Chief Operating Officer for Indochina- Food & Beverages

IRC Global Executive Search Partner

HR Partners, IRC Global Executive Search Partners - Singapore/China/Taiwan

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Chief Operating Officer (to Owner), Indochina

Client/industry

Leading liquor company in Indochina / Food & Beverage

Situation

The client is a leading hard liquor player in the Indochina region with manufacturing, distribution and export businesses, apart from liquor. The owner approached us for help as they felt that, in order to compete effectively in the global market-place, they would require a top General Manager talent who can build up a core team of managers to bring them to the next lap of success.

Assessment

The client has, in the past, tried to hire potential candidates using other executive search companies and relied on its own network but has not been successful due to various reasons including country location (extreme hardship assignment), language, proper assessment of candidates and possibly wrong search strategy and balancing trade-offs between budget vs. job specifications. It was obvious that the assignment will be difficult juggling the various constraints.

Challenge

The main challenge arises from attracting good suitable talent with prior substantial liquor industry experience in developed countries (to allow best practices transfer and building of next generation leaders) into this Indochina country as the working location may not be attractive.

Methodology/Solution

We sat down with the business owner to understand the full requirements of the position with a free flowing and critical discussion of current and future needs, the key challenges, dimension and scope of the position and very importantly, the soft skills or key attributes expected from the successful candidate as it was clear we would have to look beyond the Indochina region. The client also advised he had a specific budget in mind, and that he realized it could also be difficult to attract many top flight talent to the location where the position will be based. Based on the substantial discussions, we advised the client that we will focus the search on the Indian sub-continent given its more developed liquor market, good communications and general management skills. And most important, from our prior searches, we know that the talent there is more willing to relocate, especially to a hardship country.

Candidate

Based on this brief, the search was kicked off and candidates were assessed not just on their prior experience but their ability to translate their skill-sets in a vastly different cultural and economic background. Due to the difficult nature of the case, senior consultants were assigned to ensure that the position is presented in a compelling and attractive manner to potential candidates, assessed accurately especially on the how’s and why’s contributing to their previous successes, and address any concerns not just from the candidate but also from family members who had to relocate together. The objective was obviously not just to close the case but to ensure critical fit and compatibility of mutual needs and objectives on both the client and candidate side.

Post-mortem

The candidate has managed to fulfill his given mandate and position our client when the country opens up to the global marketplace and put in place a local talent pipeline for the future. We went on to help the client to place other senior management positions.

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