thinkCOMPASS is proudly recognized as an official Quality Service Provider for the CME Technology Assessment Program funded by FedDev Ontario! With $25,000 in eligible funding, the program provides direct financial support to individual employers who wish to assess the use and implementation of technology in their current business process.

CORPORATE STRATEGY

Our team of experts specialize in developing unique plans or framework that are designed to gain a competitive advantage over other market participants while delivering stakeholder promises. Our focus as consultants is to determine how to create the most value for our clients. Corporate Strategy builds on top of business strategy, which is concerned with the strategic decision making for an individual business. The work delivered is concerned with achieving the following objectives geared to drive growth for our clients:

Resource Allocation

While addressing the allocation of resources within a business, thinkCOMPASS is concerned with two resources in particular: People and Capital.  To maximize the value of the business, our team of experts helps in identifying how to allocate the resources of the specified business to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts.

Organizational Structure

Organizational structure involves implementing the necessities attached to corporate configuration and related procedures in effort of creating a system that drives maximum value.  thinkCOMPASS considers and reports on the role of the business leaders down to the structure of individuals and business units. Specifics include vertical hierarchy and matrix reporting.

Strategic Trade-Offs

A key fundamental involved in corporate strategy is evaluating and determining between risk and return within a business as it relates to business decisions. Managing risk involves assessing the market, understanding the true value and model of the business from a holistic point of view, and making a decision that will better the organization, not hurt it. Generating return encompasses strategies that are created and designed to increase opportunity and possibility.

Portfolio Management

As it relates to portfolio management, thinkCOMPASS focuses on the manners in which operations within a business complement each other, their parallels, and where the business is primed to make a move to further its growth.
Work Deliverables Related to Portfolio Management:
1. Deciding what business to be in or to be out of
2. Determining the extent of vertical integration
Managing risk through diversification and reducing the correlation of results across businesses
Creating strategic options by seeding new opportunities that could be heavily invested in if appropriate
Monitoring the competitive landscape and ensuring the portfolio is well balanced relative to trends in the market

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The creation of an Economic Development Strategy is recognized as a business’ next step towards economic diversification. It is promised that the strategies delivered will identify actionable goals and objectives that will maximize the impact of investment as it guides the business and helps it to embrace an economy that will be changing rapidly. Our team of experts is poised and primed to deliver the following work deliverables in relation to economic development:

Support business attraction, retention, and expansion.
Promote the growth of the year-round local economy.
Support sustainable economic diversification with minimal environmental impact.
Create employment opportunities for residents.
Attract or increase investment into the community.
Increase the municipality’s tax base to support public infrastructure and services.
Improve the quality of life for permanent and seasonal residents.
Expand visitor and tourism activity.
Build and sustain collaborative partnerships at the community level and with the public and private sector.
Position the municipality to anticipate future development needs and opportunities.
Ensure recommendations are financially sustainable for stakeholders, including taxpayers.

Drawing from our years of experience in markets across various sectors around the world, our approach is to closely examine and to identify strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats (SWOT) from the perspective of the potential investor. Using this information, we develop the unique value proposition (UVP). We then advise on how our client can best leverage their UVP to strategically position themselves to successfully compete for investment and gain footholds in new sectors and markets.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

thinkCOMPASS has had the privilege of working with hundreds of companies around the world for more than 20 years. As a result of this time spent and dedicated to business growth, our team has developed a keen understanding in the logistics involved in mergers and acquisitions. We as a firm understand and recognize the sensitivity involved with this specific business transaction which is why we take such pride in the work. As it relates to the specifics, our team of experts is well-versed in the consolidation of companies or assets through various types of financial transactions, including M&A. thinkCOMPASS is primed to execute the following:

Horizontal Mergers
Vertical Mergers
Market-Extension Mergers
Product-Extension Mergers
Conglomerations

FAMILY BUSINESS

Finding the Balance between Family and Business

thinkCOMPASS has guided family-owned businesses to prosper across generations. We establish structures and processes, which protect the integrity of the family and the enterprise to ensure growth through generations.

Family-owned companies face unique vulnerabilities. Potential sources of discord among family members loom around every corner: generational transitions, major investment decisions, appropriation of profits, and leadership appointments. After all, why should entrepreneurial families be less quarrelsome than any other group of relatives?

The consequences of their disputes, however, can be more serious and far-reaching. Conflict is, perhaps, the greatest destroyer of value in family firms. Finding an equilibrium that leverages the best aspects of both family and business is difficult, but if done well, offers handsome rewards.

WHAT PARTICIPANTS WILL LEARN

This is the art of family business management.

It is important to articulate a governance framework that separates business from ownership and defines a clear process for families and owners to resolve family and business issues. thinkCOMPASS will help you do exactly this through comprehensive strategy, training workshops, and implementation.

An effective family enterprise consultant will listen first then proceed to ask questions to understand the unique qualities and values of your family and your enterprise.
Your consultant(s) will build trust with everyone involved and be the model of tact and transparency.
Your consultant(s) will appreciate that there are at least four distinct, dynamic systems at work:
1. Family
2. Management
3. Ownership
Governance (i.e. Board of Directors, Advisory Board, and Family Council)
Your consultant(s) will help all of your family members understand that the company’s strategy, board and ownership group all need to be aligned. Our consultant(s) will help you every step of the way, even establishing alignment through disagreements.
thinkCOMPASS will help you explore solutions and define directions for your business immediately. We often work alongside (your) lawyers, accountants, to help you establish goals and develop plans to satisfy individual, business, shareholder and family needs.
thinkCOMPASS works directly with business/family members to define the roles and responsibilities of current generation members and incoming generation members in the new structure. We help make sense of these emotional situations through transition to create harmony within the business family.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How can we minimize the risk of disputes over the running of the business

As with any private company, you should have a shareholder agreement.

This (together with the company's articles of association) establishes the ground rules for how the business will be run. The process of preparing the agreement allows you to talk over major issues and agree how they will be approached. You may also want to have some form of 'family charter'. This can be a good way of covering issues that do not fit as comfortably within the more formal framework of a shareholder agreement - for example, what family members expect from each other. The family charter can also involve members of the family who do not take an active role in the business or who do not own shares in it. Regularly reviewing the charter can be a part of promoting good communication between family members.

Two general approaches can reduce the likelihood of disputes:

- Family members who work in the business are treated without favouritism;
- The family makes a conscious effort to keep some distance between 'business' and their private lives.

What can I do if family members who work for the business don't get on well together?

In principle, you would hope to be able to deal with the problem in the same way as with any two employees. You may be able to talk through the problems with the individuals concerned and negotiate an agreement. If one individual is clearly behaving inappropriately - for example, sabotaging the other's work - you could invoke your disciplinary procedures. It may be possible to organie for the two individuals to work in separate areas of the business, miniming the opportunities for conflict. Or you may decide that the best solution is to ask one individual to resign. In practice, solutions like these may not be easy when you are dealing with members of your own family. One option is to use an independent mediator to negotiate a resolution of the dispute. Where mediation fails, it may be possible to use an arbitrator - who can impose a solution if the parties cannot agree among themselves.

Ideally, you will have planned ahead and family members will have agreed to dispute resolution procedures as part of your shareholder agreement or family charter.

What sort of issues should we cover in a shareholder agreement for a family business?

Issues that should be covered in a shareholder agreement include:

- How directors are appointed and how the board will take decisions
- Dispute resolution procedures
- How the business will be financed and how profits will be distributed
- Rules on transferring shares, including what happens when a shareholder dies
- Rules on employment of family members
- Rules restricting shareholders from competing with the business
- Rules protecting confidential information

Are there any restrictions on employing family members?

In general, no, unless employees are legally required to have specific qualifications or experience. In practice, even if you want to encourage your children (for example) to work for the business, you should ask them to at least meet the entry requirements you place on other recruits. Otherwise, you risk having incompetent family employees who do not feel the need to apply themselves and are resented by other employees.
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Other shareholders, particularly from outside the family, may also object if you employ unsuitable family members. You may wish to include a requirement like this in your shareholder agreement. Not only does this make the position clear, but it also makes it easier for you to refuse to recruit unsuitable family members.
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You may wish to include a requirement like this in your shareholder agreement. Not only does this make the position clear, but it also makes it easier for you to refuse to recruit unsuitable family members.

Should we encourage our children to work for the business?

Having your children work for the business can have advantages: often they will share your values and your commitment to the business.

However, employing your children in senior roles may also lead to a narrow-minded outlook, compared to employing outsiders. Many families encourage their children to join the business, but only after working elsewhere for at least a couple of years.

Of course, if your children have other ambitions, it may not be a good idea to pressure them into working for your business. Where you have more than one child, you will also need to consider how well they get on together and what roles each could have.

Pre-empt trouble by making it clear that younger children may be promoted over the heads of their older siblings.

Are there any restrictions on appointing family members to the board of directors?

Your shareholder agreement (or the company's articles of association) may contain restrictions, but that would be very unusual. A few specific types of business, such as investment companies, also require directors to have particular qualifications.

Apart from that, family members can be directors (as long as they are not under 16, the company's auditor or an undischarged bankrupt, and have not been disqualified from being a director). They are, however, expected to exercise a degree of skill and diligence in carrying out their duties - the standard that could reasonably be expected of anyone carrying out their job in the same circumstances. It would not, for example, be appropriate to appoint a family member with no financial training to be finance director.

Should we have directors from outside the family?

You want to ensure that your board of directors has the skills and experience needed to run the business effectively and to meet their legal obligations. This includes having a board of directors which keeps up to date and is open to new ideas. Achieving this with a board of directors composed entirely of family members is almost impossible. Family businesses often look for several non-family directors:

- Someone with legal experience to deal with legal and administrative matters, such as filings at Companies House, premises, insurances, trademarks and domain names, etc.
- A qualified accountant to act as finance director.
- One or more individuals with industry experience to act as non-executive directors. This may include someone who acts as non-executive chairman.

It is worth remembering that having external directors does not mean that you give up control of your business. You will, however, want to ensure that you are in a position to easily remove external directors should you feel the need to do so.

You will therefore want to ensure that external directors have appropriate contracts, and that you (or your family together) retain a majority at both board and general (shareholder) meetings.

WE ARE UNIQUE

Award-winning work built on Leadership, Innovation, and Creativity.
Over 21 years and millions of dollars in insights, capital, and resources. We have worked across 20 industries, helping businesses expand abroad and into Canada. We are passionate about solving challenging problems for our clients, international business development, and helping clients achieve sustainable performance.

We look forward to working together with our clients for more WINS, knowing that we have been recognized in the industry as being able to successfully provide our clients effective customized solutions and award winning designs that satisfy all types of business needs.

A BRIEF HISTORY

The unique quality thinkCOMPASS has is our global network of partners consisting of over 160 partnerships in over 35 countries, which include government organizations, associations and chambers, educational institutions and in-market consultants.We have worked hard to manage, nurture and expand our network to help our clients become connected with global opportunities. Through our network we are able to present innovative technologies into the Canadian market, introduce businesses to support economic growth and build partnerships to help clients find new channels for business development. thinkCOMPASS not only helps our local community, but makes the world smaller by helping connect global companies with the Canadian market.

WE ARE UNIQUE

CELEBRATING OUR 21ST YEAR IN BUSINESS

YEARS

Providing growth opportunities through our service verticals: Strategic Consulting, Digital Marketing, and Globalization.

1200

PROJECTS

Helping businesses reach larger audiences and develop tactics to improve business efficiencies.

COUNTRIES

Managing, nurturing, and expanding our network to help our clients become connected with global opportunities.

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

“thinkCOMPASS helped our brand market to a bigger and better audience by re-conceptualizing our logo and building an online presence. We proudly showcase our brand and thank thinkCOMPASS for guiding our journey!”

“thinkCOMPASS has been our dedicated service firm for over 20 years. thinkCOMPASS’ strong consulting and marketing expertise, ability to adapt to changing industry trends, and their genuine dedication to supporting our cause have driven our long-term relationship. Griffin Centre is truly thankful to the thinkCOMPASS Team for years of excellent guidance.”

“It was a pleasure working with the team. Their incredible team helped me build and develop the businesss’ social media strategy and execution. In addition, they helped me in the development of a new website. I was impressed with their work ethic from start to finish, always proposing new and creative ideas.”

GROWTH MANAGEMENT

Corporate Strategy