There are plenty of situations and reasons that determine the need for the use of Interim Executive Managers.
To illustrate, many of our assignments start off with a situational scoping brief that reads like one of the following examples:
-
-
- Callenging downsizing:
“We are losing our competitive edge. If we do not turn this situation around in the very near future, we will be faced with a drop in sales of at least 30%. We have no other option than to reduce staff and to dis- continue complete product lines in order to sub- stantially reduce costs. Therefore, we need to bring in professional expertise to help us develop a re- structuring plan.” -
-
Innovative business:
“Constant change is the way of life in the automobile industry. OEMs try to reduce their costs by outsour- cing major parts of manufacturing and development to their suppliers. To differentiate ourselves from the competition, we have to adapt our business model urgently. To do that, we need to contract the services of a business development professional with international experience. That will be the best chance we have to make the change from a supplier of components to a supplier of systems. We have to leverage and to strengthen the trust our customers and partners are placing in our company and by doing so, we will reinforce our position in the market.” -
-
Cultural integration:
“To meet our growth objectives, we have acquired a foreign competitor. At this point, we are in the middle of integrating the two companies, only to find out that it is simply much too ambitious to try and deal with the cultural differences while at the same time running day-to-day operations. Hence, we urgently need external expert support in meeting this challenge.” -
-
Lean production:
“A client company was faced with the following situation: They had severe problems to deliver the volume of products that customers required because they lacked the necessary capacity. Quality had also suffered significantly. Customers were complaining and the image of the company was being negatively impacted. They had tried numerous measures to counteract and correct the trend but in total, not much progress had been made. They urgently needed an external expert who could assess the situation with the unbiased view of an outsider, who would analyze their processes and identify weaknesses. At the same time, the expert was responsible for successfully leading the implementation together with all employees and to make sure that they were able to carry on with the project on their own after he left.”
-
-
Sustained growth:
“We have rested on our laurels for too long and we have not been placing enough emphasis on inno- vation in recent years. We need to work closely with our existing customers and to acquire new ones in order to solicit appropriate feedback from them to be used as input for product and service development. We are urgently looking for an experienced sales and marketing professional on an interim basis who is well connected in our industry.” -
-
Increased competitive advantage:
“Competition in the medical technology sector is getting fiercer by the day. New foreign suppliers keep entering the European market with inexpensive yet attractive products. We are not able to compete with them in the long run. Where can we find an experienced interim manager who will work in tandem with our experts to develop and launch new products and services for our customers? There is no alternative for us if we want to strengthen our position in the market and to compete in the international marketplace in the future.” -
-
Secured future:
“While we are flooded with new orders, we do not have sufficient qualified engineering staff to complete them. It seems everybody is competing in the war on talent. We have now acquired a foreign competitor in order to retain experienced staff. Our biggest challenge right now is to find a skilled Commercial Director to professionally handle the acquisition and the subsequent integration for the transition period.”