D&B's 'Blueprint for Growth' Strategy
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Case Details:
Case Code : BSTR176 Case Length : 18 Pages Pages Period : 1998-2005 Organization : Dun and Bradstreet Pub Date : 2005 Teaching Note :Not Available Countries : US Industry : Business Information and Consultancy
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This case study was compiled from published sources, and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion. It is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. Nor is it a primary information source.
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EXCERPTS
The Problems
Between the 1960s and the 1980s, Dun & Bradstreet seemed to lose its core purpose in the mayhem of acquisitions and divestitures. In 2000, Moody's was split, and D&B was left on its own. By then, the D&B brand had lost its value and the company had lost focus and direction, mainly due to lack of a proper strategy.
In the late 1990s, when the US stock market was in a bull phase, D&B's financial performance was on a downward trend. In the fiscal 1999, D&B's operating revenues declined to $1407.7 million as compared to $1418.8 million in the fiscal 1998 while its net income reduced to $243.6 million from $256.6 million in the same period. Its earnings per share fell from $3.31 in 1998 to $3.16 in 1999. Due to this poor performance, the then CEO and Chairman of Dun & Bradstreet - Volney Taylor, had to quit in October 1999.In April 2000, during the annual general meeting of D&B, Harris Associates LP, which owned 11% of the company's shares demanded that the company should be sold off, not giving heed to the management's defense measures...
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The Growth Strategy
Loren came up with a strategy he called a "Blueprint for Growth" to regain D&B's market share. He realized that the growth of the company lay in creating a financially flexible business model, building brand image and creating a culture that promoted leadership. Loren developed a business model based on constant reengineering and reinvestment of excess funds. The model aimed at increasing investments in capabilities that were important for the growth of the company. The company went about implementing the strategy in a sequenced manner...
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Leveraging the D&B BrandThis strategy aimed at making D&B a prominent brand and the best business decision provider on the Web. The company invested heavily on improving the quality of processes used for collecting, storing and delivering data, a key value proposition offered by the company to its customers. D&B ensured that the data provided was accurate, complete, timely and consistent across the world.
In order to authenticate it, the data was subjected to a process called DUNSRight. Through this process, data obtained from several sources was aggregated, edited and verified... |
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