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The Executive Newsletter of TheOfficialBoard

Learn to be creative

With Pedro Subijana

4-dec-pedro-subijanaYou often talk about the wisdom of the ancients, how would you define it ?

As for any art or job, you first need to know the basics and to build solid foundations through academic training. Then, as you get more knowledge and practice, you get the freedom to create and to innovate.  Mixing generations in my teams and in my courses has always been stimulating for everyone including myself.

Tell us about you ?

After studying in Spain, I set up my own restaurant in 1975 in San Sebastian, my native town, in the Basque region. We are located the Igueldo Mount above the Atlantic sea. Our ambition is to be one of the hubs of creative cuisine. I also love to share my cooking secrets.

How do you teach your art ?

I have been teaching cooking on TV everyday for 15 years at Tele5 and at Etb2. It was a great way to meet and teach students every day in the intimacy of each home thanks to the massive mail contacts we had. Now, I am more inclined to give classes at my own restaurant or in schools to the younger generation of people. I wrote a dozen books. As they are all out of print, I am now preparing the next one.

Spain produces outstanding wines. What do you recommend ?

I love wines in all the price ranges. Here are some of my preferred red wines : San Vincente 2005 or Las Gravas 2006 about 20 € ; I appreciate a lot the Finca El Bosque 2007 or the Finca Dofi 2005 around 100 € ; then you can find ultimate wines such as Pesus 2004 or La Faraona 2005 for about 250 €.

Which of your many distinctions you are the most proud of ?

For any chef, the Michelin macarons are among the most prestigious distinction you can get. Each year, you also have to be good enough to keep them. We have got our third Michelin Star in 2007. This has been great recognition for the whole team.

Pedro Subijana is one of the Grand Chefs at Relais & Châteaux, a family of 480 prestigious hotels and restaurants in 56 countries. He is also the founder and the owner of Alekare, a 3-Star Michelin Restaurant located in Spain. He is teaching cooking all over the world and advises several hotel groups.

Filed under: Chef's Words, Wine list — @ 6:02 pm on December 9, 2009
 
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Extending professional life

By Marie-Charlotte Diriart

3-dec-marie-charlotte-driart3Extending seniors’ employability is currently a hot topic for most European countries. European countries are recognizing the value that older workers bring to an organization: experience, institutional memory, wisdom, maturity. In 2010, each member of the European Union must achieve the target of increasing its employment rate of seniors (aged between 55 and 64 years old) to 50%.

In 2008, the average rate of senior employment in Europe was 46%, which is the rate recorded for Spain. Above this average are The Netherlands (53%), Germany (54%) and The United Kingdom (58%). They are finding it difficult to keep up with the lead taken by the top of the class: Sweden, with 70 % of seniors in employment. Amongst the worst performing are France (38%), Italy (34%) and Poland (32%) who are now striving to reach the 50% target.

The way to avoid encourage seniors to delay entry into retirement differs from country to country. Some governments try to increase the age of retirement (Finland, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Germany), while others create incentive measures to hire or maintain senior employment by exempting social security contributions (Italy, Spain). Sweden pays subsidies to companies hiring senior employees, and Finland and the UK promote the positive impact of employing seniors via public campaigns.

Whereas the current economic and financial climate obliges most companies to implement constraints or voluntary departure plans for a large number of employees, French companies have to commit to maintaining or hiring senior employees.

The approach taken by France to reduce this gap is worth focusing on since the French model is distinctly punitive, as opposed to offering incentives. Companies having more than 50 employees are required to take certain number of quantifiable measures which favor senior employment. These companies will be sanctioned with a penalty of 1% of the global gross salaries if they do not comply with these regulations as of January 1st 2010.

In Sweden, all the economic players are fully aware of the challenge. To respond to their ageing workforce, companies are encouraged to take creative measures. Like Vatenfall this publicly owned energy company, which in order to avoid terminating more than 8 000 of its senior employees in 10 years time, has established the “80-90-100″ program: 80% work time provides 90% salary and 100% pension funding.  Other companies such as SwedBank, a leading bank in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have taken similar initiatives.

Different countries have vastly different approaches to attracting and retaining seniors, but it is clear that the initiative is taking hold, and one way or another it will be here for some time.

Marie-Charlotte Diriart is Counsel on Employment at Lovells. Lovells is one of the largest international legal practices with offices in Europe, Asia and the United States.

Filed under: Team Motivation — @ 1:23 pm on December 8, 2009
 
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Pricing for the Upturn

By Julian Short, Accenture

1-dec-julian-short2A pricing function focused on managing in a downturn is fraught with risk. At best, a company could miss the potential short-term gains offered by an improvement in the economy, and at worst it could damage the long-term price positioning of the overall enterprise. With companies clearly beginning to position themselves for an upturn, now is the time for executives to be sure that their business has the right pricing strategy and execution capabilities.

As companies prepare for an upturn, we see actions in the following areas as key:

• Ensure that your pricing strategy can accommodate a “multi-speed economy”. In an upturn, geographic, product and customer segments recover at different speeds. Companies need to employ micro-segmentation techniques coupled with differentiated pricing strategies to operate in this environment. Micro-segments should be continually re-analyzed and migrated across strategies as required during the recovery.

• Strengthen your analytical capabilities to support better pricing performance measurement and segmentation. A comprehensive set of analytical reports and KPIs is the basis for any pricing capability; especially if the performance of individual micro-segments are to be monitored and results utilized in strategy and execution.

• Increase the efficiency and accuracy of price setting, execution and control. As the recovery takes hold, prices may change rapidly for a specific micro-segment. Companies should utilize standardized price-setting models and processes mapped to the segmented strategies, enabling transparency, control and efficiency in the process. Differentiated price targets and floors should be utilized during sales negotiations, coupled with a clear price policy document to enforce segment-based rules.

• Integrate and automate pricing technology and data to improve decision making and efficiency. As the pricing environment becomes more complex, pricing technology is increasingly critical to driving effective execution. Leading-edge pricing applications provide the required insight and automate rote pricing tasks, freeing skilled pricing resource up to focus on the more complex processes and exceptions.

• Improve the skills and performance of the pricing organization. Processes, policies, technology and data all play key roles in effective pricing, but the human element is the most critical. Several areas will enhance the overall performance of the pricing organization including: revising and documenting clear pricing roles, authorities and accompanying training for the organization; developing an effective performance management system based on the chosen pricing strategies; and exploring ways to bolster the pricing team through selective hiring.

Optimizing pricing can be challenging even during the best of times, but it is particularly difficult during uncertain economic conditions. By creating a robust pricing capability that leverages leading practices and technologies, companies can effectively capitalize on emerging growth opportunities and, as the economy recovers, position themselves for high performance over the long term.

Julian W. Short leads the Accenture Price & Profit Optimization practice across Europe, Africa and Latin America. Mr. Short works across multiple industries to help companies shape and deliver their pricing strategy. He is based in London. Learn more at Accenture.

Filed under: Marketing — @ 2:08 pm on December 1, 2009
 
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