For a small firm, Spero Consulting provides a diverse set of services to businesses and organizations of any size. We do it with rigorous, clear thinking; high integrity; and the Golden Rule as our foundation.
We specialize in creative, practical, and rigorous solutions and implementations to difficult problems in and across the following main areas:
- Decision-making, Organizational Control & Strategy
- Information Systems, Web Site Design & Web-Based MIS
- Valuation, Risk Analysis & Modeling
- Talent Recruitment
Decisions, Organizational Control & Strategy
Organizational control is very broad. An organization is a group of individuals with a common purpose, and control is the process of finding and implementing the means to meet that common purpose or goal. Incentive problems exist when not everyone shares the common purpose.
Simply put, we help solve business problems across a wide range of functional areas. When those problems have no solution–and that does happen–we provide suggestions and procedures to mitigate the problem. Our process involves:
- Carefully identifying problems and determining their often-hidden, root causes;
- Determining the organization’s goal (and the associated decision criterion that supports that goal);
- Creatively identifying potential solution alternatives;
- Rigorously analyzing feasible alternatives, including estimating relevant costs and benefits–both known and uncertain.
- Thoughtfully determining the best solution and implementation.
- Energetically assisting with the implementation.
Successful implementation of solutions to large-scale problems often involves the design of effective information and cost systems and incentive and performance measurement systems. Policies and procedures and “mechanism” need to be integrated and supportive to get the result that you want.
Determining the best solution involves predicting how others–subordinates, competitors, peers, whomever–will respond to different incentives and information sets. So, besides the ability to think clearly, the most crucial–yet the most ignored–characteristic that you should seek in a consultant is empathy, i.e., the consultant needs to have the imagination to identify with yours (and everyone else’s) plight.
Valuation, Risk Analysis & Modeling
We can value, analyze, and model just about anything financial: market and credit risk issues, including counter-party credit risk; the design of risk measures and hedging strategies; the development of pricing and risk models; and development of routine or ad hoc , static or dynamic, and portfolio or enterprise-wide scenario analyses and stress tests.
We use our expert economic knowledge and mathematical technical skills to develop sophisticated, yet practical, models. However, we believe that the key to a successful engagement involves clear-thinking, common sense, and empathy. Thus, our motto “Thought before Calculation.” Just as importantly, we know and communicate the shortcomings of every model that we develop. Models are abstractions; so, they can’t capture everything in the real world.
Within this practice, we are now emphasizing integrated organizational hedging for non-financial firms. By utilizing our expertise in the above fields we offer this new advisory service, particularly to industrial firms. Our focus goes beyond risk management or risk mitigation to ask: how can one profit from the risky environment that they and their customers face?
We complement our consulting services by providing customized training seminars to groups as well as to individuals who can afford our services, including confidential sessions for senior executives interested in discreetly building their knowledge bases.
Information Systems, Web Site Design & Web-Based MIS
Consider the six-step process mentioned above. We use a similar process and approach to design and build web sites, including on-line stores. We call it “grown-up web design.”
We build “what everybody wants in a web site.” Our sites and designs are clean, beautiful and organized so they focus attention where it should be: on your organization and its products and services. Most importantly, our sites are easy-to-self-maintain and informative (for the site owner or manager).
So, we design and development web sites for any sized organization–both for the internet and for private intranets, including management information systems.
We design sites as content management systems, which can be edited and managed by anyone who has used a word processing program or sent an e-mail. It’s actually very exciting. After years of promise, the benefits of information technology can be realized by small and mid-sized firms–hey, maybe even large firms, too.
What is truly amazing is that the same free, open-source, web applications that make site maintenance a breeze are excellent platforms for internal information systems, too. They’re much cheaper and much more flexible than traditional database systems. They are inexpensive, yet very powerful and sophisticated and adaptable. That’s why we no longer simply advise on information systems, but we build them, too.
Talent Recruitment & Other Services
Small and medium-sized (and even large businesses) often do not have sufficient subject matter expertise to recruit the right top talent. Firms can rely on recruiting firms, even specialized recruiting firms, but many recruiters lack sufficient subject matter expertise to thoroughly vet job candidates. That’s where we can help in a variety of fields, including accounting, finance, strategy, marketing, and information systems.
Spero Consulting is majority-owned by Jill E. Taylor, a woman. Jill consults on communications, public relations, and writing.
We also solve marketing problems because they are closely related our web design and public relations practices.
