Business Case - General Manager USA
Situation
We have performed a long line of assignments for the client, an industrial company in the Technology and Industrial Machinery sector with subsidiaries in many countries.
Growth at the US subsidiary was stagnating with unsatisfactory earnings in spite of considerable market opportunities in both North and South America.
The previous General Manager had been in the position for many years and the organization was marked by a lack of dynamism and competences. The primary task of the new leader was thus to examine the existing human resources with a view to enabling the addition of the relevant employee qualifications in order to enhance the competence level of the company.
We were charged with searching for a new General Manager for the US subsidiary with its own Engineering and Design function as well as production and service/after-sales. The focus was to be on growth via marketing and sales in order to exploit the market potential to the full.
The Board asked us to concentrate our search on candidates with broad sales and marketing experience in the US, in particular people who were currently living or had lived in the country. Alternatively they were interested in people with very considerable experience in selling to the American market including South America where the company saw definite sales potential.
Search
In our search process, we focused on candidates with considerable experience in sales at manufacturing companies in the Technology and Industrial Machinery sector together with candidates with experience from the North American market as well as South America where Brazil in particular offered exciting growth opportunities, which the Board wished to address aggressively.
The educational background of candidates was to be an MBA or a Masters degree in Economics or Engineering, preferably together with a commercial degree, and considerable experience in Key Account sales of technical products.
We also emphasized strong leadership experience as the company employees covered a wide range of functions from design and engineering to sales and service.
Results
We presented three extremely well-qualified candidates who matched our candidate profile in every aspect.
The person who was offered and accepted the position was a strong leader and highly experienced in sales of high-tech products, especially in the North American market. The person had performed similar assignments previously and possessed a particular insight into the customer segment.
The client was extremely satisfied with a successful and effective search process, which was completed in less than two months from the initial agreement to the signing of the employment contract.
We have performed a long line of assignments for the client, an industrial company in the Technology and Industrial Machinery sector with subsidiaries in many countries.
Growth at the US subsidiary was stagnating with unsatisfactory earnings in spite of considerable market opportunities in both North and South America.
The previous General Manager had been in the position for many years and the organization was marked by a lack of dynamism and competences. The primary task of the new leader was thus to examine the existing human resources with a view to enabling the addition of the relevant employee qualifications in order to enhance the competence level of the company.
We were charged with searching for a new General Manager for the US subsidiary with its own Engineering and Design function as well as production and service/after-sales. The focus was to be on growth via marketing and sales in order to exploit the market potential to the full.
The Board asked us to concentrate our search on candidates with broad sales and marketing experience in the US, in particular people who were currently living or had lived in the country. Alternatively they were interested in people with very considerable experience in selling to the American market including South America where the company saw definite sales potential.
Search
In our search process, we focused on candidates with considerable experience in sales at manufacturing companies in the Technology and Industrial Machinery sector together with candidates with experience from the North American market as well as South America where Brazil in particular offered exciting growth opportunities, which the Board wished to address aggressively.
The educational background of candidates was to be an MBA or a Masters degree in Economics or Engineering, preferably together with a commercial degree, and considerable experience in Key Account sales of technical products.
We also emphasized strong leadership experience as the company employees covered a wide range of functions from design and engineering to sales and service.
Results
We presented three extremely well-qualified candidates who matched our candidate profile in every aspect.
The person who was offered and accepted the position was a strong leader and highly experienced in sales of high-tech products, especially in the North American market. The person had performed similar assignments previously and possessed a particular insight into the customer segment.
The client was extremely satisfied with a successful and effective search process, which was completed in less than two months from the initial agreement to the signing of the employment contract.
