Client Situation
Our client is a UAE-based, publicly listed company investing in manufacturing entities that service the building and construction industry. The client was undergoing a corporate transformation that focused on a growth strategy and was keen on aligning its corporate strategy with an improved organizational strategy consisting of best-in-class organizational structures, job descriptions, individual performance measures (IPMs) and work committees.
Cedar’s Approach
The client mandated Cedar to assist in the development of the aforementioned organizational strategy. Cedar's approach was as follows:
- Review of all relevant internal documents related to the organizational design, strategy and operations of the enterprise was conducted
- External assessment of competitor strategies using Cedar database and secondary research
- One-on-one interviews with relevant members of the group and the company management teams to allow articulation of their perspective on the organizational architecture
- Integration of the internal assessment, external assessment and one-on-one interview inputs to develop a summarized analysis of the current issues and future objectives
- Presentation of recommendations to senior management
Outcome
Some of the key outcomes of this program were as follow:
- Mapping of a typical portfolio management strategy employed by holding companies to optimize return on investment while managing risk at acceptable levels to gain key insights regarding the alignment of corporate and business level strategies
- Conducting a current structure diagnostic to identify & mitigate issues such as:
- Lack of clear definition of roles and accountabilities
- Duplication of roles and responsibilities, mainly in the finance functions
- Weak leadership structure for businesses
- High span of control, inevitably leading to a diluted strategic focus
- Development of a 2-tier responsibility and accountability system for strategic & operational roles to implement best practices across the supply chain, finance , accounting, IT and HR functions
- Job mapping across the organization, involving a clear definition of current job designations & recommended designations
- Recommendation to implement a committee-based decision-making system, creating the executive committee for strategic initiatives, the project excellence committee, and the sourcing committee for operational excellence
- Identification of 23 position redundancies and the 32 new vacancies; Development of best in class job descriptions with IPMs for 14 key positions