A company headquartered in our local area was conducting its first overseas business acquisition in the UK. Somebody at the company who we knew, had been tasked to be involved in the operations of integrating this acquisition into the operations of the parent company. The integration was running into some problems, due in part to the company's lack of understanding of operating in a foreign culture as well as other challenges. Our contact in the company reached out to us for advice.

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Challenge #1:

Company was have trouble responding timely to customer inquiries to pick up vehicles.

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Action:

First, we determined that the slow response time was due to lack of equipment rather than individuals. Company was advised that they needed to expand the number of computers in order to process the pick-ups in a timely manner.

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Result:

Based on our suggestion, company expanded its number of computers which enabled staff to work more efficiently and improve their response time.

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Challenge 2:

Company had misjudged the labor culture in the UK due to this being its first major overseas acquisition. Consequently they were having trouble hiring sufficient local staff.

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Action:

The question was whether they should hire Polish workers on a temporary basis to handle the work load. At the time, there was friction regarding Polish immigrant labor, who some accused of stealing British jobs. There was concern that hiring the Poles would cause friction with the local workers. We advised to go ahead and hire the Polish workers. 

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Result:

The Polish workers were hired on a temporary basis. The company was able to expand its operation to 24 hour service, and any friction with local labor was minimal. 

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Challenge 3:

Company was expanding its reach into the islands off the coast of Scotland, and had not yet established a logistics chain to ship the cars to one of their locations in England. 

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Action:

We walked the company through the various steps that the shipments of cars would have to take. We explained that they would have to have several companies involved in handling the vehicles during different stretches of the trip. We explained what kind of companies to look for and to use local references as which companies were the best. 

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Result:

The company was able to construct a logistics chain to bring the vehicles to their location reliably and efficiently. 

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Overall, in part due to our consultation services, the acquisition was ultimately successfully integrated.