Achieving Growth in EMEAJames Smither, AVP EMEA ResearchFrontier Strategy Group
Our key challenges include balancing direct and indirect distribution and managing process transitions,
whilst always ensuring ethical compliance
EMEA executives face a range of challenges to achieve growth in 2011
2
Our challenge is how to expand in
distribution markets, finding the most
ethical partners with willingness to
promote our brand
Since we restructured to an emerging markets function in 2010, the volatility in those
countries is now more obvious and a key challenge is getting Corporate to understand that
My key priority is building a standard
process across such diverse
markets in Europe, the Middle East
and Africa
Our main challenge is sales effectiveness. We’re a global leader
but punching below our weight in emerging markets
Our biggest challenge is finding and keeping talent,
and properly motivating them
11.4%8.8%
Our biggest difficulty is managing our EMEA channel partners through a major product
transition - lots of internal transformation on their part will be needed to achieve that change
Source: FSG Interviews
CEM members’ annual revenue growth in EMEA region
2010 (actual) 2011 (anticipated)
Companies should adopt proactive innovation and geographical flexibility to continue to drive growth amidst challenging market conditions across much of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions
Opportunities remain plentiful throughout EMEA, but will overwhelmingly benefit those businesses which tailor their strategic planning, sales and distribution approaches to capitalize on the region’s shifting trends
Talent management is emerging as perhaps the most significant overarching constraint on business performance in EMEA – moving ahead of this curve will be critical to future success prospects
3
The shadow of the crisis in Middle East and North Africa continues to
loom large in news bulletins and regional commercial forecasts
Challenge 1: Creating growth amidst volatility in the EMEA RegionC
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d
Complications associated with surging inflation are spreading
throughout EMEA and appear set to persist throughout the remainder of
2011
The debt crisis in the Eurozone also continues to attract headlines,
focused on Greece but with implications throughout Europe and
beyond…
• Supply chain and customer payment interruptions
• Consumers postponing discretionary purchases
• Head Office doubts about long-term viability of region
• Policy flux and delays in transition jurisdictions
• Direct pricing, wage pressure from increasing input costs
• Changing consumer behavior on purchasing & product use
• Interest rate rises create higher cost of borrowing
• Contributory factor in ongoing social unrest trends
• Rising taxes impacting demand and profitability
• Increasing difficulties for customers to access credit
• Shrinking public spending threatens government sales
• Donor aid to region’s emerging markets shrinking
Take ethos of ‘change’ as opportunity to shift market dynamics in your favor in transition countries
Capitalize on increased public spending in other, reacting MENA countries
Make long-term case for region as improving / opening
Re-visit product offerings to capture changing consumer demands
Increase local sourcing and job creation to boost social license to operate
Increase focus on oil exporting countries that are net beneficiaries of surging prices
Recognize opportunities created by necessity of privatizations, public-private partnerships (PPPs) and increasing private sector outsourcing in Eurozone
Re-orientate long-term planning towards new growth frontiers elsewhere in EMEA
Pro
ble
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dO
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Challenge 2: Creating a sales process for sustainable goal achievement in EMEA
Key sales-force challenges facing companies in EMEA:
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Over-reliance on top performers
Unpredictable and inconsistent performance
High turnover in the sales force
Cultural resistance to
global corporate best practices
Key opportunities for improving sales performance:
Multinationals need to reduce their reliance on high-performing salespeople to build a sustainable sales force with predictable results
Multinationals rely unduly on salesperson skill for sales success, which is a risky strategy; instead they should focus on standardization of the sales process
Effective communication flow between corporate and local teams is the key to developing standardized and easily replicable processes
Corporate and local teams must balance their unique strengths
Challenge 3: Winning the war for talent in EMEA
Key talent challenges in EMEA:
5Source: FSG Organizational Benchmarking Survey, 2010
Shortages of talent are most acute in the highest growth markets, such as
Africa
Sales
Marketing
Other functions*
13.1
6.7
1.4
% Growth in Headcount Anticipated in 2011
As more companies look to tap growth in emerging markets, there
will be more competition for top talent
Meanwhile, there are increasing legislative pressures to hire more
local staff and promote them faster
Key opportunities:
The EMEA region has an opportunity that counterparts in APAC and LATAM do not; to prepare today for tomorrow’s talent crisis
The talent management and engagement strategies that were successful in the past will need to be innovated and updated as the market evolves
Access to the right talent is the key enabler for achieving growth objectives and besting competitors
At companies most successful in recruiting and retaining top talent have made talent management a top priority for senior management
For Additional Information, Please Contact:
Joel Backaler
[email protected]+1 202 741 1344
http://blog.frontierstrategygroup.com
© 2011 STTG INC. All Rights Reserved
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