Strategy Consulting Where the Recommendation Comes from the Market, Not the Framework

Management consultancies sell frameworks and staff junior analysts to populate them. SIS International sells evidence gathered directly from the buyers, competitors, and channel partners that determine whether a strategy works. We run 15-30 structured expert interviews per engagement, triangulated with competitive mapping and secondary analysis, across 135+ countries. The recommendation comes from what the market said, not what the model predicted.

Strategy consulting: competitive intelligence interview for market entry decision

Veille concurrentielle

SIS builds competitive profiles from primary sources: interviews with competitor employees (within ethical and legal boundaries), former executives, channel partners, and shared customers. We map competitor pricing architecture, go-to-market structure, product roadmap signals, and talent acquisition patterns. The output is not a SWOT matrix. It is a specific, sourced assessment of how each named competitor will respond to your strategic move.

Commercial Due Diligence

Private equity firms and corporate acquirers use SIS for commercial due diligence on target companies. We interview the target’s customers, suppliers, and channel partners to validate revenue sustainability, customer concentration risk, competitive position, and market growth assumptions. The work happens under NDA with no disclosure of the acquirer’s identity.

Market Entry and Expansion Strategy

SIS conducts in-country feasibility assessments for companies entering new geographies. We interview distributors, regulatory advisors, channel buyers, and end customers in the target market to produce a go/no-go recommendation grounded in field evidence. The work covers addressable market validation, channel structure mapping, competitive landscape assessment, pricing viability, and regulatory pathway analysis.

Stratégie de mise sur le marché

SIS designs go-to-market strategies informed by primary research with the target buyer. We interview prospective customers to understand their purchase decision process, evaluate channel partner readiness, and test pricing and positioning before the launch. For a B2B SaaS client entering the European mid-market, SIS conducted 25 interviews with IT procurement directors and identified that the client’s freemium model would fail because European mid-market buyers expected direct sales engagement and negotiated enterprise agreements.

Demand Forecasting and Market Sizing

SIS builds demand models from primary data sources: buyer interviews, channel partner volume estimates, and competitive share analysis. We do not extrapolate from secondary databases. SIS validates published figures by interviewing actual buyers and distributors in the market to confirm whether reported numbers reflect real purchase behavior. A medical device client discovered through SIS primary research that the published market size for their category in APAC overstated addressable demand by 40%.

Voice of the Customer for Strategic Planning

SIS designs VOC programs that feed directly into strategic planning cycles. We conduct structured interviews with key accounts, lost prospects, and churned customers to identify why revenue was won, lost, or at risk. The output is a prioritized list of strategic actions tied to specific customer evidence: which product gaps cost the most revenue, which competitor is winning on what specific dimension, and which service failures are driving churn.

STRATEGIC DECISION INTELLIGENCE

Three Strategy Failures That Start with the Wrong Evidence Base

DIAGNOSIS 01 //

FRAMEWORK-FIRST CONSULTING

The Borrowed Playbook Problem

A management consultancy applies a growth framework from a different industry, populates it with secondary data, and delivers a recommendation that looks rigorous but has never been tested with the actual buyers. The strategy enters execution and fails because the competitive dynamics, channel economics, and buyer decision process in this specific market do not match the framework’s assumptions.

DIAGNOSIS 02 //

COMMERCIAL DUE DILIGENCE WITHOUT CUSTOMER VALIDATION

The Management Presentation Trap

The target company’s management team presents a compelling growth narrative with favorable customer retention data and pipeline projections. Nobody interviews the target’s actual customers to verify whether they intend to renew, whether the competitor is gaining share, or whether the product roadmap matches what buyers want next. Post-acquisition, customer churn exceeds the model by 15-20%.

DIAGNOSIS 03 //

MARKET SIZING FROM AGGREGATED DATABASES

The Secondary Data Confidence Trap

The board approved the expansion because the market sizing report from a syndicated data provider showed a large addressable market. Nobody verified those numbers with the buyers and distributors who actually operate in the market. SIS consistently finds 20-40% variance between published market sizes and primary-validated addressable demand when government tender volumes, captive channels, and regulatory access barriers are factored in.

PRIMARY RESEARCH DELIVERABLES

What SIS Delivers to Strategy and Corporate Development Teams

Competitive Intelligence from Primary Sources

Named competitor profiles built from interviews with channel partners, shared customers, and former executives. Pricing architecture, go-to-market structure, product roadmap signals, and talent acquisition patterns. Sourced evidence, not SWOT matrices.

Commercial Due Diligence with Independent Customer Validation

15-25 confidential interviews with the target company’s customers, suppliers, and channel partners. Revenue sustainability, customer concentration risk, competitive position, and growth assumption validation. Delivered under NDA with no disclosure of the acquirer’s identity.

Primary-Validated Market Sizing and Demand Forecasting

Market size models built from buyer interviews, distributor volume estimates, and competitive share analysis. We verify published figures against actual purchase behavior and factor in access barriers, captive channels, and tender exclusions.

Go-to-Market Strategy Informed by Buyer Research

GTM design based on interviews with prospective customers, channel partners, and trade buyers in the target market. Pricing model validation, channel readiness assessment, and positioning testing before launch commitment.

Conseil en stratégie FAQ

How SIS approaches strategy engagements, what differentiates our evidence base, and what to expect from the process.

135+

Des pays

15–30

Interviews / Engagement

Talk to a strategist

Management consultancies apply frameworks and staff junior analysts to populate them. SIS builds every recommendation from primary evidence gathered directly from buyers, competitors, and channel partners in your market. We run 15–30 structured expert interviews per engagement, triangulated with competitive mapping and secondary analysis. The recommendation comes from what the market said, not what the model predicted.

Six core practices: competitive intelligence from primary sources, commercial due diligence for acquisitions, market entry and expansion feasibility, go-to-market strategy informed by buyer research, demand forecasting with primary-validated market sizing, and Voice of the Customer programs for strategic planning. Each is built on structured interviews with real market participants.

It means we interview the people who actually make the decisions in your market. For competitive intelligence, that’s channel partners, shared customers, and former executives. For due diligence, it’s the target’s actual customers and suppliers. For market entry, it’s distributors, regulatory advisors, and end buyers in the target geography. Every finding is sourced to a named interview — not extrapolated from a database.

Most engagements run four to eight weeks from scoping to final deliverable. Commercial due diligence projects under PE deal timelines can compress to three to four weeks. Competitive intelligence monitoring can be structured as ongoing quarterly or monthly retainers. We design the timeline around your decision date, not a standardized project template.

Yes. SIS regularly delivers commercial due diligence under compressed PE deal timelines — typically 15–25 confidential customer interviews completed within three to four weeks. All work is conducted under NDA with no disclosure of the acquirer’s identity. We validate revenue sustainability, customer concentration risk, competitive position, and growth assumptions through independent interviews the financial model cannot replace.

Start with a 30-minute scoping call. Tell us the strategic decision you’re facing, the markets involved, and the timeline. We’ll recommend the right combination of primary research, competitive intelligence, and analyst support — and provide a transparent line-item proposal, typically within 48 hours. No framework decks. No staffing ramp-up. The work starts immediately.

THE SIS DIFFERENCE