taiwan

CARLSBERG

My task was to turn around a twenty-six year streak of bleeding money, and to turn Carlsberg Taiwan into a profitable company again. At first, this seemed an easy challenge after Malawi and Cambodia; after all, the business climate in Taiwan was properly developed and infrastructure, supply networks and staff's education level were of the highest quality.

But employee morale was low. Management lacked confidence, and was generally risk-adverse. There was no clear vision for the future. Once again, managing people was the key to success.

I made my staff believe in the business again by showing them the rewards of out-of-the-box thinking, and by stimulating creative endeavors. I opened up new lines of communication, encouraging everyone to speak freely but, above all, listen to each other first. The new business culture led to dramatic increases in both staff self-confidence and motivation.

As new opportunities were turned into viable business strategies, profits grew accordingly. Results grew tenfold within a few years, and the new and expanded Carlsberg portfolio now contained some of the biggest and fastest growing brands in the country. The end result was a clear profit, build out of a revenue (in 2013) of upwards of 25 million US$.