Strategy & Turnaround
Stalled, stuck or reshaping?
We work it through at board level
A Copernicus principal works directly with your board and senior team to diagnose what is holding the business back, build a coherent strategy, and turn it into an implementation plan with real milestones. Where useful, non-executive-style support continues for 3–12 months after delivery.
Who This Is For
Three situations this engagement Is built for
Strategy & Turnaround is a senior advisory engagement. It is not a deck-production exercise, and it is not an analyst-army consultancy. A Copernicus principal works directly with your board and senior team on one of three situations:
Companies that have stagnated
Flat profits for two years or more. Strategy has drifted. The senior team no longer agrees on where growth comes from. A board-level reset is overdue.
Turnaround situations
Companies reshaping for international growth
5
Continents covered through a dedicated local network
1000+
Discrete engagements completed for global clients
72
International markets reached via in-country partners
The Two-Phase Engagement
How the Engagement Is Structured
Two phases, the second optional. Phase 1 is a bounded, fixed-fee Strategy Development Engagement: situation review, board and senior-team workshops, a written strategy, and an implementation plan with milestones, typically over 8–14 weeks.
Phase 2 is an optional non-executive-style retainer, typically 1–3 days per month on a fixed 3–12 month term, supporting execution, keeping the plan honest and providing external challenge at board level. The same Copernicus principal leads both phases: no handover to associates, no rotating cast.
- Phase 1: Strategy Development Engagement
- Phase 2: Optional Ongoing Support (non-executive-style)
- Scoping call: The Copernicus principal meets the owner, chair or CEO to understand the situation, confirm the right level of engagement, and agree scope and fee before work starts.
- What it is: A fixed-term retainer of typically 1–3 days per month, over 3–12 months, led by the same principal who ran Phase 1. Explicitly optional; roughly half of Phase 1 engagements continue into it.
- Situation review: A structured diagnosis of financials, market position, operations, team, customers and competition. Typically 3–4 weeks, run directly by the principal using your data and targeted interviews.
- What it looks like in practice: Management meetings, progress reviews, challenge to the senior team, and a sounding board for the owner or CEO. The principal steps in as situations arise: a hire, a renegotiation, a pivot.
- Strategy & implementation plan: A written strategy with a sequenced plan: milestones, owners, dependencies, a first-90-days action list and KPIs. Built to be used, not parked on a shelf.
- Why clients choose it: Execution is where most plans fail. The retainer keeps the plan on track and the senior team honest against it. The cheapest challenge a mid-market board can buy.
- Handover session: A final board session to commit to the plan, assign ownership of each workstream and set the governance rhythm for execution. Phase 1 is then formally complete.
- How it's structured: Contracts of 3, 6, 9 or 12 months with 3-month break clauses. Days per month are fixed and do not roll over. Extensions in 3-month increments by agreement.
Indicative Fees
What the engagement typically costs
(1)
Phase 1: Strategy Development Engagement (fixed fee)
| Company size | Indicative fixed fee | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Small: <£5m revenue, <50 staff | £25k — £45k | 8–10 weeks |
| Mid-market: £5m — £50m revenue | £45k — £90k | 10–12 weeks |
| Larger mid-market: £50m — £250m revenue | £90k — £175k | 12–14 weeks |
(2)
Phase 2: Ongoing Support (optional monthly retainer)
| Company size | Indicative fixed fee | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Small: <£5m revenue, <50 staff | £3,500 – £6,000 | 1 – 2 days |
| Mid-market: £5m — £50m revenue | £6,000 – £12,000 | 1 – 3 days |
| Larger mid-market: £50m — £250m revenue | £10,000 – £20,000 | 2 – 3 days |
* Contract length: 3, 6, 9 or 12 months. Break clauses at 3-month intervals.
** These are indicative ranges. A scoping call will give you a firm fee for your situation. We do not quote fees without understanding the brief.
Who Delivers
Each engagement is led by a Copernicus principal
Direct principal leadership
(01)
Every engagement is led personally by a Copernicus principal. A single principal owns the engagement end-to-end, not a rotating cast of associates.
Seniority Profile
(02)
Typically 25+ years of commercial leadership experience in mid-market businesses. Experience spans executive and non-executive board roles, P&L leadership, buy-and-build programmes, international expansion, and turnaround situations.
Board-level credibility
(03)
Principals are used to sitting across a board table with owners, chairs, CEOs, CFOs and non-execs. The conversations are peer-level, not consultant-to-client.
Continuity into Phase 2
(04)
If the engagement continues into Phase 2 ongoing support, the same principal stays on. Nothing is handed down or handed off.
How we work
From Scoping Call to Optional Ongoing Support
STEP 1/6
Scoping call
Situation review
Board workshops
Strategy & plan
Handover
Optional ongoing support
8–14 weeks (Phase 1)
Strategy agreed, with a plan to deliver it.
Working with us
Typical engagement shapes
Strategy development
Turnaround diagnostic
Ongoing advisory
Strategy development
A Copernicus principal working with the board: diagnosis, workshops, and a written strategy with an implementation plan. Fixed fee.
Turnaround diagnostic
A focused review of a loss-making or cash-constrained business, setting out what has to change and in what order.
Ongoing advisory
Non-executive-style support once the strategy is set, typically one to three days a month from the same principal.
Related services
Where buyers go next
Answers to Common Questions
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