Global Manufacturer - High Tech Industry
Background:A large, highly respected global technology manufacturer changed its strategy to create a high performance culture and therefore remain competitive in its market segment and financially viable as an ongoing entity. The new strategy fundamentally repositioned the company from commoditized offerings to value-added services and high margin products.
Challenge:
After two years, major functional groups in the company had yet to adopt the new philosophy or implement enabling strategies. People were also highly skeptical about the new strategy succeeding. Finally, implementation would require substantial effort throughout the company with significant change in the following functions:
- Product development needed to completely revamp their R&D focus
- Renewed emphasis on executive development and coaching to support teams responsible for making sure any new strategies stick and impact the bottom-line over time.
- Manufacturing had to retool much of their production operations
- Sales needed to redefine and tune the strategic sales model and target audience
The company embarked on a comprehensive, structured process working with intact teams to create implementation project plans and actions. The process, supported by training and ongoing executive coaching, was cascaded down through the organization with the following objectives:
- Align all efforts in the organization around the achievement of the new strategy
- Engage each group and individual in a process to create ownership around goals and objectives need to successfully implement the strategy
- Develop capacity for change within the workforce to facilitate the transition from old to new ways of doing business
As a result of this process the company achieved significantly improved and sustained business results as well as higher levels of employee retention and engagement. Specific results include:
- 22.6% increase in Q4 revenue over the prior year
- Gross margin improved to 61.4 %, up from 54.7 % in the prior year
- Developed and launched over 150 new products supporting the new model
- Significant measurable increases in commitment/action to the new strategy
- Measurable increases in virtually every dimension of employee engagement and retention
