Management Consulting

     C. J. Harris and Company, LLC's management consultants assist clients in strategic planning, management systems, market analysis, organizational development, and retail management. We offer this range of services by virtue of our staff expertise in a variety of disciplines and topics. We approach these consulting efforts from a generalist perspective, practicing certain management fundamentals basic to all business and covering a range of functional areas.

     Our consultants benefit our clients in numerous ways:

  • provide unbiased judgments and independence
  • present new ideas and a fresh approach
  • possess the ability to diagnose problems and evaluate solutions
  • perform tasks with technical skills infrequently needed
  • supplement present skills and staff management
  • implement systems and train employees

     Our role is as a facilitator and a resource base. As a facilitator, we work closely with ownership and management in determining and addressing the key strategic issues, guiding the consulting process and drawing from the knowledge and resources of the company and its people. We are a resource base both through our research capabilities and our experience in other situations. With the consultant serving in these capacities, the client is assured of a final product that truly reflects his own philosophy, and not that of an un-knowledgeable outsider.


The Planning Process

     The planning process is a frequently used vehicle for our consulting efforts. To this process we bring the experience, knowledge, and unbiased, third-party view of the business that produces effective planning.

     The planning process begins with a situation analysis, determining the current position and condition of the company. From there, it delves into a comprehensive and integrative planning process, interrelating the various functional areas and accounting for their impact on the bottom line. The end goal is a balanced, consistent plan that evolves and grows with the company and anticipates change, instead of reacting to it.

     Central to C. J. Harris and Company's philosophy and a vital part of any planning assignment is a market orientation. This strategic orientation focuses the company's resources towards satisfying market needs, thereby rooting the plans of the company in the marketplace and making them more responsive and sensitive to the market.

     The value of planning is great, accruing not so much from the end product, but more from the planning process itself, leading to the following benefits:

  • Precipitates the consideration of strategic issues, thereby establishing direction for the company.

  • Forces long-range perspective (three to five years).

  • Provides a communication, control, and coordination tool, used as a source document for budgets, operating plans, policies and procedures, tactical plans, etc.

  • Tests the business concept before committing physical and financial resources: highlighting strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

  • Determines capital needs, thereby providing document for capital funding requests.