Invest to Win
Placing the right bets in a shifting
competitive environment
Introduction
Most companies
painstakingly try to stay
ahead of market trends
and shifting consumer
expectations, but lacking
a coherent decision
framework, many fall into
a rut when investing in
support of these goals.
Many firms either repeatedly invest in the
same areas or gamble on new plays without
fully understanding the value at stake.
The goal is to understand what else
consumers might want to purchase, and ask
how the company could use these insights to
sell more offerings or provide a service that
enables it to increase its share of wallet.
This perspective focuses on how companies
should approach the ways they invest
operating or capital funds. Our research
focuses primarily on three company goals:
Industry borders continue to blur
• Achieving topline revenue growth
2. New customer-centered plays have led
to companies offering one-stop shopping
for current customers that goes beyond
their traditional offerings. The goal is to
understand what else consumers might want
to purchase, and to ask themselves if their
company could use these insights to sell more
offerings or provide a service that enables it
to increase its share of wallet.
• Improving profitability
• Strengthening market position
Forces are compelling companies
to change
Firms face a number of challenges that
complicate their efforts to choose the right
ways to invest capital or operating funds.
Among the biggest: traditional approaches
no longer meet stakeholder expectations;
blurring industry lines make the playing
field less transparent than before; evolving
customer demands keep raising the bar on
expected company performance; and the
arrival of disruptive new entrants is changing
competitive dynamics.
Traditional approaches lose
their power
The current unprecedented changes taking
place across industries have compromised
many traditional investment approaches
that worked adequately in the past.
Most companies cannot repeat historical
investment patterns and expect to receive
the same returns because their industries
no longer grow at their former pace.
Organizations grow today by expanding into
existing markets or creating new markets
or product segments that meet customer
needs. As a result, leaders need to challenge
themselves to identify what customers really
value and are willing to buy, and seek out
new ways to exploit current assets.
2
Companies seeking new growth opportunities
typically start by identifying how to deploy
their assets in new ways:
1. Technology plays have included the use
of advanced mobile devices, digital software
and sensors to monitor and maintain patient
health on a 24/7 basis. Other breakthroughs
involve the emergence of location-based apps
that are transforming everything from hailing
a cab to the shopping experience.
3. Extending brands and generating
customer bonding can work, if the
company’s assets and brands provide a
plausible rationale. Leaders need to
determine how they can improve the
customer experience and what product
add-ons to offer.
Consequently, firms are entering industries
and developing products and markets that
they had not previously considered. In this
environment, organizations that insist on
following historical investment patterns
face two challenges. First, they might
miss chances to capitalize on the creative
destruction that characterizes many of
today’s vibrant new markets, and second,
the behavior of their competitors is no
longer as predictable.
Consumer expectations continue
to evolve
Practiced users of Internet search engines
and social networks, today’s digitally savvy
consumers are highly informed. From a
company’s perspective, this sophistication
translates into higher expectations, which if
not met could damage an enterprise’s brand
and reputation. The threat comes from both
the loss to an individual customer and the
amplification of a disgruntled consumer’s
complaint through public platforms (e.g.,
social media). To keep up with consumers,
many businesses need to make significant
investments. Areas of concern could include
the expectations of new and innovative
products that offer good value, as well as a
positive, expedient customer experience with
purchased products and subsequent service.
People also want companies to engage them
digitally before and after a purchase, and to
have an online presence. This implies that
simply expanding a company’s brick-andmortar footprint will not generate the same
levels of retail growth that it once did.
Many customers also expect firms to exhibit
good corporate citizenship and have effective
sustainability strategies.
Disruptive new entrants make
an impact
Increasingly, new entrants are creating new
markets to satisfy unmet customer needs.
In the process, they are challenging
incumbent business models and investment
choices and in many cases, roiling established
markets. Examples abound, from Uber, which
digitally connects drivers that have cars for
hire with people looking for transportation,
to Gilt Groupe, an online fashion retailer,
and Pinkberry, a restaurant franchisee that
carved out a niche as a purveyor of upscale
frozen desserts. In their early stages, each of
these upstarts could have been a low-priced
opportunity for existing players to develop
a new market. Instead, they now represent
competitive threats.
3
Establishing an investment
decision logic
Companies need a
clear rationale for any
investment, which means
that before deciding
where to invest, they
need to clarify why they
are spending the money,
what they expect in
return, and over what
time frame.
One rule of thumb holds that any investment
that has an impact on purchasers or endusers must align with their needs and
desires, and willingness to pay. This is
critical to ensure that the investment will
generate sufficient revenues and return on
investment. In other words, companies must
invest in understanding their markets before
investments are made.
Making the decisions before
the decision
As a result, enterprises must make a
conscious decision as to what competitive
and growth levers they should pull and over
what time horizon. They need to understand
what it means to win: Are we after revenue,
return to shareholders, profit, market position,
or a global presence? They should also work
through what it would mean to win today
versus tomorrow, and where winning would
take them relative to their current positions.
Once determined, companies need to balance
these decisions against the time horizon it
will take to accomplish them. If they don’t,
they risk making initial investments that do
not translate into timely wins.
We believe businesses make investments
to achieve one of the three goals we noted
above: better topline revenue growth,
increased profitability or a strengthening of
their market position.
How to choose where to invest
When firms decide where to invest to win,
they have a range of choices. They can
develop new products, services and solutions,
investing to develop innovative offerings
that consumers seek. They could invest to
maintain or expand an already introduced
product’s position in the market, or focus
on sales and specific channels, spending to
improve their go-to-market capabilities.
4
Another choice involves outlays aimed
at strengthening a company’s marketing
performance and brand image. Boosting the
company’s pricing capabilities also makes
sense. Actions here could include investing
in capabilities to improve the organization’s
understanding of target customers, revising
the positioning and promotion of offerings,
and optimizing the company’s returns for
its offerings.
Another option concentrates on simplifying
and optimizing the company’s internal
capabilities in areas such as manufacturing,
supply chain management or at the corporate
center by introducing new processes
and technologies. Firms seeking overall
topline growth might employ mergers and
acquisitions as an accelerator for this goal.
Under this scenario, they would invest to
acquire the capabilities they need to win
that are currently absent or weak in the
company. These could include brands or sales
capabilities, for example. They could also
purchase additional resources to complement
or utilize existing assets. For instance, they
might acquire a new business line that can
utilize an existing sales channel or build on an
existing customer base.
Leaders need to make a number of strategic
tradeoffs across different areas when
determining where to invest. Figure 1
provides answers to the following question:
Where will investments likely generate the
most significant returns or accomplish the
three underlying goals of boosting revenues,
profits or the firm’s market position? For
instance, based on Accenture’s experience,
investing in sales or sales channels could
potentially increase revenues if the market is
a new one, and would help to build the firm’s
market position. However, it would likely have
little effect on profitability.
Figure 1. Investment impact on business goal
Ability to Increase Revenue
Ability to Increase Profit
Ability to Increase
Market Position
New Product
High—new product drives
purchases
Mixed—depends on required
investments
Low—new product in new
market
Product Evolution
High—drives purchases
Mixed—positive if it increases
price and/or quantity
High—holds/builds position
Sales/Channels
High if a new market or if
needed to establish market;
otherwise, Low
Low—adds cost
Mixed—can build access
Marketing/Brand
Mixed—depends on current
value of brand
Low—adds cost
Mixed—can build awareness
Operations/Efficiency
Low—cost play
High—lowers costs
Mixed—positive if it benefits
sales channel
M&A
Accelerator
Only if buying “profit”
Accelerator
Source: Accenture analysis 2014
5
Figure 2. Investment impact on addressable outcomes
Operational
Efficiency
Market Share
Customer Bonding
Potential to Grow
Addressable Market
New Product
Low
Low
Low
High
Product Evolution
Low
High
High
Low
Sales/Channels
Low
Mixed
Low
High
Marketing/Brand
Low
Mixed
High
Mixed
Operations/Efficiency
High
Mixed
Mixed
Low
M&A
Serves as an Accelerator to Address Each of These
Source: Accenture analysis 2014
Organizations can also take a step further
and answer another question: Considering
the current situation, what impact will each
investment choice have on four specific
outcomes—operational efficiency, market
share, customer bonding or the potential
to grow the addressable market? Figure 2
provides an overview and explanation of
the analysis.
Operational efficiency
Can the organization make its end-products
cheaper and more efficiently? Operational
efficiency reduces costs and drives profits.
Market share
How much of the market does the firm “own”
(in terms of either revenue or volume)? An
expanding market share increases quantity
and therefore revenue, all else equal.
6
Customer bonding
Customer bonding is the stickiness of the
relationship with the customer. In other
words, how likely are customers to buy
from the company again? Can it extend its
relationship with them? Increasing customer
bonding boosts purchases (quantity) and
willingness to pay more, leading to higher
revenue with lower customer acquisition
costs, and resulting in increased profitability.
Potential to grow the addressable market
How much “white space” (untapped markets)
is there; how much opportunity is there for
new products to serve unmet needs?
If an enterprise can expand the addressable
market, then a multiplier effect could exist.
That will give the organization the firstmover advantage in the market. Companies
can maintain this advantage over time if
they combine it with effective customer
bonding approaches.
Why have companies invested?
At the macro level, the
reasons why firms make
investments all tend
to sound the same: to
achieve topline growth,
to improve profitability,
and/or to ensure a
strengthened market
position. However,
individual companies
often face unique
challenges or have
singular opportunities.
What follow are realworld examples of
some of these more
granular choices.
Retail
Industrial
Technology
Health payer
Communications
Retail
Bonding with customers and
evolving products to drive revenue
Walmart has indicated it plans to take
advantage of its physical footprint and floor
space to increase its revenue per square foot
while expanding its ability to meet customer
needs. The company has also expanded
beyond the physical realm into the digital
world to learn more about its customers,
creating a feedback loop of information to
drive investment decisions.1 The retailer is
focusing on becoming more customer-driven,
tailoring its experience and products more
to its customers.2 To that end, it is collecting
additional information about its shoppers, in
effect creating a complementary feedback
loop to improve the customer experience and
hence increase the bond with the customer.3
The company now provides banking and
health services at its stores, expanding the
ways it can meet customer needs.
This expansion generates direct revenue from
Walmart’s partners, as well as additional
customer purchases due to increased traffic
and cross-selling opportunities.
1. W
almart 2014 Annual Report, http://cdn.corporate.walmart.com/66/e5/9ff9a87445949173fde56316ac5f/2014-annualreport.pdf
2. Walmart, News & Views, “Walmart CEO Outlines Company’s Future: Being Customer-Driven, Investing in its People, Leading
at the Forefront of Innovation and Technology”, June 6, 2014, https://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2014/06/06/
walmart-ceo-outlines-companys-future-being-customer-driven-investing-in-its-people-leading-at-the-forefront-ofinnovation-and-technology
3. F arhad Manjoo, FastCompany, “Walmart’s Evolution From Big Box Giant to E-Commerce Innovator”, November 26, 2012,
http://www.fastcompany.com/3002948/walmarts-evolution-big-box-giant-e-commerce-innovator
7
Technology
Walmart executives have indicated that the
company is investing to expand its retail
space and its e-commerce capabilities
simultaneously. This convergence, combined
with investments in data analytics and
customer insights, should provide the
enterprise with an edge over other retailers
that only operate in one arena. As one
company executive noted in 2014, “We are
integrating digital retail and physical retail
to create one seamless, customer-driven
Walmart experience…We are helping people
save money in new and convenient ways so
they can live a better life. And we’re doing it
by bringing together the best of e-commerce
and the best of retail.”4
Given this strategy, Walmart is focusing
investments on bolstering its e-commerce
capabilities. Today, the company states that
its organizational e-commerce capabilities
have never been better. The second part of
this convergence involves investments in
retail space. In fiscal year 2014, the firm
added 33 million square feet of floor space
and plans to add between 21 million and
23 million square feet more in fiscal 2015.5
Evolving products while
embracing risk
A number of companies are investing in
technology to drive new product development
and open innovative sales channels.
Google generates additional revenue streams
by introducing new products, launching new
sales channels and acquiring new assets.
This strategy enables it to boost sales in
existing markets and position itself to enter
new ones. The company has grown revenue
through tech-related investments, taking
advantage of its cash position, industry
research and trend predicting and setting
capabilities to invest in the next big thing.
The organization’s scattershot approach
spreads investments around, a strategy it
combines with an institutional willingness to
accept potential failure.
In February 2014, the firm established Google
Capital, a $300 million new venture engine
focused on “growth stage” companies.
The fund, staffed by a 15-member
investment team, concentrates on a
range of industries, from IT providers
to brick-and-mortar establishments.
The fund looks for growth-stage companies
– not startups – that have solid business
models. Google Capital Investments includes
a cloud-based e-learning organization, a
peer-to-peer loan-offering website, and a
cloud-based survey development firm.6
The company also created Google Ventures in
2009, which has invested in 250 startups to
date and has $1.5 billion under management.7
A number of these investments have been
integrated into Google X, the company’s
technology and investment arm. Google
X has used the investments to introduce
new products and improve existing ones.
Google’s actions suggest it has separated this
new product investment arm from the core
business to minimize risk, which is the reason
for the research arm’s somewhat secretive
nature. As one industry insider put it, “Google
X is the search giant’s factory for moonshots,
those million-to-one scientific bets that
require generous amounts of capital, massive
leaps of faith, and a willingness to break
things. Google X…is home to the self-driving
car initiative and…Google Glass, among other
improbable projects.”8
4. Walmart, News & Views, “Walmart CEO Outlines Company’s Future: Being Customer-Driven, Investing in its People, Leading at the Forefront of Innovation and Technology”, June 6, 2014,
https://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2014/06/06/walmart-ceo-outlines-companys-future-being-customer-driven-investing-in-its-people-leading-at-the-forefront-of-innovation-andtechnology
5. Walmart, News & Views, “Walmart CEO Outlines Company’s Future: Being Customer-Driven, Investing in its People, Leading at the Forefront of Innovation and Technology”, June 6, 2014,
https://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2014/06/06/walmart-ceo-outlines-companys-future-being-customer-driven-investing-in-its-people-leading-at-the-forefront-of-innovation-andtechnology) and Walmart 2014 Annual Report, http://cdn.corporate.walmart.com/66/e5/9ff9a87445949173fde56316ac5f/2014-annual-report.pdf
6. Richard Byrne Reilly, Venturebeat.com, “Google Capital: Meet the $300 million cousin to Google Ventures”, February 20, 2014, http://venturebeat.com/2014/02/20/google-capital-meet-the300-million-cousin-to-google-ventures/
7. Google Ventures, https://www.gv.com/portfolio/ and Lizette Chapman, The Wall Street Journal Venture Capital Dispatch “Google Presents Google Ventures With $1.5B for Investments
Through 2017”, November 9, 2011, http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2012/11/09/google-presents-google-ventures-with-1-5b-for-investments-through-2017/
8. Brad Stone, Bloomberg Business Week Technology, “Inside Google’s Secret Lab”, May 22, 2013, http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-22/inside-googles-secret-lab
8
Communications
Health payer
Creating new products and testing
new sales models
Investing in different channels,
products and services
T-Mobile USA, Inc. has shifted to a more
efficient pricing and sales model. The
operator’s aggressive marketing has created
a much stronger customer bond over the
past few years. For example, it offers only
flat-rate plans with no overages and pays the
termination fees new customers could accrue
when exiting contracts with other telcos as
they sign up with T-Mobile.9
UnitedHealth Group has invested to find
effective entry strategies in new channels
and to introduce new products and services
in response to major external events.
These events include the Affordable Care
Act’s requirement that supports outcomebased reimbursements, shifts in consumer
expectations, and the growth of public/
private exchanges.12
The most striking part of its new sales
model is that the operator has abandoned
the industry’s ubiquitous two-year contract
format in favor of allowing the customer to
finance the phone over a two-year period,
allowing for quicker upgrades.10
UnitedHealth Group’s insurance division,
UnitedHealthcare, has indicated it will
become an early adopter of outcome-based
reimbursement, which requires a new
business model with new channels. The payer
says that within five years it will more than
double the value of its contracts with doctors
and hospitals—to $50 billion annually—with a
focus on quality and cost efficiency.13
As a subsidiary of European heavyweight
Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile also became
one of the first US telcos to offer subscribers
international service at no additional charge.11
The company notes that across markets,
the industry as a whole is adapting product,
network and marketing strategies to
anticipate new distribution options. It also
expects distribution channels to expand,
including public exchanges, private exchanges
and off-exchange purchasing.14
9. J ohn McDuling, Quartz, “Here’s more evidence that T-Mobile’s crazy strategy might just be working”, April 4, 2014, http://qz.com/195641/heres-more-evidence-that-t-mobiles-crazystrategy-might-just-be-working/
10. Daniel Kline, The Motley Fool, “Subscriber Growth Shows T-Mobile CEO John Legere’s Strategy Is Working”, May 7, 2014, http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/05/07/subscribergrowth-shows-t-mobile-ceo-john-legeres.aspx
11. T-Mobile Company Overview, http://www.t-mobile.com/company/companyinfo.aspx?tp=Abt_Tab_CompanyOverview
12. UnitedHealth Group 2013 Annual Report, Letter to shareholders, p.3-8, http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/~/media/UHG/PDF/2013/UNH-2013-Annual-Report-Summary-Form-10-K.ashx
13. Bruce Japsen, Forbes, “UnitedHealthcare Makes $50 Billion Wager On Accountable Care As Obamacare Looms”, October 7, 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2013/07/10/
unitedhealthcare-makes-50-billion-wager-on-accountable-care-as-obamacare-looms/
14. UnitedHealth Group 2013 Annual Report, Letter to shareholders, p.3-8, http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/~/media/UHG/PDF/2013/UNH-2013-Annual-Report-Summary-Form-10-K.ashx
15. UnitedHealth Group 2013 Annual Report, p.8, http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/~/media/UHG/PDF/2013/UNH-2013-Annual-Report-Summary-Form-10-K.ashx
16. UnitedHealthcare, “UnitedHealthcare Collaborates with Konami and Zamzee on Innovative Health Programs that Help Reduce Childhood Obesity”, January 9, 2014, http://www.uhc.com/
news_room/2014_news_release_archive/unitedhealthcare_collaborates_with_konami_and_zamzee.htm
17. D
ave Chase, Forbes, “Hospital-based Strategic Venture Funds To Spark Innovation”, November 24, 2012, http://www.forbes.com/sites/davechase/2012/11/24/hospital-based-strategicventure-funds-to-spark-innovation
9
Industrial
The organization has built on its core
business of providing insurance to offer
high-value-added health services and
products through its Optum division.
Examples include wellness programs
and personal digital health devices. It is
investing to open up consumer health
markets, offering direct health texts and
direct-to-consumer digital services, and
is partnering with game makers such as
Konami.15 By adapting their gaming userinterface advances, the company reportedly
hopes to foster better health via computer
apps and mobile technologies.16
The organization is also experimenting
with venture capital incubators and
crowdsourcing innovations to create new
products in a defined ecosystem.17
Concentrate investments primarily
on new and evolving products
3M evolves its products by innovating across
the company’s 45 key technology platforms,
combining them to create new products or
improve existing ones.22 The organization
is highly adept at commercializing its
technologies for consumers, as illustrated
by more than 55,000 brands that often
focus on highly technical technologies.23 In
1988, 3M invented a best practice standard
metric, the New Product Vitality Index (NPVI),
to determine how successful its product
development efforts were, both individually
and by portfolio. In 2011, its NPVI was
32 percent, which means that roughly a
third of all of the firm’s products were less
than five years old.24 More recently, the
NPVI has climbed to more than 50 percent.25
Technologists at 3M can devote up to
15 percent of their time to ideas they
have discovered through the usual
course of work but lacked the time to
pursue.26 This policy aims to encourage
investment and to keep the company
focused on new product introductions.
The organization plans to escalate its
R&D spending to 6 percent of revenue by
2017, putting it far ahead of its peers.27
18. Steven Prokesch, Harvard Business Review, “How GE Teaches Teams to Lead Change”, 2008, http://www.ge.com/pdf/innovation/leadership/hbr_crotonville.pdf
19. Peter C. Evans and Marco Annunziata, “Industrial Internet: Pushing the Boundaries of Minds and Machines”, November 26, 2012, http://www.ge.com/docs/chapters/Industrial_Internet.pdf
20. Antonio Regalado, MIT technology Review.com. Business Report, the Internet of Things, “GE’s $1 Billion Software Bet”, May 20, 2014, http://www.technologyreview.com/news/527381/ges1-billion-software-bet/
21. Rachael King, The Wall Street Journal, CIO Journal, “GE Wants to Spawn Industrial Internet Startups”, June 24, 2014, http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2014/06/25/ge-wants-to-spawn-industrialinternet-startups/
22. Larry A. Wendling, 3M Corporate Research Laboratory, “Creating and Environment … for Innovation at 3M”, p.15, ©3M Company 2010, http://www.virginia.edu/vpr/industry/pfi/contents/
presentations/LarryWendling.pdf
23. Larry A. Wendling, 3M Corporate Research Laboratory, “Environment … for Innovation”, p.2, ©3M Company 2010, http://www.virginia.edu/vpr/industry/pfi/contents/presentations/
LarryWendling.pdf
24. 3M 2011 Annual Report, http://solutions.3m.com/3MContentRetrievalAPI/BlobServlet?lmd=1340133270000&locale=en_US&univid=1180611654372&fallback=true&assetType=MMM_
Image&blobAttribute=ImageFile&placeId=7BC6E48B1800BAE180A88E4927000076&version=current&WT.mc_id=www.3m.com/annualreport/corp
25. Rebecca Schatz, Innovation, etc, “3M Innovation: New Product Vitality Index”, October 26, 2012, http://rebecca-schatz-on-innovation.blogspot.com/2012/10/3m-innovation-new-productvitality-index.html
26. Kaomi Goetz, FastCompany Co.Design, “How 3M Gave Everyone Days Off and Created an Innovation Dynamo”, February 2011, http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663137/how-3m-gaveeveryone-days-off-and-created-an-innovation-dynamo
27. Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, CNBC, “3M CEO: Research Is ‘Driving This Company’”, June 10, 2013, http://www.cnbc.com/id/100801531#
10
Conclusion
There is no single best answer for all industries or
companies on where to invest to win. That’s because
winning is situational. However, a thoughtful way
does exist to make investment decisions, and it
involves consciously answering three questions
before investing:
• Why are we spending the money?
• What do we expect in return?
• In what time frame do we expect that return?
What is clear today is that investing to win is not as
straightforward as it once was. The market is fluid
and a company’s ability to control the market is much
lower than it once was. Leaders must make smart
investment tradeoffs to ensure that their companies
continue to win in an ever-changing market.
11
Authors
About Accenture
Accenture Strategy
Michael V. Peterson,
Managing Director,
Accenture Strategy, Chicago
[email protected]
Accenture is a global management
consulting, technology services and
outsourcing company, with more than
305,000 people serving clients in more
than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled
experience, comprehensive capabilities
across all industries and business functions,
and extensive research on the world’s most
successful companies, Accenture collaborates
with clients to help them become highperformance businesses and governments.
The company generated net revenues of
US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended
Aug. 31, 2014. Its home page is
www.accenture.com.
Accenture Strategy helps leading
organizations shape and drive their plans for
growth and innovation, competitiveness, new
operating models, talent and leadership, and
digital transformation. Accenture Strategy
integrates business, technology and function
strategies to improve agility and deliver
tangible outcomes.
Christopher R. Roark,
Managing Director,
Accenture Strategy, Chicago
[email protected]
Amrita Kimmi Grewal,
Senior Manager,
Accenture Strategy, Austin
[email protected]
James M. Scully,
Senior Manager,
Accenture Strategy, New York
[email protected]
The authors would like to thank Diego del
Rio Diaz Jara, a consultant in Accenture
Strategy based in San Francisco, Christina
Lui, a consultant in Accenture Strategy
based in New York, Mat Marolla, a manager
in Accenture Strategy based in New York,
Corey Newman, a consultant in Accenture
Strategy based in Washington, DC, for their
contributions to this article.
Disclaimer
This document is intended for general
informational purposes only and does not
take into account the reader’s specific
circumstances, and may not reflect the most
current developments. Accenture disclaims,
to the fullest extent permitted by applicable
law, any and all liability for the accuracy
and completeness of the information in this
document and for any acts or omissions made
based on such information. Accenture does
not provide legal, regulatory, audit, or tax
advice. Readers are responsible for obtaining
such advice from their own legal counsel or
other licensed professionals.
Visit our site to learn more about Accenture
Strategy: www.accenture.com/strategy or
join the conversation via:
@AccentureStrat
www.facebook.com/
accenturestrategy
www.linkedin.com/company/
accenture-strategy
Copyright © 2014 Accenture
All rights reserved.
Accenture, its logo, and
High Performance Delivered
are trademarks of Accenture.
14-4343