Collinson Grant

Pan-European businesses

What we do

Collinson Grant has paid particular attention to the challenge of creating pan-European businesses. A pan-European structure follows from a radical re-examination of markets and costs. There has never been a 'single market' in Europe, but a multiplicity of different consumer and business-to-business groupings. Often these are not defined by national boundaries. Our aim is to create the best organisational structure to compete successfully.

How we do it

A pan-European organisation features:

new approaches to marketing and selling
centres of excellence in production and services
a single organisational structure with no country-by-country spans of control
a reduced number of operating sites and the relocation of selected functions
shared services and consistent reporting of performance
common ways of managing people
re-designed supply-chains.

We help managers to implement those elements that are appropriate to their particular business. Often this will involve moving operations from one country to another and closing redundant plants.

Our experience

Many of Collinson Grant’s clients have established operations in western Europe, increasingly they are developing sites further east. Each has a different business model but a common desire to strengthen local accountability and maximise the returns from a unified business. We have closed manufacturing units in Belgium, France, Germany and Scandinavia, and transferred operations to new countries. In Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland we have helped to expand facilities to cope with increased demand. In Spain we measured the productivity in three printing plants, and assessed the market for new product lines. Our knowledge of employment law and traditions in many countries allows us to secure change with the minimum of disruption.