Business Partners Alignment

ENHANCINGENHANCINGBUSINESS PARTNERBUSINESS PARTNER

ALIGNMENTALIGNMENT

Lansana SakhoDirecteur Généralhttp//[email protected]

“The partnership is two way street. You’re dependingon the partner to supply the expertise you lack”

Cynthia Griffin, American Business Journalist

I spent over 20 years in large multinationals (Coca-Cola, ColgatePalmolive, Philip Morris, SC Johnson ...) They all have verychallenging business model ….. Business partner (distributors,bottlers…) is required on the ground…

Strategies & tactics are designed by multinationals (suppliers).Business partner’s role is transform those tactics into day to dayoperational actions under suppliers ‘supervision’ : EXECUTIONTo make things happen, you do need basics rules and take intoaccount the interests of all parties.. Everything is aboutALIGNMENT. Ideas that I’d like would share.

3The company to-go for providing added value to your business

• Relation between suppliers andbusiness partner

• Business partner’s Alignment withinsuppliers’ strategy to facilitate execution

THISTHIS IS ABOUT …..IS ABOUT …..


Usually, suppliers that use ‘intermediate’ to get intomarkets do not have capability to fully realise theirpotential as their business is constrained by:

A sporadic shortages of production and distributioncapacity & capability

A partners’ culture of selling only “what goes fast”

A fragmented ‘partners system’, containing toomany non-aligned partners

A lack of skilled associates within the suppliers system

BRUTAL FACTS …..BRUTAL FACTS …..


For these reasons suppliersshould our focus is on...

DISTRIBUTORS

ARCHITECTURE

INVESTMENT

ALIGNMENT


• Alignment means different things to differentpeople

ALIGNMENTWhat We Have Learned

• From the highest level, System Alignment is oneof the most important topics to spend time on ifyou believe that it brings competitive advantage


• A reluctance to accept that both partners in thesystem must make a buck!

• A perception that one side of the partnership ismore effective than the other

• Lack of agreed performance indicators & trust

• Not having shared vision and destination

• Not having shared goals, strategies and plans• No ongoing dialogue

ALIGNMENTWhat undermines Alignment……


We’ve determined that whatneeded is a simple framework

to operate in…


FRAMEWORK FOR ALIGNMENT SYSTEMFRAMEWORK FOR ALIGNMENT SYSTEMFive key elements of System AlignmentFive key elements of System Alignment..

1.CommonDestination

SystemAlignment


Operate with a three-year rolling business plan agreedupon at all operating levels

Common Destination, Goals and StrategiesGUIDING PRINCIPLES...

Develop that plan together (with the partner)

Execute that plan together ... Together make it happen

Pamojoja tutashinda


2.Clarity on howsystem works

1.CommonDestination

SystemAlignment



Understand our respective but interdependent roles• The supplier will primarily create demand• Business partner will primarily fulfill that demand

Business Partner does play a secondary role in creatingdemand through in-outlet execution. Whilst the supplierwill not act as “policemen” with the Business Partner,

the plan will be to constantly contribute improving marketexecution



3.Supportingprocesses


1.CommonDestination

SystemAlignment



• Operate with shared data

• Conduct joint performance business reviews

• Agree upon common measurement systemsfor business performance

• Agree upon capacity and capability

• Reward and incentivise your people in asimilar yet appropriate way



4.MarketOpportunities



1.CommonDestination

SystemAlignment



• See opportunities, not problems

• See “where your brand is not”

• Develop plans to take immediateadvantage of opportunities

• EXECUTE, EXECUTE, EXECUTEthose plans -- with a passion

• Do not tolerate competition



4.MarketOpportunities



1.CommonDestination

5.Trust SystemAlignment



• Maintain regular dialogue at all levels

• That dialogue should be based on commonobjectives, grounded in fact, and conductedwith an openness to each others’ ideas

• Do not have hidden agendas

• Work for your mutual benefit

• Do not be concerned with credit and blame



How can Alignment withyour partners enhance

your business results?

“The first step in taking a company from good to greatwould be to set a new direction, a new vision and strategyfor the company, and then to get business partnerscommitted and aligned behind that new direction”

Jim Collins ‘Good to Great’

Business Partners Alignment

Career

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