GUMPOLDSKRICHEN. Sep. 2014, Gabriel Chemie, a leading European Masterbatch producer with its headquarter in Gumpoldskirchen, Austria has engaged MCG to support the formulation and implementation of the Growth Strategy 2020. The shareholders expectations were defined with an increase in Sales by 70% and an EBIT Margin of 8% till 2020.

In the Screening Phase of the BigStep® Process, the MCG analyzed the Growth Capability of the company together with the Management Team. Necessary prerequisites like existing and potential new customers, markets, products, resources, manufacturing capabilities, processes in general, leadership qualities, the accounting infrastructure and supply chain were screened. For this purpose Fritz Loidl and Markus Gahleitner (both MCG) conducted qualitative Interviews with the Key Players of the Organization and analyzed Facts & Figures e.g. Turnover and Earnings over the last years evaluated market potentials, competition, price levels and the strategic gap.

Furthermore, MCG conducted a Voice of the Customer Analysis (VOC) with two different minded customer segments, on the one hand customers with a positive attitude towards Gabriel Chemie and on the other hand negative ones, to get a good picture of the market perception of GC. With all this information we started the BigStep® Workshop.

The opening question was: “What do we have to do in our home and export markets to achieve our growth and earning targets?” Within 2 days and with 31 employees (of different countries) we formulated a coordinated Growth Strategy with a clear plan of projects and maesures for all countries including Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Russia and other export markets.

The BigStep® Workshop followed a role based approach with debaters (working on solutions), critics (questioning the solution) and networkers (cross-linking information). As usual, the BigStep® Workshop had three sessions. At the beginning the current situation of the respective market had been discussed followed by the definition of the targets. In the last session the projects and measures were determined. Through this approach every participant got a perfect overview and understanding of the different challenges of every single market. After every session the participants found the latest minute of the meeting in their BigStep® Inboxes so they had all the necessary information at any time at hand.

The result of this BigStep® Workshop was a project plan with 66 projects, which will be executed in several waves according to available resources within the next 12 months. The implementation follows a proven execution process, the BigStep® Engine by name, which is a structured, transparent and consequent process that ensures that the things get done.


 

Erich Guttmann, Chief Commercial Officer, Gabriel Chemie:

Guttmann„We have achieved a lot with the BigStep® Method. I am enthusiastic about how all participants worked on a common solution. Now we have to execute the agreed projects and measures. To ensure the execution we cooperate with MCG, because of their experience and a proven process in implementing strategies.“