SERVICES

CONSULTING Major Investment Management Firm Years after embarking on a strategy of aggressive growth, a major investment management firm found itself wrestling with a series of overlapping challenges: geographical expansion; a proliferation of new products designed to meet the needs of specific market segments; a large influx of new employees, most with limited awareness of the organization's past and its enduring values; structural changes in organization and management reflecting the firm's enlarging scale and scope and the increasing specialization of management responsibilities; and a generational shift in leadership. To help the firm meet these challenges, Winthrop produced a "master narrative,"™ a compact account that put its present challenges in the context of more than 25 years of growth and adaptation. Our analysis demonstrated how the firm had consistently managed to innovate and tread new paths while remaining true to its founder's values. The master narrative itself found several applications: as a discussion document for intergenerational learning and dialogue; as a roadmap to the alignment of strategy and structure with culture; and as a resource of stories and insights to reinforce the firm's distinctive brand in a crowded field of money management firms.