Strategic Decisions Group

What Strategic Decisions Group does

Strategic Decisions Group (SDG), founded in 1981 by Ronald A. Howard — who coined the term 'Decision Analysis' in 1964 — is a specialized strategic management consulting firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California, with additional offices in Houston, Boston, Calgary, and Düsseldorf. SDG applies decision science methodology to help complex global enterprises make high-stakes strategic decisions under uncertainty. The firm's core intellectual property is the Decision Quality (DQ) framework and the Dialogue Decision Process, a structured, probabilistic methodology built on framing, values elicitation, alternative creation, expert assessment, modeling under uncertainty, and organizational alignment. SDG complements these with proprietary statistical techniques including Quantile-Parameterized Distributions and Johnson Quantile-Parameterized Distributions, multi-attribute utility theory, probabilistic financial modeling, and Monte Carlo simulation.

SDG's commercial offering is organized around two revenue streams. The first is bespoke strategic management consulting engagements delivered on a partner-led, enterprise field-sales basis to clients across Energy & Natural Resources, Life Sciences, Aerospace, Engineering, Technology, Consumer Products, and Infrastructure. The firm reports serving 20 of the Fortune Global 100, 14 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, and clients in 57 countries, with over 1,100 completed Life Sciences projects and 995 internal decision-support groups established inside client organizations. Named clients include Gilead, Bayer, GSK, ViiV Healthcare, Eli Lilly, TotalEnergies, bp, Chevron, Maersk, and Syncrude. The second stream is executive education and training, including public courses, on-site programs, and a Strategic Decision and Risk Management Certificate co-delivered with the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business, with 30,539 course participants and 1,339 courses held historically.

SDG is a privately held limited liability company (Strategic Decisions Group International LLC) with 51-100 employees and no disclosed external institutional investors or parent company. It is led by co-founder and Chairman Carl S. Spetzler, CEO Mark Seidler (also Managing Director of SDG GmbH), and President Frank Bowman, with additional senior practice leadership in Energy (Dr. Sang-Won Kim), Life Sciences (Dr. Mark Seidler), and Executive Education (Marcy Conn). The firm's go-to-market is built on direct senior-team engagement, thought-leadership content (publications, webinars, infographics, conference presentations), and the UT Austin academic partnership. SDG does not offer a software product; the methodology is delivered entirely through human consulting engagements and training.

Name

Strategic Decisions Group

Legal name

Strategic Decisions Group International LLC

Website

https://sdg.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Strategic Decisions Group is a private, decision-science consulting firm founded in 1981 that helps Fortune Global 100 and major pharmaceutical clients make high-stakes strategic investments under uncertainty using its proprietary Decision Quality framework, Dialogue Decision Process, and probabilistic modeling methods, complemented by executive education programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Management Consulting

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Other Management Consulting Services (541618), Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services (541611), Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Strategy & Corporate Development Consulting (BPAHACAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Corporate Strategy Advisory (BPAHADAA), M&A Advisory (Buy-Side & Sell-Side) (BPAHAOAA), Corporate Development & Strategic Partnerships Advisory (JVs, Alliances, Carve-outs) (BPAHAOAG)

Keywords

• Strategic management consulting
• Decision analysis services
• Decision quality framework
• Risk and scenario planning
• Executive decision education

Headquarters

HQ city

Palo Alto

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Strategic Management Consulting Engagements: SDG operates as a specialized strategic management consulting firm providing bespoke advisory services to complex global businesses. Engagements are tailored to client needs and typically involve senior consultants and partners working directly with client leadership teams on high-stakes decisions. Revenue is generated through consulting fee arrangements, likely project-based or retainer contracts with enterprise clients.
2. Executive Education and Training Programs: SDG offers public courses, workshops, on-site programs, and coaching on Decision Quality and decision-making methodologies. Programs include executive briefings, multi-day workshops, online learning, and pilot decision projects. The firm also partners with the University of Texas at Austin (McCombs School of Business) to offer a Strategic Decision and Risk Management Certificate requiring 6 credits. Revenue is generated through course fees and certificate program tuition.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Strategic Decisions Group is a specialized strategic management consulting firm that helps complex global enterprises improve high-stakes strategic decisions. Its core deliverable is bespoke advisory engagements built on the proprietary Decision Quality (DQ) framework and Dialogue Decision Process, covering business strategy, portfolio management, risk analysis, scenario planning, capital investment, M&A, and organizational decision process design. The firm also runs executive education courses, workshops, and a university certificate program to transfer decision-science methods into client organizations.

Product overview

Strategic Decisions Group (SDG) is a specialized strategic management consulting firm offering advisory services, training programs, and decision-making methodologies. SDG does not offer a software product but provides consulting engagements, educational courses, workshops, and publishes research. Their core offerings include consulting services (business strategy, portfolio management, risk analysis, scenario planning, capital investment, asset strategy, M&A), capability building programs (executive briefings, workshops, public courses, and the Strategic Decision and Risk Management Certificate with University of Texas at Austin), and proprietary methodologies such as the Dialogue Decision Process and Decision Quality Framework. Their training portfolio includes courses in decision quality, human biases, modeling and analytics, scenario planning, and enterprise risk management. SDG also produces research publications including Quantile-Parameterized Distributions methodology.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategic Management Consulting Engagements Bespoke strategic management consulting services for complex global enterprises, covering business strategy, portfolio management, risk analysis, scenario planning, capital investment, business planning & forecasting, asset strategy, M&A, and organizational decision process design. Delivered to senior leadership of Fortune Global 100 and equivalent enterprises via partner-led engagements.
• Decision Quality (DQ) Framework Consulting Consulting engagements built on SDG's proprietary Decision Quality framework, which evaluates decisions on six elements (frame, alternatives, information, values, reasoning, commitment) to enable clients to know whether they have made a good decision at the time of decision, decoupling decision quality from outcome luck.
• Dialogue Decision Process Facilitation Proprietary structured facilitation process that brings key decision makers and stakeholders together to articulate and align behind a decision frame, applied across SDG's consulting engagements.
• Probabilistic Financial Planning Engagements Engagements using SDG's custom probabilistic engine that connects to multiple Excel-based financial planning models simultaneously, enabling full enterprise-level probabilistic forecasting and efficient frontier analysis for capital allocation decisions.
• Multi-Attribute Portfolio Prioritization Service Portfolio prioritization consulting that combines multi-attribute utility theory and value-focused thinking within the Decision Quality framework to evaluate early-stage projects across diverse portfolios (notably in Life Sciences) and enable consistent, defensible trade-offs.
• Offshore Wind Auction Strategy Framework Decision-science based auction strategy framework for developing and evaluating alternative auction approaches in offshore wind projects, addressing costs, supply chain, competition, business models, and non-price criteria.
• Decision Quality Workshop (Foundation) Foundation-level public course teaching how to frame strategic choices, generate alternatives, develop credible forecasts, quantify uncertainty, and judge the quality of a decision at the time it is made. Offered at SDG headquarters, university campuses, and live-virtual.
• Executive Briefing on Decision Quality Foundation-level overview briefing of Strategic Decisions Group's process for making smarter, faster, and more creative decisions, designed for executives.
• Human Biases in Decision-Making Foundation training course on understanding how cognitive biases and mental distortions impede decision-making and lead to mistakes.
• Modeling & Analytics for Strategic Insight Practitioner-level course on creating decision models that answer executives' questions, produce compelling analyses, and gain organizational commitment.
• Leading Strategic Decision-Making Practitioner course on effectively diagnosing decision situations, designing approaches, facilitating communication, and presenting rationale to key stakeholders.
• Decision Consulting Workshop Two-week intensive boot camp for decision professionals essential for building or growing an internal decision-support group.
• Scenarios & Forecasting: Planning for Uncertainty Specialized course on improving strategic decision-making with enhanced forecasting methods and scenario creation to foster insight under uncertainty.
• Multi-Party DQ: Collaboration & Competition in Decision-Making Specialized course assembling concepts, tools, and skills for applying the decision quality framework when multiple parties are involved.
• Negotiation & Collaborative Decision-Making Hands-on course on enhancing negotiation and collaboration capabilities for better outcomes in one-on-one and multi-party situations, offered through the UT Austin McCombs School of Business.
• Decision & Risk Analysis Foundational course on decision quality and using a rigorous analytic framework for better personal and professional decisions, offered through UT Austin McCombs.
• Value-Driven Enterprise Risk Management Specialized course on potential risk factors, decision analytic methods, and best practices for Enterprise Risk Management.
• Strategic Decision and Risk Management Certificate Certificate program combining McCombs School of Business faculty with SDG practitioners, teaching techniques for managing risk and uncertainty. Requires six credits (two required classes, at least two core classes, and up to two electives) over three years, jointly awarded by Texas Executive Education and SDG.
• On-Site Training & Coaching Programs Customized on-site and live-virtual programs for organizations, including executive briefings, training modules, online learning, and pilot decision projects. Includes workshops such as Framing Workshop, Scenarios Workshop, Decision Culture Survey Workshop, and Decision Agenda Workshop.

Quantifiable outcome

• Risk Assessment of Curtailing Clinical Trial Saves Life Sciences Company $36 Million
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• University of Texas at Austin (McCombs School of Business)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSDG partners with The McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin to co-deliver the Strategic Decision and Risk Management Certificate program. World-renowned UT Austin faculty combine with experienced SDG practitioners to teach decision quality, risk management, scenario planning, and related topics. SDG practitioners co-teach courses and the certificate is jointly awarded by Texas Executive Education and SDG.
• RWTH Aachen UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSDG collaborated with researchers from RWTH Aachen University, a leading research university in Germany, in developing a portfolio management methodology for a global pharmaceutical company. The collaboration included backing by the university's decision support tool (entscheidungsnavi.de).
• Deep Seed SolutionsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDeep Seed Solutions, led by CEO Leandro Basilio, collaborated with SDG on the webinar 'Navigating the Crossroad: Energy Transition Decisions Amid AI.' The partnership brings together SDG's decision science expertise with Deep Seed Solutions' expertise in digital transformation and energy sector transition.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Bain & Company: Global strategy consulting firm with deep practices in M&A, energy, and life sciences. Directly comparable to SDG's senior-team, partner-led model focused on enterprise strategic decisions.
• PwC Strategy&: Strategy consulting arm of PwC providing senior-executive advisory on corporate strategy, M&A, and portfolio decisions. Comparable to SDG's Fortune 100 client base and strategy-led engagement model, with deeper delivery resources.
• Boston Consulting Group (BCG): Top-tier strategy consulting firm advising large enterprises on portfolio strategy, capital allocation, and transformation. Comparable to SDG in serving Fortune 100 clients on high-stakes strategic decisions, with broader service breadth.
• Oliver Wyman: Global management consulting firm specializing in risk, strategy, and operations for financial services, energy, and life sciences. Comparable to SDG in serving senior leadership on complex strategic decisions in capital-intensive industries.
• McKinsey & Company: Global management consulting leader serving Fortune 100 CEOs on strategy, M&A, and organizational decisions. Directly comparable to SDG as a strategic advisory peer but at vastly greater scale and broader scope.
• Kearney: Global management consulting firm advising on strategic operations and transformation across industries including energy and consumer goods. Comparable to SDG in serving senior leadership on complex strategic choices at large enterprises.

Direct peers

• L.E.K. Consulting: Global strategy consulting firm with strong life sciences and energy practices, advising senior executives on portfolio strategy and commercial due diligence. Comparable to SDG's vertical expertise and Fortune 100 client base.
• Clearview Healthcare Partners: Niche life sciences strategy consulting firm advising pharma and biotech on portfolio strategy, pipeline prioritization, and commercial decisions. Most comparable vertical peer to SDG's life sciences practice and DQ-based portfolio methodology.
• Analysis Group: Economic and financial consulting firm supporting law firms, corporations, and government agencies with quantitative analysis on complex disputes and strategic decisions. Comparable to SDG in leveraging advanced analytical methods for high-stakes advisory work.
• Charles River Associates: Specialized consulting firm providing economics, financial, and strategic advice for complex business and litigation matters. Highly comparable to SDG as a niche, expert-led advisory serving large enterprises on high-stakes decisions.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@strategicdecisionsgroup9920
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/strategic-decisions-group-sdg

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Strategic Decisions Group