Strategic Apex Group LLC

Unique Approach to Marketplace Research

Marketplace research is an important input for developing the best compensation programs. Our research is comprehensive and thorough, and we clearly communicate the key messages. Our approach includes:

  • A relationship between future performance and marketplace benchmarking must be established
    • We factor in a company’s performance expectations and business strategy
    • Where do you expect to be in 2 to 3 years?
  • We construct several relevant snapshots of the marketplace
    • To understand the marketplace, you need to review several different peer groups. For example:
      • Regular peer group
      • High performing peer group
      • Best practices peer group
    • We supplement the peer group analysis with data from several well-known compensation surveys
      • This information provides a snapshot of the pay levels for general industry
      • Surveys have a large number of companies participating, which adds strength to the statistical validity of the information.
    • In addition, we add information regarding compensation practices from our best-practices database
  • We account for and clearly communicate positions taken by governing bodies and shareholders
    • Regulatory agencies, such as stock exchanges, SEC, IRS and FASB
    • The Conference Board, Business Roundtable, NACD, TIAA-CREF, as well as others
  • The information we gather is deep and thorough
    • Historical performance comparison of the various peer groups
    • Elements of total compensation
      • Salary, target bonus, actual bonus, value of long-term incentives
      • Compensation history and trends to provide a historical perspective
    • Pay mix
      • How compensation is delivered
      • Incentive plan designs used by other companies
    • Executive ownership (shares and options) and company ownership guidelines
    • Dilution and run rates from equity based compensation
    • Benefits, including plan design features, and perks
    • Change in control approaches
    • Employment contracts
    • Compensation for the Board
    • Governance standards related to compensation as enumerated by The Conference Board, ISS, Glass Lewis, and The Corporate Library, among others