted in a 20% reduction in inventory and an improvement in cash conversion from 100 days to 35.
- Identify and negotiate purchasing cost savings for a major global consumer products company. Realized over $200M in savings.
- Analyze competitor best practices and train staff to implement new approaches for a national pharmacy chain. Improved margins by 25%.
- Optimize pricing and identify rapid cost-reduction opportunities for an already successful consumer products company. Realized nearly $100M in pre-tax savings.
Earn a return from technology
Technology is an essential part of most management decisions today. So the majority of Bain's work involves the information technology (IT) implications of strategy formulation, support for IT implementation and program management. Since Bain does not sell IT systems or services, we are completely objective in our advice.
For example, Bain has helped to:
- Define the end-state IT architecture for one of the largest and fastest growing independent exchanges in the world. Generated 30% annual operating cost savings and reduced new product development time from six months to six weeks.
- Rescue an off-track deployment of a customer relationship management (CRM) system for a consumer technology company. Turned a $100M investment with no tangible benefits into the source of $200M incremental gross margin.
- Reduce claims processing cost by 50% for a major health insurer. Cut IT support and development costs by 40%.
- Develop IT outsourcing strategy, vendor selection process and negotiating approach for an airline. Reduced costs by more than 20%.
Improve the odds of success in mergers and acquisitions
Bain has screened more than 30,000 acquisition targets, supported more than 1,000 deals with a cumulative value of over $200B and worked on more than 2,000 private equity evaluations and transactions. Bain-supported investments have performed in the top quartile of all LBO transactions.
For example, Bain has helped to:
- Identify a sizeable strategic acquisition for a publishing company. Successful integration boosted earnings of acquired company by more than 50% in 12 months from cost reduction and cross-selling synergies.
- Manage a complicated integration for a global medical equipment manufacturer that doubled its size by acquiring a series of companies. Client realized 3X expected synergies.
- Identify opportunity to consolidate a highly fragmented part of a consumer service industry. Made 8 acquisitions in 18 months. Developed program to integrate customers and channels. Emerged as a leader in the industry.
- Integrate Asian operations of a $8.5B acquisition by a global consumer products company. Succeeded in reducing combined costs by 17% across 11 country markets. Stock price of locally traded subsidiaries grew at twice the rate of comparable competitors.
Corporate change
Bain's work is most successful when we can help our clients to achieve all their business has to give. We work with our clients' organizations to bring about change. At the end of the day, our clients take the actions—but we are a valuable catalyst to the process. If our clients succeed, we succeed.
For example, Bain has helped to:
- Stabilize a company that was competing in newly deregulated industry, had significant management turnover and no clear strategy. Repositioned strategically and improved operations. Share price doubled.
- Turn around a transportation company in financial distress. Developed revenue-enhancement and cost-reduction programs, built organizational capability and strategy for long-term success. Profit impact of $150M.
- Develop new strategy, redesign organization around new vision, sell off a major global business and streamline operations for a financial institution whose profits had stagnated. Created more than $3B in shareholder value.
- Establish leadership in its most important customer segment for a global airline. Strengthened marketing, consolidated facilities to achieve cost leadership, and improved on-time performance. Share price increased more than 400%.
