Troubleshooting & Change Management
RGI has dealt successfully with dysfunctional joint ventures, struggling startups, armed confrontation, under-performing subsidiaries, corrupt marketing and sales practices, death of key personnel, embezzlement, racketeering, sexual harassment, problematic regulatory situations and all manner of management intrigue.
Turnaround management requires highly specialized management techniques. Many of the problems noted above are well beyond the experience of most managers, especially when they happen in unfamiliar cultures. Often however, a corporation reacts to a crisis or serious operating problem abroad, or even domestically, by assigning a valuable manager from the home office or hiring a local manager with little relevant experience. Most of the time this isn't effective and it damages the careers of expensively trained and formerly respected colleagues. It is better to send a specialist into these situations.
Examples include:
* Negotiating and end to an armed confrontation in Iraq between competing providers of security for the major mobile phone network. The confontation ended peacefully and without disruption to services.(Mediation)
* Restoring a troubled joint venture in China for a leading international broadband-CATV equipment manufacturing company.
* Stopping severe turnover of Japanese staff in the Tokyo subsidiary of an American corporation and rebuilding the sales and marketing teams
* Crisis management of a division of a multinational corporation in London following the accidental deaths of key staff members.
* Restructuring and sale of an American mid-size data communications company in late stage decline, with 90% of sales abroad.
* Dealing with corruption and fraud in an Asian sales management team.
Revenue Growth Services
RGI revenue growth services are pragmatic and focused on the bottom line. RGI services provide the same level of intellectual depth and analysis as the largest sales strategy firms but RGI tends to be less academic and theoretical. RGI clients want quick results.
Examples include:
*Working with a WiMAX carrier in Russia to promote market entry and sales in underserved regions, cities and townships
* Working with the senior executives of a European IP services provider to research and write a new business plan incorporating a wireless component needed to satisfy investors.
* Identifying partners and assisting with joint venture negotiations in Thailand, China and Vietnam for a global network services provider.
* Assisting a Canadian data communications manufacturer with product marketing and sales channel strategies in Asia.
* Developing an international IP network services strategy for a video security products manufacturer in the United States.
* Writing and delivering cross-cultural marketing and sales programs for leading companies in Korea, Japan, China, England and the United States.
* Assisting with executive recruitment when specifically requested in China and Eurasia.
International Executive Development
RGI's Beijing Mao Rui has a suite of programs designed to train potential international executives on the social and business requirements for international success. Chinese company executives, and sometimes even the local personnel of US and European ventures in China, often haven't had the communications training and social experiences available to their foreign counterparts. As a consequence, Chinese representatives are not always able to get their message across with the professionalism of more highly skilled and trained competitors
RGI Mao Rui programs are practical and functional additions for formal education credentials and include international business etiquette, improved English business writing, vocabulary and speaking, international sales and marketing, and presentation skills for conferences and seminars. Each course is tailored to the specific requirements of the executives, for example, in preparation for an important forthcoming exhibition or conference, or for an important negotiation.
RGI believes that International Executive Development should be a feature of any turnaround project in China. The payoff is enormous.
Operations Optimization
RGI operations experts analyze and solve complex process problems that inhibit efficient revenue growth and prevent the achievement of strategic goals. Typical examples are:
* Introducing sophisticated program and project management techniques into a struggling next generation telecoms carrier and rolling out 17 POPs in four months.
* Optimizing the network architecture and removing $32 million per year in network costs in a large mid-European VOIP and e-commerce start-up.
* Revamping sales and order entry processes between off-shore operating locations and headquarters
Situation Analysis
RGI is often requested to perform situation analyses prior to undertaking troubleshooting or operations optimization assignments. RGI experience indicates that there is sometimes a lapse between the time a problem is first identified and the final decision is taken to pursue a troubleshooting and problem resolution regime. The situation analysis helps decision makers determine the extent of the problem, define its relationship to corporate strategy and allocate the resources necessary for a successful outcome.
M&A and Joint Venture Due Diligence
RGI has seen every type of manipulative behavior and management skullduggery in the international telecommunications industry. RGI knows where to look for mendacity and prevarication in business plans, operations and offer memoranda.
Forensic due diligence is particularly important when a proposed investment partner or acquisition is from a different business culture. The opportunities for misunderstanding are greatly magnified.
An American company investing in a foreign company may see on the surface an efficient, profitable enterprise. Below the surface, and cleverly hidden from view by members of the target company staff, are highly dysfunctional and inefficient business, operations and accounting practices.
The same dynamic holds true in a foreign company investing in the United States or Europe. A well conceived strategy can fall apart quickly if the management team in the United States is unwilling to share information or take direction from an overseas management team. Sometimes, the senior executives and shareholders in the United States company are ready to sell but there may be underlying resentment and confusion in the next layers of management. Due diligence on the target company's operations and management culture can minimize these problems.
In one example, RGI was asked by the CEO of a European company to review the management and operations of a prospective American acquisition just prior to the agreement. RGI found that one of the key technologies of the target company was not compatible with the acquiring company's network and that both managements had overstated synergistic revenue expectations. The deal was killed and shortly thereafter the target company was disolved due to debt and performance issues.
RGI knows from experience that every deal has problems. It's much better to know about them in advance of an acquisition or investment.
|