As one of the world’s dominant brewery giants, SABMiller constantly reviews its strategies and operations to retain its leading position in a highly competitive market. SABMiller’s ongoing and strategic acquisition of regional drink brands and companies compels it to reorganise and align these businesses with its corporate strategy, systems and culture. As a result of a relationship, Mark Cotterrell was invited by Steve Woodward to make contact with the Colombian business, in order to discuss the possibility of facilitating a strategic review and realignment of SABMiller’s operations in Colombia. After making contact with the responsible director in Bogota, MAC submitted a proposal that resulted in our first trip to South America. That first working trip in 2006 was followed by further strategic review processes in Ecuador, Panama and Honduras in 2008 and 2009.
In each instance, our brief was to workshop comprehensive environmental and strategic reviews of that country’s markets, as well as of SABMiller’s operations there.
Our strategic review process included:
• Environmental scan translated into key driving forces
• Defining financial mission and vision statements
• Setting five-year strategic plans
• Identifying specific priorities and actions within those five-year plans
• Aligning the executive teams
• and eliciting their buy-in to the programme.
Each strategic review process comprised of an information gathering phase, two days of workshops, as well as a post-workshop analysis of inputs, which was developed into a comprehensive workshop pack that we customised using inputs from strategic documents, stakeholder interviews, and relevant SAB Miller approaches.
Before travelling to South America we engaged the executive managers of each operation to gather inputs, align expectations and obtain their buy-in to the process. By challenging existing strategies, priorities and initiatives, we provided SABMiller executive teams in each country with a clear understanding of their current market realities. We also left behind the tools and processes for country executives to continue aligning and enhancing their operations.
Led by Director Victor Bergh, with the support of Benoit Raffray, Trevor Jamieson and Anton Strydom, MAC Consulting decided to utilise the Kaplan and Norton and Business Blueprint methodologies as a framework for “Translating Strategy into Action”. Outputs from the workshops included Scorecards and Journey Maps.
On 17 November 2006, Victor Bergh and Benoit Raffray departed on the long flight to Bogota, Colombia via Madrid in Spain. They landed back at OR Tambo Airport on 25 November, tired by five days of air travel, but inspired by the evident success of their venture.
In March / April 2008 Victor and Benoit led a similar workshop exercise in Ecuador, followed by expeditions to Panama and Honduras in May and June 2009, with Trevor Jamieson and Anton Strydom respectively as Victor’s co-facilitators.
All four trips can be considered highly successful and the SABMiller country presidents and vice presidents were clearly pleased with the results. One of the lessons learned was that, when facilitating to people whose first language is not English (i.e. Spanish speakers), one needs to work hard at ensuring that your message and its implications are understood. This requires additional time for working through cultural nuances and misunderstandings, hence the early workshop starts and late finishes.
On the plus side, the local beers were superb, the dining excellent and the South Americans are naturally charming and hospitable. Given the opportunity, MAC would definitely visit again to help improve beer flows in South America.
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