Introduction
The Eden Project is a United Kingdom based charity with the purpose of reconnecting humankind with the natural world and with itself through the power of transformation. Their famous biomes in Cornwall house the largest rainforest in captivity, and they are developing educational (including schools and universities), social and conservation projects both on site at Eden, and increasingly more globally.
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Scope
Oliver Wyman was engaged to help Eden Project articulate the objectives of its international expansion plan, and understand the operational requirements behind it. In collaboration with Lippincott, a set of principles was derived to capture Eden Project’s ethos. In parallel, we helped the Eden Project develop an investment portfolio management approach to create a way of vetting, approving and managing the expanding portfolio of international projects. This was used to work with the board to drive their investment approach and create a view of the resources, processes and governance required to drive the international business.
Working closely with the senior management and board of the business we helped to not only develop an approach/toolkit to support the international expansion of the business, but also worked in partnership with the senior Eden Project team to help them better understand the implications of expansion on the brand/ethos and develop the right business model to drive effective deliveryKeric Morris
Impact
Oliver Wyman presented its recommendations to the Eden Project Board, and the approach has now been further developed and adopted for driving forward the international business.
In particular, Oliver Wyman supported the Eden Project to:
• Recognize the importance of adopting a “portfolio-view”.
• Realize the importance of having a more structured approach and a clearer process when considering new opportunities (from project selection to project execution).
• Assess more accurately the amount of capabilities and resources needed to deliver their international expansion plans (financial and team).
• Understand better the potential risks involved and the potential repercussions on their core site in Cornwall.