Having recently celebrated 20 years in business, DHA prides itself on an exceptionally high level of repeat business, as a consequence of continually exceeding expectations. David has extensive experience of working with senior management teams to help them to define and achieve their goals and has worked in countries as diverse as India, the USA, Australia and Indonesia, to name but a few. He has also worked with a variety of industry sectors, including engineering, energy (including renewables), textiles and life sciences. In addition, DHA is widely networked and can bring in the skills of specialists to address your specific problem.

As examples of some of our work, consider the following:

1) Textiles manufacturer: arranged a strategy workshop for the senior management team, to help them to develop their forward strategy. The management agreed an action plan, which has since seen 50% growth in sales and increased profitability.

2) Industry representative body: this organisation is owned by major oil companies from around the world and is tasked with identifying and funding the development of new technologies for the upstream oil & gas business. The firm was struggling to recruit technical staff, so David was drafted in to provide a temporary resource until new technology analysts were employed. As a consequence of this, David was asked to work with the members to help identify their key technology needs – and so define the forward strategy of the organisation. This was judged to be so successful that it has been repeated on three occasions to date.

3) Oil & gas equipment rental company: a subsidiary of a large Australian conglomerate, this firm rents large compressors and steam generators to Tier 1 oil & gas contractors. The firm had embarked on an asset refurbishment programme, but the project was in trouble, with no plan, no budget and no direction. David was asked to assist: within a month the project plan was in place, a risk analysis had been carried out and a project schedule was in place, ready to inform the sales department when the new assets would be available for hire. He also made an assessment of the project budget – which turned out to be within 5% of the final £3.8M total. He was then asked to manage a second phase of refurbishment worth £1.7M and to take over a new capex programme worth £8M.

4) Economic Development: Over the past 8 years, David has provided extra resource on a number of occasions to a major economic development agency, to enable them to deliver services to clients in the face of staff shortages. These contracts have broadly been split into international trade advice and account management. The international trade advice has been linked into Scottish and UK Government programmes, supported by David’s personal experience of working in overseas markets. The account management aspects have involved working with the senior management teams of companies, to assist them to identify and overcome barriers to growth.

5) Microbiology start-up: An experienced management team had identified a gap in the market for microbiological analysis for food companies. They had spoken to an investor and were looking to establish a new company in the Borders. David was taken on to assist with the start up. This began with sprucing up their business plan to make it more investor-friendly, liaising with Scottish Enterprise Borders to identify potential properties – and choose the most appropriate. He then helped them to put together applications for all relevant grant funding, including a substantial – and ultimately successful – application to Regional Selective Assistance. The company is now thriving and employing 29 people in an area of high unemployment.

We hope that you have enjoyed reading these examples of our work and look forward to discussing your own requirements. You can be assured that we will provide you with a frank assessment of whether we can help you and, if we do, a highly successful outcome!