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THE SITUATION
- Stax was hired by a national body in the U.S., and private sector business leaders across the Middle East, as a strategic partner to promote greater economic development in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.
- As part of the engagement, Stax was required to engage with four task forces of the Alliance in preparation for a series of discussions.
THE ASSIGNMENT
- Our primary role was to gather perspectives and insights pertaining to the taskforces, in order to synthesize the thoughts of the groups and further drive substantive policies and project agendas for the Alliance.
- In support, we conducted discussions with Alliance individuals, including a majority of the task force’s chairs and vice-chairs. Additionally, we spoke with other participants and subject-matter experts from well-respected NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and private companies.
- Insights from these conversations were supplemented with empirical data and additional secondary research per task force.
THE BENEFITS
- Our report was organized into four sections (one for each task force) with an executive briefing outlining the overarching goals and initiatives for each task force, the common themes and synergies across task forces, and the overall questions and topics each task force seemed to address.
- Additionally, Stax recommended developing the region as an IT hub that would provide for well-paid jobs and provide for capacity building to attract foreign investors. This was part of post-discussion action steps suggested by Stax supporting Palestinian Economic Development.
- The four task forces mentioned above focused on Entrepreneurship and Business Development in the Middle East, improving the Movement of Goods along the Levant Corridor, determining key institutional, technical, and regulatory levers for Regional Energy Cooperation, and mapping key success determinants of existing Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
THE FINDING
- Stax identified significant variation in pricing across customers and relative to list pricing and identified opportunities for pricing gain.
- Stax evaluated conversion to a new pricing structure, and quantified its impact on existing adopters, as well as projecting impact on the rest of the customer base.
- Stax identified an opportunity for 19% per-customer revenue lift and significant per-customer profitability increase.