Background: A mid-sized F&B firm (500MM EUR) has been struggling to tackle international markets, with an European HQ, they currently sell only 10% of their goods in markets outside the European Union.

Intervention: The Chairman of the Board of Directors of a mid-sized F&B company has developed a new strategic vision, mainly focused on growth in international markets. The Chairman wants us to advise on whether the Board of Directors and Management Committee are ready to take on the challenge and understand if they have the necessary talent and whether the “gaps” can be covered through upskilling or new hires.

Strategy & Implementation: We develop a strategy to assess their Board of Directors and their management committee and over the first week of assessments provide a report of what the gaps are. We additionally provide a potential leadership development plan for some key members of the team in very concrete areas. As part of the development plan, we recommend upskilling in the Management Committee and a new advisor in the Board of Directors.

Results: We provided an upskilling plan that ranged from Intercultural communication to leadership and recommended an external member to the board of directors who had spearheaded the expansion in another local, similar sized firm but had managed to make exports larger than the domestic consumption. Within 6 months the Board of Directors and Management Committee had worked on an internationalization plan and started tackling new markets.