Avascent and Archery Strategy Consulting forge global partnership

Avascent, an international consulting firm for the aerospace and defence sectors, has forged a global partnership with Archery Strategy Consulting, a French management consulting firm.

Founded in 2007, and headquartered in Washington, DC, Avascent is a strategy and management consulting firm with approximately 130 consultants serving clients in government-driven sectors. Through the partnership with Archery Strategy Consulting, a smaller consultancy with a relatively similar client and proposition profile based in Paris (around 35 consultants), the firm will be able to better serve its clients across the entire project lifecycle, said Steve Irwin, Avascent’s President.

The two consulting firms, which have a complementary track record in sectors such as aerospace, defence, transportation, logistics, oil & gas, nuclear and private equity, will focus their joint work on a number of key challenges. These include corporate strategy (‘designing and rolling-out winning strategies”), international collaboration (“how to adopt a collaborative approach to reinvent business models”, pricing (“how to set the right price, while finding the right mix between commercial and design-to-cost levers”) and project management (“how ensuring successful delivery of complex international initiatives”).

"Our partnership with Archery Strategy Consulting enables us to better serve clients by infusing our work with fresh perspectives and insight from one of Europe's leading management consulting firms,” added Irwin.

By bundling their expertise and capabilities, Avascent and Archery Strategy Consulting also expect to reap the benefits from a larger footprint, enabling them to better compete against the larger strategy consulting firms. In the US, Avascent faces tough competition from the likes of McKinsey, BCG, Bain and Booz Allen Hamilton, who all have strong practices in government-related industries, while in France, Archery Strategy Consulting operates in a highly competitive market, having to stave off French wings of international players as well as local players such as Kea & Partners, Vertone, Estin & Co and Ares & Co and Emerton. Together, the two firms can tap into a pool of over 150 professionals working from offices in Washington, DC, Paris, London, and Ottawa.

More scale will allow the firms to provide for a more end-to-end service offering, commented Stéphane Albernhe, President of Archery Strategy Consulting. “Through our partnership with Avascent, we can accompany our clients all along a project's life cycle, from growth strategy to profitable delivery, including business capture, project management and complex operations.”

He added that in today’s rapidly changing world, CEOs are recognising that strengthening the links between well-conceived, fact-based strategies and effective execution is more important than ever. “In a world where clients' expectations, competitive landscapes and technology disruptions are evolving incredibly fast, leadership must pay ever greater attention to accurate strategic positioning, well designed business models and effective execution of critical operations.”