(*) As a measure of confidentiality, the identity of the interim manager and the client are changed
1. BACKGROUND
We are in 2015 in Switzerland in the canton of Geneva.
This family-owned local leader in artisanal bakery in Switzerland employs 800 people for a turnover of €100 million and distributes its products through 80 points of sale located in French-speaking Switzerland, Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel and Fribourg.
If the strength of the integrated network is real, the company must reorganize. A local leader for years, it has “fallen asleep” on its laurels and has not seen the arrival of the competition (PAUL, La Brioche dorée, Exki etc…) which is now strongly attacking the Swiss market.
It must therefore react urgently to rationalise its network: its product offer, merchandising, team training. It must also optimize productivity and in-store methods and improve internal communication.
Faced with the workload that this strategic decision implies, and the poverty of this type of profile locally, the Management chose to work alongside WAYDEN to set up an interim manager who is an expert in transformation in the field of Retail networks.
2. DISPOSITION
Very quickly, however, the mission was undermined by a poorly dimensioned initial brief. Due to a lack of reality about the density of the stakes of such an operation, the client had chosen to work with a person with confirmed experience but not solid enough.
Benoît DURAND-TISNES, Managing Director at WAYDEN, alerted the client on his own initiative and suggested that the interim manager who had been in place for two weeks be replaced as soon as possible by an experienced operational manager, a specialist in B2C and B2C2B distribution networks.
Focus on the Manager journey
Arnaud DEOLRAN began his career in the 1980s before being quickly promoted to senior product manager at CALVET SA and group manager at CACHAREL LINGERIE where he led the distribution strategy and the repositioning of the Playtex and Cacharel brands.
In 1997, he was appointed Director of International Affairs within the ALAIN MANOUKIAN Group to turn around the subsidiaries, develop affiliation and increase the brand’s presence through franchises. Ten years later, he became the right-hand man of the CEO of SMALTO INTERNATIONAL to deploy the brand in France and internationally, before joining BOULANGER to participate at the network level in the integration of SATURN during the acquisition.
3. MISSION
Over a period of one year and in close collaboration with the Associate Director WAYDEN, Arnaud DEOLRAN is implementing a major restructuring plan through six key actions:
- Structuring of the sales organization at the head office and store level
- Launch of a new “2.0” oriented brand with an identity concept; break-even after 6 months, on 3 then 10 stores
- Implementation of the tools necessary to manage the activity: personnel costs, optimization of flows and stocks of goods in store, layout and maintenance costs
- Management of the activity and consolidation of a Group that now has a network of stores with high growth potential
- Creation and animation of a management team of 6 people at the head office (Marketing), 5 regional managers, 1 development manager and 1 technical manager
For his part, Benoît DURAND-TISNES sets up a local follow-up with the manager, including a weekly report offered to the client every weekend as well as a calibration every Sunday evening (at the request of the client) to instruct him of the upcoming projects.
4. ASSESSMENT
The network and its sales are on the rise again, and Arnaud DEOLRAN’s action has enabled the entry of a new local institutional investor in the company’s capital at the end of the mission to strengthen its capacity to develop.
Moreover, a year after the end of the mission, the company again asked WAYDEN and Arnaud DEOLRAN to take charge of the company’s CEO in the context of the departure of the Chairman.
In the space of 18 months, he has once again distinguished himself by implementing the necessary transformations within the Group’s various companies to improve his business in a context of competition that has accelerated even further.