Expanding the footprint

Chris Outram founded OC&C in London in 1987. After several years at other consulting firms, including BCG and Booz Allen Hamilton, Outram and a colleague had tired of the fact that their employers devoted so much time to operational issues while neglecting strategic analysis. So they decided it would be "more fun and more challenging" to start their own firm.

While founded in Europe, with its early offices in the UK, Germany and France, OC&C has successfully expanded its footprint in core strategic markets to enable it to serve the largest clients on a global basis. In addition to maintaining its presence in these markets and the Netherlands, it has also leveraged its leading European market position in its core sectors to the US, Asia, and beyond—trading from offices in New York, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Most recently, OC&C has formed associate partnerships with leading South American consultancy, Advisia, in Brazil whilst also incorporating offices in Italy, Poland and Australia. International growth remains firmly on OC&C's strategic agenda, driving depth and breadth in all markets.

Specialized generalists

One business area in which OC&C takes particular pride is its expertise in consumer goods. Within this area, it tries to provide solutions in three key sections: growth stakes, profitability issues and category management. In connection with consumer goods, retail has also long been an OC&C focus. The firm claims to have been one of the original advocates for the importance of emerging value offers, private label goods and battling category killers. In addition, OC&C has more recently implemented multichannel and internalization strategies.

The firm has made a significant effort to advise media outlets since its founding. Some of the media-related services it offers are strategy reviews, transformational performance improvement, profitable use of the digital arena, and go-to-market strategies for new services and products. Several major media outlets have looked to the firm for analysis of their own industry, concerning subjects ranging from the future of TV news to the decline of magazine readership in the face of internet competition.

Next to its work for corporate clients, OC&C has special expertise in supporting the world's leading private equity firms in such areas as potential investment scoping, vendor and buyer due diligence, and post-acquisition strategy and/or integration.

Strategizing a better world

OC&C enjoys highlighting its charitable efforts, and has a section dedicated to pro bono work on its website. The majority of the firm's philanthropic work is in helping charities "achieve a step-change in performance." The firm does work with NSPCC, “the UK’s children charity,” which helps to prevent abuse and provide recovery efforts to those affected.

In the last 12 months the firm has worked with City Gateway (focused on transforming the lives of disadvantaged youths and women through educational opportunities) and TwentyTwenty (who engage with youths through life skill training to re-engage them back into education or assist them in finding sustainable employment). Previously, the firm led the merger of Impetus with the Private Equity Foundation to create a larger and more powerful force in the venture philanthropy arena. Several charity initiatives are supported pro-bono in each OC&C geographic region every year.