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Case study

Organizational transformation creates a clear vision

The organizational structure and lack of vision hindered performance for one of our global consumer products clients. Regional business units were pitted against one another and there was no coordination across them. Bain helped align the organization to a new vision by focusing on leadership, decision making and measures and incentives.

  • min read

At a Glance

  • -3% Y1-Y3 CAGR (prior to Bain engagement)
  • 8% Y3-Y6 CAGR (after Bain engagement)

The Full Story

The Situation

ConsumerCo* is a global company that operates in over 140 countries. The company had strong historical performance, but over time was losing share to a major global competitor.

Autonomous regional business units were pitted against each other and leadership behaviors had created an atmosphere of warring tribes. There was no mechanism for co-ordination across business units, no central planning function and performance was 100% focused on the local market.

ConsumerCo's new CEO was determined to develop a global brand and leverage scale more effectively, whilst retaining the power of decentralized decision making.

Our Approach

We took a three-phased approach to organizational transformation.

Our Recommendations

The entire organization was aligned to a new vision through leadership focus on three specific areas:
  • Leadership: Bain helped translate the client's vision of a global brand into clear goals and align the organizational system behind it.
  • Decision-making: Bain assisted ConsumerCo in defining roles and assigning responsibilities for decisions impacting international markets.
  • Measures and incentives: Bain recommended that ConsumerCo realign their measures toward milestone-based business, beyond pure financial.

The Results

The new leadership articulated a new strategic direction and values. They developed a clear vision of "becoming the #1 player against common enemy CompetitorCo" and with Bain's help, the new CEO successfully realigned the business.

ConsumerCo enlarged its global management team, which consisted of change champions and the success of the changes were reflected in a substantial improvement in the company's stock price.

* We take our clients' confidentiality seriously. While we've changed their names, the results are real.

 

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