A strategy your team understands, buys into, and can execute

We develop strategies and run strategy sessions. We help shareholders and top management make the key decisions — and carry them through to an initiative portfolio, KPIs, and implementation plans.

The intro call is held by Alexander Idrisov personally, 30–40 minutes.

Who we work with

Our clients include market leaders in retail, FMCG, real estate development, manufacturing, IT, and media. Russia · CIS · Europe.

Grocery retail Russia's largest convenience-store grocery chain
Retail the leading multi-brand electronics & lifestyle retailer
FMCG a top producer of sauces and grocery staples
FMCG a top producer of grains and grocery staples
Real estate development a leading regional residential developer
Auto retail one of the largest car dealership groups
Manufacturing a market leader in electrical equipment
IT the market leader in enterprise video conferencing
Media · Education the country's largest educational publisher
Media a leading business media outlet
FMCG a top producer of frozen foods
Manufacturing Russia's leading plastic packaging producer
Manufacturing a leader in power supplies and batteries
FMCG a leading distributor of alcoholic beverages
Airlines one of Russia's largest airlines
Real estate a leading commercial real estate consultancy
Auto retail a leading car dealer
Grocery retail one of the largest hypermarket chains
Manufacturing a leader in vertical transportation (elevators)
Retail a leading sneaker and street footwear chain
Retail the largest liquor store chain
Manufacturing the largest oilfield services company
FMCG a major food producer

Client names are withheld under confidentiality agreements. A selection of projects from the past three years.

01 · What clients bring us

We turn strategic questions into management decisions

How do we align the vision of owners and management?

How do we get management to treat the business as their own?

How do we develop growth options so the output is decisions, not a list of ideas?

How do we select the initiatives that create value — and cut the rest?

How do we take strategy through to implementation, when past sessions ended in talk and no follow-through?

How do we defend our position when the market is shrinking?

How do we plan under high uncertainty: scenarios, triggers, a plan B?

Where do we diversify if our core market is stagnating?

How do we bring several businesses into one product and management logic?

How do we assemble a strategy and equity story for a deal or pre-IPO?

How do we allocate capital and resources across growth areas?

How do we prepare a strategic agenda for the board and shareholders?

02 · Our Approach

Between facilitation and turnkey strategy

Strategy is choice: what we do and what we deliberately give up. We don't arrive to defend a finished document — we build the strategy together with your team. That is why it actually gets implemented.

Facilitation & moderation

Individual experts and facilitators

Our offer

Analysis · moderation · strategy draft

A team of consultants

Turnkey strategy

Large consulting firms · ex-MBB / Tier-2

Analysis

None or minimal
Custom — built around your challenges and your market, not a template
Exhaustive, turnkey — all analysis sits in the consultant's budget

Deliverable

Agreements on a flipchart, no document
A strategy prototype presentation: vision, initiatives, and team plans — developed and adopted by the team with the consultant's support
A voluminous strategy document prepared by the consultant

Team involvement

Full — the team does all the work itself
The team takes part in interviews and strategy sessions, generates ideas, and sets priorities
Minimal — everything is done for you; a document is brought in for sign-off

Timeline

Fastest, no preparation
1–4 months
5 months to a year

Fee

Low
Mid
High

Best fit

A strong team develops the strategy itself and needs light moderation
You need to make decisions and package them rigorously — based on data and team discussion
You need a formal document and can hand the work and accountability over to a consultant entirely

Facilitation & moderation

Individual experts and facilitators

Analysis

None or minimal

Deliverable

Agreements on a flipchart, no document

Team involvement

Full — the team does all the work itself

Timeline

Fastest, no preparation

Fee

Low

Best fit

A strong team develops the strategy itself and needs light moderation

Our offer

Analysis · moderation · strategy draft

A team of consultants

Analysis

Custom — built around your challenges and your market, not a template

Deliverable

A strategy prototype presentation: vision, initiatives, and team plans — developed and adopted by the team with the consultant's support

Team involvement

The team takes part in interviews and strategy sessions, generates ideas, and sets priorities

Timeline

1–4 months

Fee

Mid

Best fit

You need to make decisions and package them rigorously — based on data and team discussion

Turnkey strategy

Large consulting firms · ex-MBB / Tier-2

Analysis

Exhaustive, turnkey — all analysis sits in the consultant's budget

Deliverable

A voluminous strategy document prepared by the consultant

Team involvement

Minimal — everything is done for you; a document is brought in for sign-off

Timeline

5 months to a year

Fee

High

Best fit

You need a formal document and can hand the work and accountability over to a consultant entirely

After the project, we stay on as a trusted advisor through implementation.

03 · Team

The partner and the team

Alexander Idrisov

Alexander Idrisov

Founder and former managing partner of Strategy Partners Group (1994–2021), one of Russia's leading strategy consulting firms.

For over 25 years he has advised owners and CEOs on strategy, competitiveness, and corporate finance. Professor at the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO. Author of the monograph "Strategic Planning". Board member at several companies and an investor in technology startups. Alumnus of executive programs at Harvard Business School and IMD. Co-founder of the Eurasia Competitiveness Institute (Belgium); formerly a board member of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils (GFCC).

He runs projects together with a team of consultants drawn from Russia's leading consulting firms. The team covers the full cycle: diagnostics, analysis, KPIs, and the implementation plan.

Strategy Partners Group · 1994–202125+ years in strategy consultingProfessor, SKOLKOVOAuthor, "Strategic Planning"Board memberHarvard Business School · IMDCo-founder, Eurasia Competitiveness Institute

04 · What we do

We work across every level of strategy — from mission to operating model

We look at the company as a whole: from mission and corporate strategy down to the strategies of individual businesses and functions. The strategy session is the working format at each of these levels.

1

Mission & vision

Why the company exists, where it is heading over 5–10+ years, and within what boundaries it grows. Developed with shareholders and the top team.

2

Corporate strategy

The portfolio of businesses, growth priorities, capital allocation, assessment and discussion of synergies across the portfolio, M&A and partnerships.

3

Business strategies

Strategy for each business line: markets, products, customers, channels, how it competes, and its initiative portfolio.

4

Functional strategies

Commercial, operations, HR, IT, finance: objectives, initiatives, and KPIs by function.

5

Operating model & execution

Roles and accountability, KPIs, the initiative portfolio, the control framework, and the management rhythm.

05 · Additional workstreams

What we can add to the project for your specific needs

We shape the product around the specific task.

Finance & transactions

  • Strategy financial model — stress-testing ambition against the economics: revenue, margins, CAPEX/OPEX, cash flow, scenarios.
  • Deal and pre-IPO preparation — the equity story and financial logic for investors and the board.
  • Commercial due diligence — assessment of the business and its market ahead of a deal or investment.
  • Post-merger integration — one product and management logic for the combined business.
  • Family office strategy — how to allocate the owner's capital: portfolio structure, priorities, investment boundaries.

Market & competition

  • Market and segment assessment — size, dynamics, niche potential, screening of new markets, including international.
  • Competitive analysis — positioning, benchmarking, likely competitor response.
  • Customer value proposition (CVP) — defining the value proposition for key segments and channels.

Organization & governance

  • KPIs and incentives — KPI systems, long-term incentives (LTI), bonus schemes, eNPS.
  • Process and org model diagnostics — where speed and control are being lost.
  • Strategic control system — an initiative dashboard, management rhythm, and plan updates after the project.

Research & scenarios

  • Employee and customer surveys — run when hypotheses need to be tested against data.
  • In-depth research with partners — we bring in specialist agencies for deeper studies.
  • Scenario planning — alternative market futures and how the strategy responds to each.

06 · Process

How a project works

Every project is assembled around the task. At its core are one to four strategy sessions, depending on the brief. We select the few initiatives that solve your specific problems: ten prioritized initiatives that work beat seventy of equal weight.

Step 01

Preparation

before the first session

Interviews with the top team; review of the strategy, financials, and KPIs; market analysis; the agenda and the logic of the discussion.

Step 02

Sessions

1–4

We facilitate the discussion, structure the disagreements, prioritize initiatives, and lock in decisions.

Step 03

Analysis between sessions

For specific topics, we prepare the data and options for the next set of decisions.

Step 04

Synthesis

1–2 weeks after the final session

We consolidate the work into a strategy prototype: vision, initiatives, team plans, KPIs, and an implementation plan.

The process is not linear: session → analysis → session repeats as many times as the decisions require.

07 · Strategy sessions

A strategy session on the company's key challenges

Almost any workshop gets called a "strategy session". The difference is in the subject, the participants, and the outcome.

Typically
With us

Subject

A narrow tactical issue of one department
The development of the whole business: growth, business lines, how the company competes

Who's in the room

A working group
The principals: shareholder, CEO, top team

Basis for decisions

Opinions in the moment
Analysis, interviews, and data prepared in advance

Who leads

A moderator
A consultant with hypotheses and a structured discussion

Outcome

Verbal agreements
Documented decisions and an implementation plan

Typically

Subject

A narrow tactical issue of one department

Who's in the room

A working group

Basis for decisions

Opinions in the moment

Who leads

A moderator

Outcome

Verbal agreements

With us

Subject

The development of the whole business: growth, business lines, how the company competes

Who's in the room

The principals: shareholder, CEO, top team

Basis for decisions

Analysis, interviews, and data prepared in advance

Who leads

A consultant with hypotheses and a structured discussion

Outcome

Documented decisions and an implementation plan

For us, the session is only one stage. Most of the work is preparation, analysis, and consolidating the results into a strategy.

08 · The result

What the company keeps after the project

The deliverable is a strategy prototype. Its scope depends on the task, but as a rule it answers:

01

External environment

market trends and competition: what is happening around the company.

02

Key challenges

the specific challenges of the business, given its strengths, weaknesses, and environment.

03

Where we play

which segments, markets, and customers we focus on.

04

How we win

the value proposition, sales, and marketing by segment.

05

Critical capabilities

what we build to win.

06

Execution by function

who delivers, and how.

After the project, we stay on as a trusted advisor through implementation.

The team then moves to execution on its own: detailing the initiatives, running the economics, and approving the final plan.

09 · Requirements

What we'll need from your side

We build the strategy together with you, so from your team we need:

01

Time from the principals: shareholders and the CEO are always involved; then business-line heads and selected key people.

02

The principals' readiness to make decisions after the discussions and assign owners with deadlines.

03

Access to data: financials, sales, KPIs, org structure, market analytics.

04

Access to partners, customers, and competitors — for interviews and surveys.

05

Your team's industry expertise.

06

Business-line heads working through their parts of the strategy.

We work under an NDA — it is built into the contract.

10 · Who it's for

Who It's For

Everyone in the project gets something specific.

Owners and shareholders

Get the strategy out of your own head: build a shared vision with the team, test it against the economics, and lock in accountability.

The board of directors

A strategic and investment agenda ready for discussion.

The CEO

A manageable portfolio of initiatives and KPIs instead of a declaration.

The top team

Shared priorities and clear accountability across functions.

Ready to discuss your task?

Schedule an intro call

11 · FAQ

Questions and answers

How do you build a strategy under high uncertainty — recession, sanctions, demand swings?
Through scenarios rather than a single forecast. Together with the team we work through growth options and alternative market futures, assemble the initiative portfolio against the target scenarios, and prioritize the initiatives that create value in any of them. For the rest, we define switching triggers: which events move the company to plan B. The result is a strategy that doesn't need rewriting at the first change in conditions, plus clear rules for when and what to change.
Do you run only the session, or the full strategy development?
Both. You can commission a standalone strategy session. Or add development — we'll assemble a strategy draft: priorities, initiatives, KPIs, and an implementation plan.
Can we order just session moderation — without preparation and analysis?
You can, but we don't recommend it: without interviews and data, the session runs on opinions in the moment, and the outcome is usually weaker — agreements instead of decisions. If time or budget is tight, we'll run the session in a compact format, but we consider minimal preparation — interviews with the principals, an agenda, and a decision structure — non-negotiable. Strategy comes from the chain of preparation → session → follow-through.
How long does a project take?
From 1 to 4 months, depending on scope — faster than a typical consulting project. Exact timing is fixed in each project's schedule.
Can we see examples of your work?
Yes. Client names and project content are covered by confidentiality agreements, so they are not on the site. After the intro call we can share anonymized examples.
Do you work only with large companies?
Our profile is owners of mid-size and large businesses with a management team and several business lines. Size isn't the main thing: what matters is management maturity and a real task.
Do you use AI in your work?
Yes, on every project — the most advanced models from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Perplexity, plus specialized tools for analysis, data processing, and materials preparation. Decisions are made by the project team, and we take responsibility for quality. Our working materials are not used to train models; client data confidentiality is additionally secured by the NDA.
Which countries do you work in?
Russia, the CIS, Europe, and MENA — with no geographic restrictions. We work in Russian and English.

12 · First step

How to start

01

Reach out

Submit the form on the site or message our assistant on Telegram.

02

Intro call

We discuss your situation, the brief, and the timeline.

03

A tailored proposal

Format, stages, deliverables, team, and fee.

04

Kick-off

Once agreed, we sign the contract, mobilize the team, and start preparation.

Schedule an intro call

On the first call we'll define the task, the format, and the expected outcome. The intro call is held by Alexander Idrisov personally, 30–40 minutes.