Strategic Week 2018
Strategic Week 2018
Each year the various teams of 1421 Consulting Group gather in Beijing. During this Strategic week we take a moment to stand still. We discuss our company’s growth, our goals for the upcoming years and make the plans to help achieve our goals. While we work we also spend time together. Time in which we get to know each other even better, celebrate personal and business victories and where we help each other grow. We are very proud of another successful Strategic Week.
Growth 2018
With the help of our partner Stratego Development, 1421 has seen a lot of internal focus in 2018 and as such has rapidly developed to a more professional organization. We have implemented clear meeting rhythms, created structured processes and set up a comprehensive and understandable reporting system. At the same time, we’ve grown commercially. Our business has seen an influx of new clients and we have been able to deliver high-quality services. We have also invested on improving our teamwork by continuously discussing the shared expectations of our work. Furthermore, we have maintained our focus on personal and professional development. Throughout all this, we have grown as a family and we are proud of the work which has been accomplished in this year. Both individually as collectively.
Focus 2019
For the upcoming 12 months we have set the goal to rapidly expand our business while at the same time improving our business processes. As Peter will not be actively present for at least 9 months, it falls to our own effort and ingenuity to reach the goals we set. We will need to work hard, challenge and support each other, develop our skills while focusing on helping our clients become successful in China. At the same time, we cannot afford to lose focus on what makes 1421 special: our strong family culture.
Analysing everything which has been discussed and concluded during the strategic week, we have created an overview of the major focus points which will help 1421 on its journey:
Improving our business
Growth comes from within. We need to continue improving our business by closely analysing our foundation and making the necessary changes. These changes will help us reach durable growth:
- Continue building a solid, compliant and long-term foundation for our business to thrive;
- Preparing our online marketing to cope with a variety of services, locations and initiatives;
- Creating a clear database for all our past, present and future clients, employees and partners;
- Aligning and improving our separate processes to ensure a smooth client journey with maximum (commercial) output;
- Enhance understanding of our business by analysing data and reflecting on our quality to effectively manage changes;
- Focus on developing the skills of our team to ensure everyone can take on additional responsibilities;
- Setting and maintaining a clear investment strategy which revolves around our 2019-2020 vision;
Expanding our business
Growth requires focus. We have created a strong marketing and sales foundation on which we can grow. This growth requires new methods to reach the people who need our support:
- Increase our online and offline commercial presence to realize a steady pipeline;
- Maintain our steady stream of content knowledge and increase actions taken by visitors;
- Set up one or two new offices according to our lean philosophy in two new cities;
- Experiment with alternative methods of reaching future clients;
- Explore new services which are in line with our vision and the market developments;
- Broaden our marketing horizon to more English-speaking countries;
Each of these focus points are a guideline towards our next growth phase. We believe in discovering the opportunities we encounter along the way and will always keep an open mind while measuring our decisions to our founding principle.
1421 is a group of different offices. Our Beijing office is where it started and offers a variety of supporting services to other locations. At the same time our Shenzhen office is rapidly expanding with the flexibility of a younger organization. We believe the success of each office lies in following a path which is unique to each while supporting each other. Therefore, we have also outlined the results of the Strategic Week 2018 for our Shenzhen office below:
Strategic Week Shenzhen 2018
The strategic week is of tremendous importance for our Shenzhen team. Since this office is located thousands of kilometers from the HQ in Beijing. The strategic week helps strengthen bonds. This year was the first time not only the management of Shenzhen, but the whole team flew to Beijing. This helped to get a new influx of ideas to fine tune the strategies of our company.
1421 in Shenzhen is on the precipice of a very exciting stage. Over the past three years, this office has grown tremendously fast. This growth was fueled by the boom of Shenzhen’s increase in brand awareness among foreign companies. Our own office already moved addresses 4 times over 4 years, from a home office to a 200 m2 office in Nanshan. As we have grown our clients have grown with us. Many of them have really found their footing in this South Chinese city and are growing rapidly too.
Our office in Shenzhen is growing from a start-up to a scale-up. This new phase brings along a whole new group of challenges which are specific to scale-ups. If we compare it to our own human growth, we could say Shenzhen is starting to hit puberty. A solid base and proof of concept for business have been established. Now a long-term sustainable business needs to be created, in order for the Shenzhen company to become a healthy functioning adult. Luckily our Beijing office has already been through these phases. Therefore, Shenzhen can learn from the lessons of Beijing. The strategic week was a good time to reflect on the past years and to incorporate what was learned in the plans for the coming years. Furthermore, different from humans, is that changes in a company can be implemented in multiple entities at once. Now 1421 as a whole has hit their 7-year mark, the increased level of professionalism is also simultaneously being implemented in Shenzhen.
In 2019, one of the main strategies is to focus more on strategic consulting. Now Shenzhen has learned about the wheeling and dealing of doing business in China, the team has gained enough authority to confidently guide clients with their strategies as well. With the availability of Beijing’s experience to be tapped in on, Shenzhen will focus more on strategically guiding our clients. This will be done without losing sight of what brought Shenzhen success in the first place: solid back-office support and company incorporation. We believe that the combination of the proven services of Shenzhen plus consulting focused services, a more complete package for clients can be offered.
Your strategy to China
Succeeding in China depends on your strategy. We would love to discuss strategies and see if we can help you achieve success. Reach out to us through info@1421.consulting