| | There’s a lot of talk
about globalisation
these days, but the sad
truth is that many
respected multinational
companies, despite their
ubiquitous networks of
offices, are struggling
to even be truly
“pan-European”, let
alone global.
So it was interesting
for me to talk to a
company that, rather
than trying to impose
these structures from
above, is building a
genuinely pan-European
practice from the ground
up.
J&M Management
Consulting (founded in
Germany in 1997 by Frank
Jenner, and Andreas
Muller) has its roots in
chemical manufacturing.
The nature of the
sector, and the fact
that the firm’s earliest
clients were big names
such as Bayer, meant
that the company was
able to quickly move
from being a purely
German operation to
operate on the same
pan-European basis as
its clients. Moves into
other sectors –
pharmaceuticals,
consumer products,
automotive and high
tech, acquiring more big
name clients such as
Burger King, Coca-Cola,
OMV and Siemens along
the way, have only
reinforced this culture.
“Our clients’ issues
cross multiple borders,”
says James Black, the
partner who both heads
up the chemicals sector
and is overseeing the
firm’s current drive for
growth in the UK &
Ireland. “That allows us | |
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| | to have a local presence
in different regions,
but we don’t run the
company regionally (i.e.
not by country).”
From strong roots in
manufacturing and
logistics, J&M’s focus
has expanded to take an
end-to-end value chain
approach. J&M names it
Lean Supply Chain
Management.
“What clients come to
us for is to deliver
sustainable results to
the bottom line by
looking at where the
value creation happens,”
says Black. “That could
be making the whole
supply chain work from
end to end or include
looking at the interface
between sales and
marketing, R&D and the
supply chain.”
Although not a pure
systems house, J&M has
become an expert at
fixing broken processes
and then fine-tuning
systems such as SAP.
“Of the top 1,000
chemical companies, 95%
have put it (SAP) in,”
says Black. “But that
could have been because
of a merger or
acquisition, or Y2K –
only a third implemented
it for a business case.
The other two-thirds
want to know how to make
it perform – and to do
that you have to look at
the whole business.”
J&M’s end-to-end
focus means it generally
operates at the “CEO and
minus one” level.
“We talk to business
unit leaders about the
business issues, and
then look to see where
the rest of the team
are, as we will have to | |
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| | work across their
domains as well,” says
Black. “We often find
that CIOs and CFOs are
good coaches for
business change as they
are not isolated in one
function.”
With a strong
emphasis on “working
with” and making change
happen through people,
J&M has become very
finely attuned to the
cultural aspects of
change.
“Some customers know
what they want but when
we receive an RFP we’ll
try to understand what’s
behind it, what the
business drivers are and
what are the political
and emotional issues,”
says Black.
Recently J&M has
found that its holistic
approach is proving
valuable, not just in
dealing with traditional
problems such as these
but emerging issues such
as carbon footprint.
“There’s a lot of
stuff in the news about
how companies can manage
a green supply chain,”
says Black. “It’s
important to look at the
total lifecycle – you
might think you’ve
calculated your carbon
footprint but there may
be a hidden footprint
you’ve overlooked.
Bioethanol has become
controversial, but
there’s good and bad
bioethanol – you have to
calculate all the way
back from the end
product.”
Like many in the
consultancy industry,
Black is becoming
increasingly aware of
the irony of consulting | |
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| | on green issues in an
industry which relies so
heavily on international
travel. On a tactical
level the company
offsets and substitutes
trains for planes
wherever possible, but
these concerns are also
feeding into its growth
agenda, for example, its
UK & Ireland recruitment
drive.
“The game is not to
sell projects in the UK
and just put UK people
on them – our aim is to
be sector-led,” he says.
“But we also want to
achieve a balance
between a pan-European
capability and local
capability so people
don’t have to travel too
much.”
While recruiting
strongly in the UK &
Ireland the company is
also adopting a very
lean approach,
preferring to use
virtual offices rather
than establish a big UK
headquarters.
“We don’t want to
build ‘fortress
Britain’,” says Black.
“A big office adds no
value to clients, and
even if you have a big
office our teams live
and breathe on project
sites.”
Instead the firm
invests a lot of time
and money in bringing
the entire company –
which now numbers 160
consultants as well as a
pool of 40-50 associates
– together in various
locations across Europe.
“We take the time to
re-establish our company
brand, to develop new
content and get the
sectors together,” says | |
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| | Black. “We also get the
sector teams together on
an ad hoc basis.
That’s expensive for us
but that’s the flipside
of building a virtual
organisation.”
J&M believes that it
can achieve sustainable
growth of around 20% per
annum: “We will be
limited by getting
quality people with the
right mindset and also
you can only grow so
much without affecting
quality,” he says. “If
you grow at above
20%-25% you start to run
into problems at the
delivery end, and you
don’t have enough
experienced consultants
to bring new people in.”
Currently in the UK &
Ireland the firm is
focusing hard on its key
sectors of consumer
products,
pharmaceuticals and
chemicals, where it sees
major opportunities not
just in the UK but also
in Southern Ireland, in
addition to servicing
existing pan-European
clients with a presence
here.
“We’re looking for
experienced people,
people who’ve made major
change happen whether in
industry or as
consultants,
team-oriented people who
are passionate about
getting results,” says
Black. “We’re also
looking for people who
will be the leaders of
the future in some of
those sectors.”
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