The company
An international retailer in cosmetics that had experienced explosive growth in the first 12 years of its existence. Despite growing from one to 220 shops—worldwide—in such as short space of time, consolidation was not on the cards for this company. It had even more ambitious expansion plans. At the heart of this organisation is innovation: new product development ensures a constant regeneration of its range and store image. It adapts up to 30% of its offering every year.

The situation
Growth requires structure, and innovation thrives on well-formulated fundamentals. To expand a company, considerable effort is required. When Gwynt first met this company, different tasks were being carried out collectively. However, the business was becoming so large that this shared approach was no longer possible. It was time to take a closer look at the retailer’s strategy, its organisational structure and core processes, and adapt where necessary.

The approach
Gwynt tackled this interesting and wide-ranging assignment by looking first at the issues and their symptoms. Root causes were discovered during in-depth interviews. Direction, which is necessary to develop processes & organisation, was then given by developing the company’s strategy. This was done in workshops with the entire management team. The resulting vision was used to draw up a blueprint of the organisation, which included detailed process descriptions.

The result
Clarity of vision, agreement on strategy and a practical transition to day-to-day processes and activities resulted. Everyone—from executive directors to shop floor workers—knew what was expected of him or her. This lead to a calmer, more controlled atmosphere. Implementation follows direction: do current processes and organisational structure support the company’s goals or do they have to be redesigned? The impending culture of reactive management and fire-fighting was prevented by creating a detailed framework of processes and assigning logical roles and responsibilities in a renewed organogram.