SDG has worked in 57 countries on every continent except Antarctica. With staff and clients across the globe, we’ve helped facilitate change, foster economic growth, and educate client teams on better decision making. Hover over the map below to explore a few of our global stories.
*Red & dark gray regions indicate countries where SDG has worked. Hover over red regions to view stories.
— SVP, Portfolio Strategy, Management and Operations, Biopharmaceutical Company
— President, International Oil Company
— Vice President, Transportation Industry
— Senior Director of Data Science, Technology Company
— Head of Strategy and Business Development, International Energy Major
— CEO, Joint Venture
— President & CEO, US Manufacturing Company
— Vice President and Director, Pharmaceutical Company
— Senior Vice President, Upstream Oil Company
— Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, Technology Company for Personalized Medicine
— Chief Strategy Officer, Electric Utility
— Chief Executive Officer, Natural Resources Company
— President, International Oil Company
— Vice President, Transportation Industry
— Senior Director of Data Science, Technology Company
— Head of Strategy and Business Development, International Energy Major
— President & CEO, US Manufacturing Company
— Vice President and Director, Pharmaceutical Company
— Chief Strategy Officer, Electric Utility
— Chief Executive Officer, Natural Resources Company
In 1964, after helping a bunch of nuclear engineers at General Electric figure out whether they should add a superheater to a new reactor, engineering professor Ronald Howard sat down to analyze what he’d just done. “Decision analysis,” he called it, and described it as “a logical procedure for the balancing of the factors that influence a decision” that factored in “uncertainties, values, and preferences.”
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August 12, 1981
SDG founders Ron Howard, Carl Spetzler, Jim Matheson, having worked together at Stanford and in the decision analysis group at the Stanford Research Institute, join with a fourth co-founder, Jeff Foran, to form Strategic Decisions Group. The founders set out to create a new kind of management consulting firm—one that would harness the power of normative and behavioral decision analysis to help organizations choose the best course of action in the face of uncertainty, complexity, competing preferences, and organizational complexity.
During the savings & loan crisis, SDG played a pivotal role in analyzing and structuring distressed asset portfolios. Mellon Bank was the first to use the so-called “good bank/bad bank” strategy, transferring lower quality, distressed real estate-backed assets into a newly created liquidating bank (the “bad bank”). SDG went on to analyze other large portfolios of distressed assets, provide fairness opinions, and conduct risk analyses during this period.
SDG defines “Decision Quality” as the integration of decision analysis, behavioral science and the shareholder value movement. Ron Howard, at this point still at Stanford and SDG’s chairman, publishes a journal article that contains the first reference to “decision quality” in this context, "Decision Analysis: Practice and Promise." “Spreadsheet, decision tree, and influence diagram programs speed evaluation. Intelligent decision systems realized in computers offer promise of providing the benefits of decision analysis on a broader scale than ever before,” the author writes. “Decision analysis is now poised for a breakthrough in its usefulness to human beings.”
More“How SmithKline Beecham Makes Better Resource Allocation Decisions” was published in Harvard Business Review. This publication became the blueprint for how pharma companies managed their portfolios for the next 20 years.
MoreSDG publishes The Smart Organization: Creating Value through Strategic R&D. SDG co-founder Jim Matheson and SDG partner David Matheson identify the key practices that enable successful organizations to deliver a stream of winning products and services, drawing on the experiences of R&D-intensive organizations around the world.
MoreSDG publishes Business Portfolio Management: Valuation, Risk Assessment, and EVA® Strategies by SDG partner Michael S. Allen. Published in response to two important business trends: increasing corporate acquisitions and managing business units as individual companies with a synergistic relationship to the parent company. Illustrated with detailed examples drawn from SDG’s extensive corporate portfolio engagements. This book triggered a series of value-creating portfolio engagements at SDG.
MoreA small team of SDG partners form the Decision Education Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to improving the decision skills of young people. For several years, SDG incubated the foundation with office space and support, and many SDG staff members have volunteered in support of the foundation’s mission.
MoreSDG introduces decision quality into governance processes and the board room in response to the governance failures that led to Sarbanes-Oxley.
More
SDG partners Carl Spetzler, Hannah Winter, and Jennifer Meyer publish Decision Quality: Value Creation from Better Business Decisions. This bestselling book describes not only how to ensure quality in every decision, but also illustrates how organizations build quality into their decision processes.
As decision makers seek to navigate multiple, sometimes conflicting value measures among parties with vastly different perspectives, SDG incorporates multi-attribute utility theory into client engagements. The ability to see in real time how preferences translate to decision choices is a game-changing perspective.
SDG continues to evolve with our clients by anticipating and addressing challenges and opportunities that will come from ever changing markets. Today, SDG increasingly supports clients as they incorporate ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors into their decision making. More and more, investors, and consequently, corporate decision makers, are applying these non-financial factors into their analyses and decision processes as they explore strategic opportunities.
Watch VideoIn 1964, after helping a bunch of nuclear engineers at General Electric figure out whether they should add a superheater to a new reactor, engineering professor Ronald Howard sat down to analyze what he’d just done. “Decision analysis,” he called it, and described it as “a logical procedure for the balancing of the factors that influence a decision” that factored in “uncertainties, values, and preferences.”
MoreAugust 12, 1981 SDG founders Ron Howard, Carl Spetzler, Jim Matheson, having worked together at Stanford and in the decision analysis group at the Stanford Research Institute, join with a fourth co-founder, Jeff Foran, to form Strategic Decisions Group. The founders set out to create a new kind of management consulting firm—one that would harness the power of normative and behavioral decision analysis to help organizations choose the best course of action in the face of uncertainty, complexity, competing preferences, and organizational complexity.
MoreDuring the savings & loan crisis, SDG played a pivotal role in analyzing and structuring distressed asset portfolios. Mellon Bank was the first to use the so-called “good bank/bad bank” strategy, transferring lower quality, distressed real estate-backed assets into a newly created liquidating bank (the “bad bank”). SDG went on to analyze other large portfolios of distressed assets, provide fairness opinions, and conduct risk analyses during this period.
SDG defines “Decision Quality” as the integration of decision analysis, behavioral science and the shareholder value movement. Ron Howard, at this point still at Stanford and SDG’s chairman, publishes a journal article that contains the first reference to “decision quality” in this context, "Decision Analysis: Practice and Promise." “Spreadsheet, decision tree, and influence diagram programs speed evaluation. Intelligent decision systems realized in computers offer promise of providing the benefits of decision analysis on a broader scale than ever before,” the author writes. “Decision analysis is now poised for a breakthrough in its usefulness to human beings.”
More“How SmithKline Beecham Makes Better Resource Allocation Decisions” was published in Harvard Business Review. This publication became the blueprint for how pharma companies managed their portfolios for the next 20 years.
MoreSDG publishes The Smart Organization: Creating Value through Strategic R&D. SDG co-founder Jim Matheson and SDG partner David Matheson identify the key practices that enable successful organizations to deliver a stream of winning products and services, drawing on the experiences of R&D-intensive organizations around the world.
MoreSDG publishes Business Portfolio Management: Valuation, Risk Assessment, and EVA® Strategies by SDG partner Michael S. Allen. Published in response to two important business trends: increasing corporate acquisitions and managing business units as individual companies with a synergistic relationship to the parent company. Illustrated with detailed examples drawn from SDG’s extensive corporate portfolio engagements. This book triggered a series of value-creating portfolio engagements at SDG.
MoreA small team of SDG partners form the Decision Education Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to improving the decision skills of young people. For several years, SDG incubated the foundation with office space and support, and many SDG staff members have volunteered in support of the foundation’s mission.
MoreSDG introduces decision quality into governance processes and the board room in response to the governance failures that led to Sarbanes-Oxley.
More
SDG partners Carl Spetzler, Hannah Winter, and Jennifer Meyer publish Decision Quality: Value Creation from Better Business Decisions. This bestselling book describes not only how to ensure quality in every decision, but also illustrates how organizations build quality into their decision processes.
As decision makers seek to navigate multiple, sometimes conflicting value measures among parties with vastly different perspectives, SDG incorporates multi-attribute utility theory into client engagements. The ability to see in real time how preferences translate to decision choices is a game-changing perspective.
SDG continues to evolve with our clients by anticipating and addressing challenges and opportunities that will come from ever changing markets. Today, SDG increasingly supports clients as they incorporate ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors into their decision making. More and more, investors, and consequently, corporate decision makers, are applying these non-financial factors into their analyses and decision processes as they explore strategic opportunities.
Many consulting organizations are talking about decision making now. But SDG has been pioneering this field for 40 years. We developed and adapted the process to make sure decision makers and organizations get the most of what they value – as defined by customers, employees, shareholders, and society – and learn the best practices for making value-creating decisions in the future.
Investors, consumers, and regulators now expect energy companies to fully embrace energy transition. A practical approach balances the efficiency and economics of fossil fuels against the environmental and financial impact.
Comparing investments with long lead-times is difficult, conventional methodology is limited. Worse, it can lead to selecting “safe” investments rather than stimulating innovation. In this webinar, SDG demonstrates the benefits of a more effective approach.
“Agile” decision-making is a way to use rapid iteration to communicate, integrate, and learn to achieve desired project results. In such a fast-paced decision process, is there room to ensure decision quality?
Executives make decisions every day not knowing how they will turn out. Here's three factors to keep in mind as they deal with that uncertainty.
At the heart of any healthy corporate culture is a healthy decision culture. Beyond the obvious, there are dozens of dysfunctional behaviors that can undermine an organization’s decision culture. This webinar discusses how you can establish a healthy decision culture within your organization.
See more of SDGs Thought Leadership content in the Resource Hub. Access high-quality webinars, publications, and insights. Aimed at helping individuals and organizations make quality decision.
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Amid Shifting Regulatory Environment, Upstream O&G JV is Open to Previously Unconsidered Strategies
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“I’ve successfully applied the SDG decision quality process in complex energy-sector situations over the past 20 years, optimizing outcomes and creating value measured in billions of dollars. The SDG decision quality process works.”
—CEO
Diversified Energy Corporation