Organization Transformation
Redesigning the Corporate Center for Long-Term Ambition
THE CHALLENGE
When the Gokongwei Group set out to clarify its purpose, values, and 5-year business goals, it became clear that the existing corporate center structure wasn’t equipped to deliver these ambitions. The group needed a more focused, agile, and value-driven center—one that could guide the business units toward shared success.
What we did
Acumen worked closely with Gokongwei Group to redesign its corporate center. We:
- Conducted in-depth listening sessions with leaders across the conglomerates and external benchmarking from leading global organizations
- Developed comprehensive recommendations for the group’s parenting strategy and center mandates
- Designed an end-state organizational structure with clear functional units, KRAs, and KPIs
- Created a phased transition plan to ensure smooth implementation
Impact
The redesigned corporate center now has 7 direct reports to the CEO—down from 18—creating a leaner, more focused leadership team. Each functional unit has a crystal-clear mandate, enabling the group and its business units to execute their 5-year ambitions with greater clarity, alignment, and impact.
OUR WORK
Aligning Legacy and Leadership for Growth
Our team facilitated alignment between the founding families and new leadership—creating clarity, forging commitment, and laying the foundation for long-term growth.
VIEW MORE
Brewing Distinction: Cracking the Code to Compete in Coffee
We helped Culture Blends, a global joint venture enter the highly saturated Philippine coffee market—with a distinctive brand idea that opened up white space and unlocked growth.
VIEW MORE
Flipping the Flaw: Regaining Market Leadership for a Legacy Brand
We repositioned a declining Tanduay—transforming a weakness into a strength that drove emotional connection, increased market share, and propelled the brand to global leadership.
VIEW MOREPlanning Beyond the Horizon: Building a Strategy for High-Stakes Decisions
We helped one of the Philippines’ largest airline shift from siloed annual planning to a unified, data-driven strategy—guiding billion-dollar investment decisions and navigating disruption.
VIEW MORETurning a North Star into Clear, Actionable Plans
We partnered with a top universal bank to translate their long-term vision into aligned, executable strategies—engaging leaders, breaking down silos, and driving clarity across the organization.
VIEW MORERepositioning a Heritage Brand for a New Generation
We helped a global FMCG company revitalize a heritage brand across Southeast Asia—redefining its customer value proposition and turning decline into sustained growth.
VIEW MORESharpening Market Entry with Customer-Centric Strategy
We helped a new digital bank backed by a major conglomerate clarify its target market—shaping the offer and sharpening the brand’s positioning for market entry.
VIEW MOREForging a Shared Compass for a Conglomerate’s Future
We helped one of the Philippines’ largest conglomerates define its Purpose and long-term direction—aligning leadership and strategy across multiple businesses.
VIEW MOREBreaking the Mold: Equipping Teams to Innovate Beyond the Obvious
We helped the #1 local multinational FMCG in the Philippines reignite breakthrough thinking—shifting mindsets and building innovation capabilities that drive growth.
VIEW MOREStarting Transformation with a Shared Purpose—for Business and Family
VIEW MORETurning Ambitious Goals into Aligned Action
How Acumen helped a real estate leader strengthen its strategic planning discipline to drive growth and operational excellence under new leadership.
VIEW MOREBalancing Customization and Complexity for Growth
Our team helped a company to develop a strategic plan to manage the complexity of its custom offerings and create a clear path for sustainable growth.
VIEW MOREHow Aligning Leaders Accelerates Strategy
Acumen helped facilitate a strategic workshop to align work styles, define shared purpose, and build consensus on a long-term roadmap for an organization with critical tech decisions.
VIEW MOREFrom Vision to Execution: A Strategy-Led Business Transformation
Acumen guided a diversified group through a critical turnaround, restoring profitability and redefining long-term direction. By aligning leadership, strategy, and structure, we transformed a short-term rescue into sustainable enterprise growth.
VIEW MOREProtecting Market Leadership: Turning Threats Into Opportunities
Acumen conducted a strategic war games workshop for Alaska Milk Corporation to develop a defense plan against a competitor's re-launch, delivering actionable strategies and stakeholder alignment to protect the company’s market leadership.
VIEW MOREFrom Low Awareness to High Impact: A Real Estate Brand’s Journey
A real estate corporation partnered with Acumen to develop the brand's platform, repositioning it around family-friendly amenities and community values, resulting in #1 brand recognition and increased sales.
VIEW MORELoyalty Redefined: One Program, One Ecosystem
Acumen helped to develop a unified loyalty program for one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines, enabling seamless point earning and redemption across all business units to drive customer engagement and cross-business growth.
VIEW MOREBlending a Global Brand with Local Value in a Competitive Market
Acumen developed a localized brand strategy for one of the largest noodle brands in the Philippines, analyzing consumer segments and needs to maintain the brand’s position as one of the leaders in the noodles category.
VIEW MOREClearing the Path: Governance and Growth for a Family-Led Business
Acumen helped a company clarify leadership roles, creating decision frameworks and investment tools that enabled delegation, reduced friction, and positioned the family business for sustainable growth.
VIEW MOREEmpowering Leaders for Organizational Impact
Acumen designed a multi-modal executive development program for a conglomerate's top 100 leaders across multiple BUs, combining Harvard cases, expert speakers, activities, and action planning workshops to surface challenges, promote dialogue for the purpose of strengthening organizational leadership capabilities.
VIEW MOREForging Tomorrow’s CEOs: Building a Leadership Pipeline
Acumen helped one of the largest venture builders in Southeast Asia build a CEO Incubator program. This started with identifying six critical leadership competencies for start-up CEO’s, assessing high-potential leaders, building their capabilities through bespoke programs and pairing them with coaches or mentors to develop future CEOs and C-Suite leaders for start-up ventures.
VIEW MORERedesigning the Corporate Center for Long-Term Ambition
The Gokongwei Group partnered with Acumen to redesign its corporate center, including its parenting role, mandates, and N-1 leadership to ensure that they execute their 5-year ambitions with greater clarity, alignment, and impact.
VIEW MOREStrengthening Marketing Capabilities for Sustainable Growth
Seeking to unlock growth in consumer banking, Metrobank needed to strengthen core marketing capabilities within their credit cards team—fast.
VIEW MOREReigniting Commitment and Collaboration in Cross‑Functional Business Teams
Acumen helped NutriAsia run a one-day highly interactive workshop for over 100 business team members to renew commitment and remind them why strong collaboration matters to their goal of launching products that will enrich the lives of Filipinos.
VIEW MOREAligning Legacy and Leadership for Growth
Our team facilitated alignment between the founding families and new leadership—creating clarity, forging commitment, and laying the foundation for long-term growth.
VIEW MOREBrewing Distinction: Cracking the Code to Compete in Coffee
We helped Culture Blends, a global joint venture enter the highly saturated Philippine coffee market—with a distinctive brand idea that opened up white space and unlocked growth.
VIEW MORE