Creating a corporate strategy from within the business

Strategy from within, with great results

The Davis Service Group, as Berendsen was then called, was a £1bn turnover textile rental and hygiene services business operating across 15 European countries. The new CEO was looking for a step change in performance and asked us to help develop a new, more focused corporate strategy. 

As with many companies, the business had many excellent people with a great deal of know-how and commitment. It also had tremendous potential. We simply provided the facilitation, encouragement and guidance to help their people come together and develop their own highly effective strategy – unlocking the potential in the business and securing an impressive increase in performance and value. In the subsequent three years market capitalisation moved from £750m to over £1.7bn.

“Berkeley provided structure and rigour to the process and valuable external insights. They helped frame the right questions and acted as an excellent sounding board for the Exec team and the PLC Board. The review was a great development opportunity for people from our company and Berkeley really helped them to develop new skills and new approaches to work. The approach we took also helped hugely in gaining buy-in from around the company.”

Peter Ventress, Chief Executive