Case Study

LongueVue Capital

Partnering with Private Equity to Scale and Strengthen Culture for Growing Businesses

LongueVue Capital, a Gulf Coast-based private equity firm, was looking for planning support across two of their portfolio companies, evaluating their options for growth and operational sustainability.

One of the private equity firm’s portfolio investments, a Southeast Louisiana-based company, had developed competencies in advanced manufacturing, and was poised to become a market leader in contract packaging in their industry. Another investment was in the midst of disrupting a billion dollar industry, and needed to work through integrating their retail and wholesale business arms.

The two organizations featured similar challenges:

Both organizations had grown organically, fueled by a dedicated team and prioritization of customer service. While execution had never wavered, rapid growth had strained communication and made clear the need for additional leadership roles.
Newer employees struggled to integrate into tight-knit cultures, and a strong culture and sense of camaraderie needed to be supplemented by clear expectations and performance management.

Product:

Organizational Planning

Sector:

For-Profit

Solution

For the contract packaging company, we developed a three-year plan focused on strengthening their core competencies, selling their product into new markets, and investing in R&D in order to be first to market with a compostable product. We visualized the unit economics across all product lines to identify growth opportunities and where operational breakdowns were hurting the bottom line.

In the growth-focused company integrating its retail and wholesale arms, we assessed leadership team functionality and identified and prioritized internal initiatives to drive organizational effectiveness, including a revamp of their performance management system and annual goal-setting approach.

For both organizations we developed organizational structures that would support future growth and identified opportunities for role clarity and near-term hires.

Results

Both companies hired additional members of their leadership team, filling in skill gaps and improving effectiveness. The leadership teams reported increased clarity on roles and responsibilities and organizational goals, which were newly reported on and discussed with the Board.

Each organization was able to maintain their strong growth trajectories while strengthening their culture and onboarding for new employees. In 2023, one of the companies was successfully acquired by a private investment firm.