Matt Baird

We recently hosted a virtual roundtable with 14 senior executives on 18th July, exploring what it takes to deliver a successful transformation. Simon Henderson, Mohit Wadan, and Fritz Jaeger from Bain's Performance Improvement and Accelerated Transformation team led an insightful session, discussing six key features for success. They highlighted the importance of focusing on productivity, covering both growth and cost, to stay competitive in all seasons. Balancing "change the business" and "run the business" activities was also emphasized for sustained efficiency. https://bit.ly/3WwDORG

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Buy-and-build continues to be one of private equity’s most popular strategies, but a sustained period of higher interest rates is making it a lot harder to drive returns. In our webinar recording, Bain expert Alexander De Mol explores this topic in detail.

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Buy-and-build continues to be one of private equity’s most popular strategies, but a sustained period of higher interest rates is making it a lot harder to drive returns. In our webinar recording, Bain expert Alexander De Mol explores this topic in detail.

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Discover insights from Emilio Domingo, Head of Private Equity in the UK, as he discusses the outlook for private equity in 2024 in our latest webinar recording: Global Private Equity Report: UK and Europe deep dive.

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Super quick read but insightful information. Well worth a read

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🤔 Are you in the pensions industry? I have a sneaking suspicion a few of my connections might be... 👇 Please help the brilliant Shaily Sodha and the great people at NextGen - Pensions by filling out this research survey. #Diversity #Inclusion #Pensions

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Financial Times recently published an article titled "Automation is coming for private equity’s junior roles." It got me thinking again about the skewed narratives that can be created around automation. The truth is that where implemented incorrectly, automation creates both a perceived and actual threat to jobs, but there is another way. Throughout my career I've always been an advocate for leveraging these powerful tools to build our people rather than replace them. At BluShift, we’ve seen how automation can transform businesses by streamlining operations and freeing up valuable time for teams to focus on strategic tasks. Instead of viewing automation as something that takes away, we should see it as an enabler—empowering companies to innovate, adapt, and grow in ways that were previously unimaginable. Automation isn’t just about replacing manual tasks; it’s about enhancing what we do, allowing us to operate at a higher level and with greater efficiency. As we move forward in this digital age, it’s clear that those who embrace automation will be the ones to lead, innovate, and thrive.

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𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗞’𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 - 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘒 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵’𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦. 𝗔 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 Back in June this year, just before the general election, a succinct article in FDI Intelligence set out some of the challenges awaiting the incoming government. Following years of uncertainty and economic shocks, the UK was underperforming in investment attraction, including job-creating greenfield FDI. The broader picture was one of low GDP growth, productivity growth and business confidence. 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 The new government has made it absolutely clear that it intends to turn the situation around. On October 14th, at the International Investment Summit, plans to create a ‘pro-business environment’ were presented to an invited audience of global business leaders. On October 17th, the government published its green paper (for consultation) - Invest 2035: the UK's modern industrial strategy, focused on tackling barriers to investment and leveraging the UK’s areas of strategic advantage. 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 ‘𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁’ After years of uncertainty and challenging conditions, the approaches set out in Invest 2035 are likely to be welcomed by organisations and professionals working to attract investment. Reassuring themes include... 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆'𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗴. #InwardInvestment #FDI #IndustrialStrategy #StrategicMarketing #LeadGeneration #EconomicDevelopment #PlaceMarketing

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The cost of capital is high. Underperforming businesses need to brace for rapid shifts ahead. In a new feature for Turnaround Management Association's 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘭, Holly Etlin and Randall Eisenberg share what they see leading companies doing differently.  

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Great to see our most recent 'Derisking Risk' piece is making waves in the press this week. Notable publications like The Telegraph, City AM, Yahoo, and CFO Dive have all picked up on the magnitude of the 'debt headache' ahead as just a quarter of execs have experience of a higher interest rate environment! This is an unprecedented shift in debt refinancing costs, presenting unique challenges compared to past crises. It's crucial for businesses to reevaluate their financial strategies and explore more consultative borrowing relationships to navigate this new landscape effectively. Read more about the implications here: https://lnkd.in/eDGS_DNQ #Finance #DebtRefinancing #InterestRates #Economy #BusinessStrategy #CFOInsights #FinancialChallenges

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Investment from Private Equity and Venture Capital in the UK Plummets Since 2021 Private equity and venture capital investment into UK businesses have experienced a significant decline, with a drop of over 30 per cent to £20.1bn in 2023,

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Our recent Board Monitor UK report revealed that a fifth of business leaders lack confidence in their executive teams' ability to deliver results and the traditional divide between non-executive board directors and senior management seems to be weakening. Read more in The Times article below to find out if this shift, driven by rising pressures and complex challenges like AI and cybersecurity, is leading to increased operational involvement from boards, resulting in heightened tensions within the boardroom. With comments from Alice Breeden and Kit Bingham. https://bit.ly/4dGitLh (subscription needed) #Leadership #Boards #BoardMonitor #UK #Boardroom

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