Although the world has changed considerably since then, this principle still holds, and CVA continues to provide advice to CEOs, boards and senior executives across the globe to help resolve some of the most critical and complex issues facing businesses today in the areas of strategy, revenue growth and productivity. To do so, the firm has what it believes is a distinctive approach based on first recasting these challenges through a customer lens, using a set of continually updated methodologies and frameworks to structure delivery of practical solutions for clients. For example, through the customer lens, developing strategy means understanding in what markets a business can create more value than its competitors; growing revenue means understanding how to create new value for customers; and improving productivity means working out how to do more with less without destroying customer value.

As a boutique firm, CVA provides highly bespoke advice and solutions rather than off-the-shelf process consulting, and aims to develop long term relationships with its clients. These clients include large corporates – often household names – at a national, regional and global level, as well as government agencies and private equity firms. Although a boutique, CVA works in a number of industry verticals including: financial services, energy & utilities, automotive & transportation, 3M (mining, metals and materials), new healthcare models, and agri-foods, as well as crossover areas such as new mobility, auto finance and digital innovation. The firm is loosely organized around these industry areas, however this remains fluid for juniors and true specialism does not occur until a more senior level is reached.

While CVA’s consultants tend to have strong academic backgrounds and hail from world class universities, their backgrounds are otherwise quite diverse, with degrees ranging from engineering, finance and physics through to history, languages, and law.