MTI’s case study of US’s Limoneira set for London launch

Publishers Routledge, part of the Taylor and Francis Group, will be launching a book titled ‘Management Consultancy Insights and Real Consultancy Projects’. 

The book is to be launched in London on 10 August 2017 and will contain two case studies of the strategy-critical project carried out by MTI Consulting for Limoneira, which is listed on the Nasdaq and is the US’s largest lemon producer.

The two case studies are titled ‘The Role of Client Knowledge in Consulting Projects: Explorative, Exploitative and Ambidextrous Approaches’ by Jason Cordier, Alejandra Marin and Hilmy Cader and ‘Making Lemonade from Lemons: The Role of Client-Consultant Knowledge as the Limoneira Company Goes Global’ by Jason Cordier and Tahir Hameed.

Commenting on the success of this project, the President of California-based Limoneira Harold Edwards said: “From our inception in 1893, we have been part of Sunkist’s global distribution system that gave us access to global markets. However, we were essentially the supply chain, while Sunkist focused on the demand chain. Naturally, we had to share the rewards from the value chain proceeds. In 2008, we wanted to explore the prospects of the direct go-to-market model internationally and that we realised is a high-risk, high-reward decision. Having previously worked with MTI (and their CEO Hilmy Cader) in the Philippines in my role at Ralston Purina, we reached out to them.”

This strategy consulting project with Limoneira, which was based on MTI’s 8S ®, involved a comprehensive scan of the global lemon market, based on which the strategising process took place. An international team of MTI’s strategy consultants and analysts were on the ground in Ventura County, California, working closely with the senior management of Limoneira, through consulting clinics and strategising workshops. The key focus areas of the plan centered around demand generation, brand equity development, customer conversion, channel transition management, new market development (especially from newly emerging regions) and then ensuring that Limoneira’s structure, staff and systems are all aligned with the strategy. The project culminated with a comprehensive presentation to the Limoneira Board, which was subject to intense scrutiny and challenging – given the extremely high-risk, risk-reward consequences of such a strategic decision.

“At the end of the MTI project we decided to go-to-market directly with our lemon business, utilising our vertically integrated supply chain and the Limoneira brand. Looking back we are extremely pleased with that decision which has paid off significantly as reflected in our business performance and financial results. MTI played a pivotal role in this exercise and did so while getting the buy-in and inclusiveness of our team,” said Limoneira President and CEO Harold S. Edwards.

MTI CEO Hilmy Cader, who personally led the MTI team on this project, said: “This was one of most intense international projects we’ve handled. The exposure our team got, including hands-on frontend market interface in many countries, has helped the team’s learning and sharpened our ability to handle such international projects.

Limoneira is a leading global producer of lemons, oranges and avocados. The company’s portfolio also includes residential and commercial real estate, water rights across 11,000 acres and now a dedicated sustainability company that is into solar farming.