Consulting

Jonathan Byrnes is President of Jonathan Byrnes & Co., a focused consulting company that he founded in 1976. He has advised over fifty major companies and industry associations.
Dr. Byrnes has led a number of projects that have produced high value and lasting innovations, including direct development of vendor managed inventory. He has guided major companies through programs of large scale renewing change, including organizational response to deregulation and intensified competition, major acquisitions and reorganizations, and strategic repositioning. His work has led directly to large market share gains and profitability increases, in both high growth and mature businesses.

Representative Projects

Strategy and Corporate Development

• Developed a new business for a Fortune 100 healthcare com­pany to create a service-differentiated strategy, including the direct development of one of the first vendor-managed inventory-based business strategies; work led to 35%+ sales increases, even in very highly-penetrated accounts.
• Created corporate and market entry strategies for a multi-billion-dollar offshore third-party logistics company to enter the North American market, including competitive positioning, market development, management, and organization.
• Merged the go-to-market activities of two large industrial com­panies; re­vised the strategy, market positioning, account tar­geting, and distribution network, dramat­ically increasing profit­ability and market share.
• Worked with one of the nation’s leading trucking companies to revise the strategy, market positioning, and customer relations of a major division.
• Advised a global software company with predominantly Asian operations in strategy and market development; company was acquired for a substantial gain.

Profitability Management

• Led highly-successful profitability improvement projects in major companies in several industries, including laboratory supplies, hospital supplies, steel, retail, and auto accessories, using profitability management described in HBS Working Knowledge columns.

Market Development and Sales Management

• Guided one the largest financial services companies in developing new ways to create value for its key accounts, and worked with the top managers to improve the business's profitability.
• Increased the account coordination among the operating, marketing, and sales departments of a multibillion dollar service company to build competitive advantage through service innovation.
• Guided an international auto accessories company in sales force productivity, including account targeting and management, profitability management, and coordination with operations; led to double-digit sales increases in targeted accounts within a month.
• Worked with a major distributor to revise its go-to-market strategy, including brand positioning, direct marketing, sales, and value-added services.
• Advised a major international pharmaceutical company in developing an integrated go-to-market strategy, including key distributor relations.
• Helped a major commercial finance business to reposition its value proposition and to increase its penetration of key and target accounts.

Operations and Supply Chain Management

• Developed an extended supply chain strategy for a Fortune 100 company to coordinate product flow from suppliers to customers, including customer and supplier oper­ating ties, operations re­struc­­turing, and organization change; led to high service levels and quantum operating cost reductions for all channel members.
• Worked with a major international food and beverage distributor to reorganize its major vendor relations and inbound supply chain; rapidly led to major profit increases.
• Helped a major teaching hospital to evaluate outsourcing certain internal services.
• Worked with one of the largest hospital supply companies to structure and market a key, innovative value-added customer integration service.
• Guided a major specialty retailer in revising its merchandising and inventory policies; work led to sales increases while costs declined significantly.

Change Management and Action-Training

• Worked directly with the top officers of a Fortune 50 company to create a culture of growth and competitive responsiveness through a nine-month action-training program, in which the company’s top managers created a fundamentally new set of business plans.

Telecommunications Strategy and Management

• Created the corporate and competitive strategies for one of the largest telecommunications companies, including its first post-divestiture corporate strategy.
• Reorganized and merged two major telecommunications companies, and led the creation of a company-wide market development and competitive response program, including direct counseling of the CEO.
• Advised a major telecommunications company on entry into broadband markets.
• Key direct role in changing telecommunications regulation at the federal and state levels.

Economic Development

• Advised the Government of Indonesia's Minister of Administrative Reform, who worked directly with President Suharto, in economic development; work included turnaround planning for Batam Island (now a major world manufacturing, distribution, and recreation center), and reorganization of Indonesian government agencies involved in economic development.

Consultants’ Consultant

• Worked with the strategy practice of one of the most prominent management consulting companies to create an integrated national practice.
• Developed a competitive strategy, consulting products, and marketing approaches for the supply chain management and operations practice of one of the largest management consulting firms.