Skip to main content
Case Study

CASE STUDY – MULTINATIONAL FOOD COMMODITY COMPANY

By August 5, 2024August 13th, 2024No Comments

Executive Summary

This case study details the journey of an African-based food commodity company, operational for 10 years and stagnating at a $200 million revenue mark, into a corporatized entity with a global footprint and revenues reaching $600million. Tasked with re-engineering its business processes and strategy, RenB implemented comprehensive changes that led to substantial growth across multiple geographies.

The Brief:

RenB was commissioned to develop and execute a five-year strategic plan aimed at doubling the company’s revenue and improving profitability. This involved a complete overhaul of business and functional processes to align with the new corporate growth strategy. The scope of work included reorganizing operations such as sales, marketing, supply chain, procurement, and production, and establishing new corporate functions like global marketing and corporate communications.

Client Challenges:
The client faced multiple challenges:

  • Strategic Vision: Lack of a coherent strategic outlook and growth primarily driven by chance.
  • Operational Environment: Challenges specific to operating in Africa, including hiring and managing a multi-ethnic workforce and dealing with a complex business environment.
  • Organizational Issues: Inadequate systems and processes, manual operations despite having an ERP system, slow approval processes, and resistance to change.
  • Competency Gaps: Insufficient competencies in people management, process execution, and overall management business best practices.

RenB’s Approach:

RenB adopted a holistic strategy focusing on 7 key pillars:
  1. Business Model Rework: Tailored to new strategies and expanding geographies.
  2. Geographical Expansion: Focused on both Africa and Europe.
  3. Human Resource Development: Executing the best practices in TALENT management, TALENT acquisition and TALENT retention.
  4. Supply Sustainability: Ensured consistent product availability to meet global demand. Focus on Supply Chain Management Best Practices.
  5. Competency Building: Enhanced functional and business area capabilities by skill hiring and up-skilling. Defining standard operating procedures in Sales, Marketing, SCM, Production, HRD, and Finance 
  6. Process Automation: Implemented comprehensive IT solutions for real-time operational visibility.
  7. Corporate Governance: Executed the practices, and processes to bring in controls accountability, fairness, and transparency in its relationship with stakeholders.
This approach was supported by detailed milestone-based planning and extensive stakeholder engagement to ensure buy-in.

Implementation and Results:

The implementation was structured in phases:
  • Phase 1: Corporate strategy formulation and business model restructuring.
  • Phase 2: Establishment and refinement of fundamental business processes.
  • Phase 3: Strategic execution supported by the induction of a global business development team and expansion into seven new countries.
  • Phase 4: Focus on competency building and process automation to reduce dependency on human intervention.
Outcomes were transformative, with the company:
  • Doubling its expected growth, moving towards a billion USD revenue.
  • Dramatically improving profitability from the first year.
  • Increasing market share and operational efficiencies across its expanded footprint.

Conclusion:

RenB’s engagement with the food commodity company stands as a testament to the efficacy of comprehensive business re-engineering. The company not only met its growth targets but also established a robust foundation for sustainable global operations, marked by streamlined processes, enhanced competencies, and effective management systems.

Leave a Reply