Background
As a leading player in trade fairs and events, Trondheim Messeselskap has built up a lot of knowledge and experience in their field. This project deals with Trondheim Messeselskap's future strategy to optimize and further develop their business. With the help of strategic thinking and thorough analysis, we investigated how Trondheim Messeselskapet can lift its business to new heights.
My role
Scope
I was the only member of my team who had worked with strategic design and business design before. I therefore took lead in guiding us throughout the project in regards of what methods to use.
Strategic Design, Business Design, Interviews, Stakeholder Mapping
Team members
Tools
Signe Sæterås Berg, Kristina Eraker Ødegård & Vårild Engmark Øyulvstad
Figma, Procreate
A business with an unique position in their market
Unlike other competitors in the industry, Trondheim Messeselskap offers all the services that organisers, exhibitors and visitors may need before, during and after a trade fair. The trade fair company has four large trade fairs that they regularly organise every year around Norway and are their main source of income They have contracts with these trade fairs that extend over several years, and mean that they have a stable source of income.
Until now, Trondheim Messeselskap has had continuous development when it comes to logistics and the execution of trade fairs. They went from being a facilitator, who ordered all the equipment and organised the fairs, to being a total supplier of everything you need for a fair.
How safe is too safe?
Until now, Trondheim Messeselskap has had continuous development when it comes to logistics and the execution of trade fairs. They went from being a facilitator, who ordered all the equipment and organised the fairs, to being a total supplier of everything you need for a fair. They are fairly dependent on the four large trade fairs for their income, and has based future growth mainly on starting new fair trade fairs. The COVID-19 pandemic showed that changes in needs can come quickly and disrupt their source of income.
We identified some Points of uncertainty
Market size
As Trondheim Messeselskap's market share increases, it may become more difficult for the them to grow at the same speed as before. They may reach a plateau within the organisation of large trade fairs, and must instead focus on taking over smaller fairs, which are not as profitable and require more from Trondheim Messeselskap.
Lack of marketing
Until now, Trondheim Messeselskap has not focused on marketing itself at the events they hold. Thus, they miss out on important profiling that can get them customers in the long term. The company may have underestimated how important it is to create a name for itself within the industry when it comes to acquiring new customers and establishing itself as a professional player.
growing pains
For some companies, it can be difficult to keep up with growth if it happens too quickly. If Trondheim Messeselskap grows faster and takes on more customers than they can acclimatise to, the quality of the services they offer may decline. In the worst case, they may not be able to follow up on their core customers, and in that case they may lose contracts.
...And framed our challenge
A new strategy that focuses on creating new markets instead of building upon existing ones will make Trondheim Messeselskap more robust for fluctuations in their market. We will look at this challenge by exploring internal and external analysis.
Examining internal and external CIRCUMSTANCES
Internal analysis
External analysis
Frequent discussions and Q&A's with employees at Trondheim Messeselskap
Observation of rigging and operation of several fair trades
Mapping of company history, services, strategic partners and economy.
Interviews with several contact persons, visitors and organizors of fair traids
Exploring the macro-environment of Trondheim Messeselskap through STEEP Analysis
Mapping out pain point and areas of growth potential
The basis of our strategic analysis
SWOT Analysis
Using a SWOT analysis, the group created a picture of internal and external factors that can influence the business's development. Here it also became clear which strengths and opportunities the Messeselskapet should play on, while at the same time it was mapped out which weaknesses and threats they must take into account.
SO Matrix
In order to benefit from the points from the SWOT analysis in the further development of strategies, internal strengths and external opportunities were juxtaposed in an SO matrix. In this way, we can help Trondheim Messeselskap develop strategies that use their strengths to maximise opportunities and thereby increase the chances of success.
extrapolating search fields from SO Matrix
We used the SO Matrix to identify several intersection points, which were then grouped by theme. These themes were used as a starting point to develop six of the most interesting search fields.
...But how do we choose the best strategy?
Bottleneck analysis
We applied Bottleneck analysis to identify constraints or obstacles that may inhibit optimal growth for Trondheim Messeselskap. By filtering and examining selected search fields, we uncovered internal weaknesses and external threats. This made it easier to find potential solutions and improvements to problems that may arise.
Discussion with the client
We presented the different search fields to Trondheim Messeselskap, along with our analysis of pros and cons of each search field. It was important to keep our client updated with our findings, and ensure that we are in an agreement of what's in their best interest and actually feasible for them.
From 6 search fields to 3 strategic directions to final strategy
Going from six search fields to one final strategy was not easy. When we were left with three strategic directions, we applied all our reasoning from earlier, and further researched each strategic direction in terms of what problems the strategy would solve, business models for income, value created for Trondheim Messeselskap, and how the strategy should be implemented in short, middle, and long term. We presented our findings to our client, and went ahead with our final strategy
Final strategy - Advisory services
Advisory services are based on Trondheim Messeselskap's already accumulated knowledge in logistics, trade fairs and events. The service will offer courses, both digital and physical, as well as better and more user-friendly internal guidance for participants at the Trondheim Messeselskap's regular trade fairs.
Vision
Mission
Trondheim Messeselskap will expand its service offerings for a better utilisation of the company's knowledge, which covers both the digital and physical market. This will also improve the relationship with existing customers at the same time as it opens up a new customer group. Later, Trondheim Messeselskap will launch new services that reach a wider range of customer groups, and as a result they achieve a leading position in several markets.
Trondheim Messeselskap will utilise its strengths to further develop its service offering into advisory services. Their expertise and experience in trade fairs and logistics help other companies achieve their goals. By offering qualitative advice, Trondheim Messeselskap will become a reliable partner for customers, and strengthens the company's position as a leading player in the industry.
implementation and road ahead
Value proposition
The strategy is implemented by small changes and utilisation of the resources the company already has available. In further development, stability and flexibility are used to reach other target groups and form relationships with other companies.
New sources of income arise through a new market, better customer relations through closer follow-up, freeing up time spent on email correspondence and a new platform for profiling.
Why this strategy?
Every service and product has a life cycle that contains both growth and decline. For a company to stay relevant and retain its market share, innovation is a necessity. The way Trondheim Messeselskap's business is structured today, they are dependent on establishing new fairs that they can organise year after year in order to achieve growth. It is inevitable that the market will become saturated, and Trondheim Messeselskap will then have to introduce new services and products to fill the gap between desired development and projected development if no changes are made.
Retrospective
I was able to explore more about how to build strategies that touched upon markets we didn't even knew existed through this project. I'm quite pleased that we managed to build a strategy that expanded on Trondheim Messeselskap's expertise, and didn't lean too much towards conventional strategies.