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Kingston and Portmore · The first conversation is free and usually tells you whether we can help+1 876 926 4180
Theory

Operations and strategy, Kingston

We are the people you call when the numbers stop making sense

Theory works with Jamaican companies between forty and four hundred staff on the unglamorous parts: costing, capacity, succession, and what to stop doing. Six weeks, a written answer, and no retainer.

Start a conversation What we do

Three people at a window above a city at dusk

Closed, opens Friday at 08:30

+1 876 926 4180

How we are different

Six weeks, a written answer, and then we leave

We do not sell retainers, and we will not staff your project with people who graduated last year.

Every engagement ends with a document your board can read in an hour and your managers can act on the same week. If the honest answer is that you do not need us, that is what the first conversation is for, and it costs nothing. Roughly one in four of them ends there.

How we work

How an engagement runs

  1. 1

    The free conversation

    Ninety minutes with whoever owns the problem. We say whether this is work we can do and what it would cost. No document, no invoice.

  2. 2

    Two weeks of reading

    Your accounts, your rosters, your systems, and interviews with about a dozen of your people. We come to you; nothing is done from a desk in another building.

  3. 3

    The working session

    A full day with your leadership on the findings, before anything is written down as a recommendation. Most of the disagreement happens here, which is where it belongs.

  4. 4

    The document

    Twenty to thirty pages. Findings, options with costs, and a sequence. Yours to keep, use, ignore or give to somebody else to deliver.

What we do

See everything
EngagementWhat it coversPrice
Costing review What each thing you sell actually costs to deliver, once overhead and rework are counted properly. Usually the... USD 9500.00
Capacity and throughput Where the queue forms, what it costs you in a year, and the three cheapest places to widen... USD 12000.00
Succession and second line Who runs this if the founder is unavailable for six months. An honest map of your second line... USD 11000.00
Pricing and margin Which customers are subsidising which, and what a defensible price list looks like for each segment. USD 9500.00
Systems and spend review What you are paying for software and who is actually using it. Frequently pays for the engagement inside... USD 8000.00
Board pack rebuild Two weeks. The dozen numbers your board should see monthly, and a pack that fits on four pages. USD 4500.00

Who does the work

Andrea Barrett Founding partner Ran operations for a regional distributor for nine years before this. Leads costing and pricing work.
Devon Wright Partner, operations Plant manager, then group operations director in manufacturing. Leads capacity and throughput engagements.
Nadine Ellis Partner, people and succession Twelve years in HR leadership across two family-owned groups. Leads succession work and the interviews on every engagement.
6 photographs

What clients say afterwards

4.75 out of 5 · 8 reviews
Found two product lines we had been selling below cost for four years.
Twenty-eight pages and our managers were acting on it the following week.
Told us in the first meeting that half of what we asked for was a hiring problem. They were right.
The working session was uncomfortable, which I now think was the point.
Fixed fee, and the fee did not move once.
They declined a second engagement because they did not think we needed it.
Six weeks is fast. Be ready to give them time in those two weeks of reading.
The board pack rebuild alone was worth what we paid for the whole thing.

Read all the reviews

Fair questions

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  1. Why is the first conversation free?

    Because we decline about one in four of them, and it would be dishonest to charge for the meeting where we work out whether you should be spending money with us at all. Ninety minutes, whoever owns the problem, at your office or ours.
  2. Do you take a percentage of savings?

    No. Contingent fees make us argue for the change that is easiest to measure rather than the change that matters most. Every engagement is a fixed fee agreed before we start.
  3. Who actually does the work?

    A partner and one other person, both of whom you meet before you sign anything. We do not staff engagements with juniors and we do not subcontract.
  4. What happens if you find something embarrassing?

    It goes in the document. We will tell you first and privately, and we will help you work out how to present it, but we will not leave it out.
  5. Can you deliver the recommendations too?

    Sometimes, and only when it is a short piece of work with a defined end. If it needs a pair of hands inside your business for a year, that is a hire and we will say so.
  6. How much does an engagement cost?

    Between four and twelve thousand US dollars depending on scope, and the number is fixed before we start. The prices on the engagements page are real, not indicative.
  7. Do you work outside Jamaica?

    We have done engagements in Trinidad and Barbados. Anything further and the travel cost stops making sense for you.

The first conversation is free

Ninety minutes, and about one in four ends with us saying no

Bring whoever owns the problem. We will tell you what we think it is, what it would cost to answer properly, and whether you should spend the money at all.

Start a conversation

Start a conversation

Tell us roughly what is going on. We answer within a working day and the first ninety minutes cost nothing.

Saturday
Closed
Monday to Thursday
08:30 to 17:30
Friday
08:30 to 15:00
Sunday
Closed
956 Portsea Place, Port smokuth
Portmore, St. Catherine

+1 876 926 4180

What is going on, and what would be different if it were solved?

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