Millions of dollars in manufacturing process improvements had fallen short of expectations in improving the performance of a consumer goods company’s primary manufacturing facility. Higher employee performance was the missing ingredient but how could the company get manufacturing employees to up their game?
Poaching high performers is a common – and costly -- occurrence on Wall Street. A global investment banking and advisory firm seeking to grow significantly and sustainably needed to reduce turnover of its experienced professionals and strengthen its unique high-performance culture.
A $9 billion pharmaceutical company’s major investment in improving distribution operations wasn't paying off. The impact of new technology was less than 50% of what management had expected. Employee productivity remained low. Workforce scheduling wasn’t aligned with market demand. The goals of reducing costs and improving customer service appeared out of reach despite all the effort and investment.
A $300 million privately held plastics manufacturer saw increased employee productivity as the key to greater profitability. Unfortunately, earlier individual incentive plans failed to achieve the desired impact. In fact, the narrow focus on individual employee productivity led to deterioration in customer service and product quality.
Expanding from a regional to a national operation was the top priority of a successful public service not for profit agency. Leadership recognized that old ways of attracting and rewarding employees were hindering their growth strategy.
Generation X employees represent the future of a highly successful professional services firm. So when rumblings about a lack of clarity around career paths and professional development turned into a roar, senior leadership convened an internal task force. The goal was to identify the competencies employees needed to enhance their professional growth and also meet the firm’s needs. But after nine months and hundreds of man-hours, the taskforce was stuck.
The Finance function within a global technology company's India business unit faced significant operational challenges. Recent growth in the India market strained already inefficient and manual business processes and systems. Leadership dissatisfaction with function performance reached a tipping point when performance began to limit growth. The Country President and Global Head of International Finance asked Axiom to evaluate the function's organization design and determine changes necessary to:
When the $300mm division of a global technology company kept missing its top- and bottom-line objectives, the new General Manager recognized that traditional cost-cutting and restructuring would be insufficient to deliver sustainable and profitable growth. A radical change in business strategy and organization design was needed to ensure the division's long-term success.
Friction between sales management and the field sales force isn’t uncommon but when the entire small business division of a major telecom company was underperforming, swift action was required. A lack of trust, low morale, and a sales comp plan perceived as unfair needed to be addressed. If they weren’t, management knew that sales targets would be missed and next year’s business plans would not be reliable.
Forty-two percent turnover in their front line sales team was costing a $6 billion high tech firm $30 million annually and hobbling sales growth. But in order to meet its growth objectives the company knew that had to add an additional 650 salespeople – and get them productive quickly.
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