Executive Search - Case Studies
Case Study 1 - American manufacturing startup: General Manager
Speed and creativity are important: being able to spot when a candidate is ready for a big challenge. Having been based in the Far East with clients from all over the globe, we understand the complexities and frustrations of dealing at long distance and in different cultures.
Our client was a US$20m profitable privately owned Florida corporation making components for blue-chip computer and telecoms companies such as Motorola, IBM etc. These customers wanted them to set up a local manufacturing plant in Scotland. This would be their first non-US operation. The President/owner phoned us at short notice. He was arriving in a few days to view sites pre-screened by Locate-in-Scotland, meet lawyers to discuss the new company etc. He was not confident about candidates whose CVs he had been offered. Could we conduct a rapid executive search and meet him for breakfast to discuss the candidates?
We burned some midnight oil and added somewhat to BT's profits over the next few days. Our researchers and contacts were both helpful and effective. Among others, we located a bright chap in a major US manufacturer who had an excellent reputation for programme management and was ripe for the step to general management of a small company.
We met the client with just two CVs. Both fitted his specification closely and he met both candidates during his trip. Our bright chap went to Florida to see them, taking his wife at their suggestion. He was offered the position and became their General Manager a few weeks later.