Case Studies
Diageo
The $3 billion International region of Diageo employed 7,000 people throughout Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia Pacific. The group quickly became the global spirits industry...
team
Executive Team
executive
President, International
industry
Consumer Goods
THE CLIENT
The $3 billion International region of Diageo employed 7,000 people throughout Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia Pacific. The group quickly became the global spirits industry leader and enjoyed considerable market share gains over its nearest competitors for several years.
The business was meeting market growth rates; however, the Regional President was looking for a significant boost in performance.
THE CHALLENGE
The International region is a business of enormous complexity and vast diversity, marketing and selling products in at least 30 distinct cultures and encountering intense competition. Success required navigating different economic, political and consumer dynamics.
The Regional President engaged Gap International to develop and execute a performance-based strategy. This strategy included a compelling and vivid description of the vision for the business. This also included a detailed blueprint for each geographical region which gave clarity on how to become the most trusted and recognized consumer goods company.
Success required navigating different economic, political, and consumer dynamics.
THE SOLUTION
Gap International employed a multi-phase process that involved creating a breakthrough strategy, leadership development programs, business meeting facilitation, and one-on-one coaching with the senior leaders.
Throughout this process, the executive team clarified its purpose as an organization and crafted the future vision, outlining every aspect of what needed to happen in order to realize its growth aspirations. As the strategy continued to be deployed throughout the organization, the business dramatically exceeded the performance of all its internal counterparts.
“The power of us together was exponentially much bigger if we were unified about a common purpose.”
Managing Director Latin America and Caribbean
THE MINDSET SHIFT
The process of devising the breakthrough strategy became a breakthrough in itself for the mindset of this leadership team. Once the overall strategy was created, each of the seven autonomous business units operationalized the strategy for its particular region. Through partnership with Gap International, previously disparate businesses realized the extent to which they had been relating to each other as distinct and separate units, rather than as one business. Having seen the imagined distinctness as a barrier to success, they became accountable for delivering the enterprise-wide vision, linked by a common purpose and became one aligned business. Clear about their common mission, the executives began operating together, ensuring each other’s success and the success of the overall enterprise.
RESULTS
Double-digit growth rates were achieved in both top and bottom lines, marking the first in a series of record-breaking growth rates for the business.
For five consecutive years, the region continued to achieve double-digit operating profit growth for the business with an overall CAGR of nearly 20%.
The region has been called “the growth engine for the future,” both internally and by external analysts.