Profileimage by ThomasK Hamann Unternehmensberater & Führungskräfte-Trainer from Muenchen

Thomas K. Hamann

available

Last update: 06.09.2022

Management Consultant & Executive Trainer

Graduation: Dr. oec (University of St. Gallen, Switzerland), lic. oec. (University of St. Gallen, Switzerland)
Hourly-/Daily rates: show
Languages: German (Native or Bilingual) | English (Full Professional)

Attachments

20200402_TKHamann_CV-Profile-Projects_EN_DE_TKH.pdf

Skills

  • Strategic Management
  • Business Wargaming
  • Business Building
  • Leadership
  • Organization
  • Customer Insights
  • Market Research
  • Sales Operations
  • Operational Excellence
  • Prozess Optimization
  • Program Management
  • Project Management Office (PMO)
  • Digitization

Project history

05/2018 - 03/2020
Implementing a Program to Improve the Performance of Car Dealerships
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Aiding an international top-tier consultancy in rolling out a program geared to professionalize a premium carmaker’s retail network further—with a clear focus on the following objectives:

  • Increasing the number of new cars sold
  • Improving car dealers’ profitability
  • Realizing short-term impact (over 2 to 4 months)
  • Entrenching the achieved improvements in a long-lasting manner

PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Helping the consulting team of an international top-tier consultancy and the regional/area sales managers on wholesale level on-site in the field:

  • (Continuously) identifying areas of improvement and market potentials
  • Defining, agreeing on, and adjusting pragmatic measures and optimizing the core processes at car dealerships respectively, e.g.
  • Approaching after-sales customers systematically
  • Leading the sales force in a structured manner
  • Optimizing the acquisition of commercial and business customers
  • Optimizing local marketing activities
  • Supporting the implementation of the measures steadily and providing best-practice examples
  • Quantitatively controlling the implementation and the impact of the measures on an ongoing basis

RESULTS

Program rolled out at ca. 180 dealerships over the course of 2 out of 3 waves

Regular support of regional/area sales managers stronger orientated towards the definition and implementation of concrete measures

Relevant key performance indicators significantly improved along the sales funnel:

  • Number of (qualified) customer contacts
  • Number of face-to-face conversations with (potential) customers and test drives
  • Number of quotations
  • Number of new cars sold

07/2019 - 10/2019
Evaluating the Opportunities in the Field of Urban Air Mobility for an Aerospace Company
Confidential (Other, 500-1000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Requirement of a sound basis for the decision-making on setting up an Urban Air Mobility business

Uncertainty about the arising market opportunities and possibilities for their profitable realization on the part of the client


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Cooperating with a technology consultancy with in-depth expertise and experience in the areas of lightweight construction as well as carbon composite and glass-fiber reinforced materials

Evaluating the current situation:

  • Analyzing the current technology portfolio and evaluating the existing R&D know-how and possibilities for in-house production of fiber composite components
  • Running a market analysis and evaluation as well as selecting target applications and customers
  • Evaluating target technologies for selected applications and comparing them with the client's competence profile

Listening to the voice of the customer: conducting interviews with (potential) customers

Deriving specific measures


RESULTS

Short-, medium- and long-term market opportunities identified against the background of the client’s specific situation

Maturity-level matrix for relevant technologies created

Possible scenarios regarding product/service offering and production defined for client

Action plan for further action, in particular for building up relevant competencies, developed


02/2019 - 05/2019
Facilitating an Operational Excellence Program at an Airline Group
Confidential (Other, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Strong need to increase the operational stability in order to avoid negative impacts on the financial position and reputation

Obligation to work on the improvement activities that the airlines committed to at the Aviation Summit in 2018

Resolving operational issues along passenger, crew and aircraft journeys caused by the complexity due to complex network operations with many parties involved

Coordinating local initiatives already started and run by regional units

Realizing short-term effects by:

  • Accelerating turnarounds
  • Optimizing the flight schedule
  • Extending reserves
  • Improving the interaction with passengers

PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Orchestrating existing and new initiatives in addition to accelerating implementation of measures initiated by local projects

Aiding workstream activities (e.g. generating and testing measures in order to improve the punctuality of the first flights of the day)

Enabling full transparency and tracking progress along key performance indicators with respect to passengers, employees, and other stakeholders

Fitting in with a cross-functional control unit set up by the client

Integrating all stakeholders and enhancing decision-making in relevant councils such as the ‘Operational Excellence Board’ or the executive board

Reinforcing commitment, dedication, and attitude of the client’s senior management and staff


RESULTS

Process weaknesses identified and countermeasures developed

Transparency added based on data analyses and improvement potential computed

Countermeasures put into action jointly with local client staff members for testing purposes

Review board discussions moderated and client decisions facilitated


11/2018 - 12/2018
Preparing the Strategic Transformation Program at an Entertainment Group
Confidential (Media and Publishers, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Transferring two thirds of the existing businesses or subsidiaries into a business unit ‘Entertainment’—organized along the core areas ‘Content’, ‘(Digital) Reach’, and ‘Monetization’

Improving the management and coordination within the business unit ‘Entertainment’ based on a future operating model

Successfully completing the planning and budgeting process for the coming year in the light of the strategic reorganization

Ensuring the successful execution in the near term, especially securing the strict adherence to the financial plan (P&L statement)


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Structuring the planned P&L statement along the various types of business and assisting line managers with the definition and scheduling of measures

Defining and setting up implementation roadmaps incl. milestones and establishing a central system in order to track the degree of completion and actual impact of each and every measure

Informing regularly the ‘CFO Entertainment’ and further relevant stakeholders (e.g. ‘Entertainment Board’, board of directors and supervisory board) regarding progress and results of the program

Analyzing the as-is structure of the corporate group

Conducting comprehensive conversations about managers’ expectations on the type of management control and financial contributions of the entertainment businesses


RESULTS

New structure for the P&L statement developed and backed with concrete actions along the core areas

Measures to secure the budget scheduled:

  • Measures prioritized according to their respective financial and strategic impact
  • Key measures described in detail
  • Implementation roadmap defined

Prerequisites created for a monthly reporting on implementation progress and financial success (e.g. scorecard, well-structured information to the ‘Entertainment Board’)

A perspective on the future transformation of the business unit ‘Entertainment’ developed


07/2014 - 12/2014
Optimizing the Lent-Employee Deployment According to German Labor Law
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

A high number of contracts currently awarded to external companies, predominantly engineering-service providers, by the R&D department—resulting in …

  • High proportions of project-like tasks in the form of contracts to produce specific works as well as labor leasing
  • Strong pressure to terminate these kind of employment relationships due to changed legal requirements and human resource policies—either by transferring them into a set-up fully in accordance with the current legislation or by hiring the respective people

PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Consolidating and validating an overview on the current and planned awarding of contracts

Developing a plan to massively reduce the bound lent employees

Working out concepts and conducting follow ups on the taken measures incl. handing over the activities to the client organization

Supporting the various R&D departments of the client in reorganizing their work and designing concepts for lending employees that are fully in line with the current German labor law—in close collaboration with the experts of a prestigious law firm


RESULTS

Reduction plan developed and with all relevant departments in the R&D resort aligned and backed up with transferable and legally approved concepts incl. specific premises and guidelines

Deadlines and responsibilities defined for the staggered roadmap to reduce the number of lent employees

Meanwhile the reduction of the number of lent workers executed and almost completed


05/2014 - 08/2014
Developing the Connectivity and Telematics Strategy for Vans
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Canvassing the adaptability of the connectivity and telematics strategy for passenger cars to light commercial vehicles

Need to clarify further connectivity requirements (B2B) for light commercial vehicles


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Continuous matching with the connectivity and telematics strategy for passenger cars

Defining the offerings:

  • Segmenting the private and fleet customer groups
  • Conducting a comprehensive competitive analysis and market research
  • Defining the service portfolio and prioritizing the individual services

Deducing the revenue and sales concept:

  • Determining the pricing logic (e.g. individual purchases versus subscriptions)
  • Detailing of the sales concepts along the customer journey/touchpoints

Setting the technological realization:

  • Analyzing current and future-oriented technological and regulatory trends
  • Recording the various technological requirements in accordance with the offerings (to be)
  • Describing and assessing alternative scenarios for the realization

Determining the real net output ratio:

  • Synchronizing the requirements with the existing capabilities
  • Assessing the cost of potentially bought-in products and services
  • Preparing the make-or-buy decisions

Computing the business case


RESULTS

External influence factors with relevance to the business model identified and well understood

Business model for the connectivity services defined

Connectivity offerings successfully established at the market


10/2013 - 01/2014
Conducting a Market Study Regarding an ICT Provider’s Options for Differentiation
Confidential (Internet and Information Technology, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

How can the client be relieved from the increasing price pressure caused by the competition and notwithstanding the client’s strong expertise and close relationships the automotive OEMs?

How can the product and service portfolio be advanced to prevail a maintainable price premium—en route to a portfolio build upon innovative ideas and new approaches to It architecture from the typical tender business with predefined specifications and a high price pressure?


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Identifying a relevant range of topics and pressing issues relevant for the departments of selected automotive OEMs and suppliers and developing a comprehensive understanding for the respective relevance to IT based on secondary and primary research (40+ interviews with target and actual customers of the client) along 4 main fields of interest:

  • Research & Development
  • Procurement, Production, Logistics
  • Marketing, Sales, After Sales
  • Connected Car

Analyzing current trends and classifying them in a framework according of their maturity

Discussing the specific operational challenges and their implications on the interaction between IT solutions and the needs of the relevant customers’ departments

Deriving possible approaches for resolution

Comprehensively documenting the results and preparing follow-up meetings of the client with their (target) customers

Tentative appraisal of …

  • The general attractiveness of various interest areas per customer
  • The commercialization potential incl. identifying internal and external obstacles to the realization

RESULTS

Internal capability profile sharpened

Modular document for customer- and department-specific discussions with the client’s customers prepared and a first draft of account profiles for the (target) customers developed

Roadmap to the adaptation and future advancement of the product and service portfolio worked out


01/2013 - 10/2013
Developing the Connectivity and Telematics Strategy for Passenger Cars
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES
How can a workable strategy (staggered in several waves) be built on the ambitions with respect to connectivity/telematics for the passenger-car ranges that were generically formulated in the target picture 2020?


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Defining the offerings:

  • Segmenting the private and fleet customer groups
  • Conducting a comprehensive competitive analysis and market research
  • Defining the service portfolio and prioritizing the individual services

Deducing the revenue and sales concept:

  • Determining the pricing logic (e.g. individual purchases versus subscriptions)
  • Detailing of the sales concepts along the customer journey/touchpoints

Setting the technological realization:

  • Analyzing current and future-oriented technological and regulatory trends
  • Recording the various technological requirements in accordance with the offerings (to be)
  • Describing and assessing alternative scenarios for the realization

Determining the real net output ratio:

  • Synchronizing the requirements with the existing capabilities
  • Assessing the cost of potentially bought-in products and services
  • Preparing the make-or-buy decisions

Computing the business case


RESULTS

External influence factors with relevance to the business model identified and well understood

Business model for the connectivity services defined

Connectivity offerings successfully established at the market


06/2013 - 09/2013
Preparing the Fast-Track Rollout of a Connectivity and Telematics Strategy
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

How can the present internal initiatives regarding connectivity services and electro-mobility with a limited focus on a few core markets be internationally integrated and leveraged?

According to what criteria shall the markets be prioritized for being considered for the rollout?

What actions should be taken in markets that are not included in the rollout planning?

How can markets with a low priority be supported in accelerating the self-reliant implementation of the connectivity strategy (e.g. through providing a standardized approach)?


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Setting the strategic premises:

  • Defining the key requirements from the headquarters’ perspective
  • Eliciting the country-specific circumstances and the current status of the relevant local initiatives

Developing a rollout concept for a selected pilot country:

  • Establishing a criteria catalog for prioritizing the markets
  • Selecting the pilot country
  • Deducing the rollout concept
  • Implementing the concept in the pilot market

Defining a standardized rollout process:

  • Assimilating and analyzing the lessons learnt from the pilot in a structured way
  • Developing an overall strategy across all markets regarding every connectivity and electro-mobility initiatives incl. configuring the respective value chains
  • Establishing regional hubs in order to pool the activities if required

RESULTS

Strategic premises set

Criteria for the selection of a pilot country determined

Initiative integrated in the ‘regular’ rollout plan at the heart of the corporate program due to the supreme importance of a strategic unification with the current focus markets


04/2012 - 07/2012
Developing a Growth Strategy for an International TIC Corporation
Confidential (Other, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES
How can the preliminary work on strategy development—carried out by the client on their own by each and every of their business units separately in a bottom-up approach and in different formats—be consolidated to a consistent growth strategy on corporate level?


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Conceptually aligning and amending the preliminary work regarding the different business-unit strategies by setting a standardized structure of analyses

Supporting the executing analyses that allow for comparisons between the business units:

  • Providing additional data
  • Assessing the market attractiveness
  • Conducting a competitor analysis
  • Quantifying the financial impact on revenue and EBIT margin and estimating the resource requirements for implementation

Supporting the board members by consolidating the business-unit strategies to a consistent overall growth strategy on corporate level


RESULTS

Business-unit strategies revised and overall strategy developed and approved by the top-management team

Overall strategy presented by the CEO to the supervisory board and approved by them with a slight reduction in the ambitious but realistic objectives

Revenue increased by 35% during the five years after the completion of the project


09/2011 - 02/2012
Developing the China Strategy for a Big Automotive Company
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES
Need to develop and align a vision 2020 for the business activities in China and to come up with a respective strategy based on overarching trends and specific scenarios regarding the potential market development for all business units (passenger cars, trucks/buses, vans, financial services, new business opportunities)


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Picking a mixed Chinese-German team at the client’s headquarters in Germany and their branch office in China

Identifying current trends

Defining the product and service portfolios (‘Where to play?’)

Determining the future setup along the value chain based on consistent business-unit strategies for …

  • Research & Development
  • Procurement
  • Production
  • Marketing & Sales
  • After Sales
  • Support functions like Organization and Human Resources

Considering existing strategic alliances and deriving the demands for new cooperation partnerships seen from the angle of make-or-buy decisions (‘How to win?’)

Assessing the strategy:

  • Developing a business case
  • Carrying out a risk analysis and deriving a fallback solution ‘Plan B’

Preparing the implementation by developing a roadmap


RESULTS

Strategy to capture additional profitable growth paths in the Chinese market defined on corporate level and broken down into consistent business-unit and functional strategies

Implementation plan developed

Group revenue in China increased by 44% within 5 years after the completion of the project


06/2011 - 11/2011
Conceptualizing and Introducing a Performance-Management System
Confidential (Other, 1000-5000 employees)

CHALLENGES

How to continue the efforts on improving the effectiveness and efficiency that were carried out in several cost-reduction programs with the aid of external consultants?

Conceptualization, introduction and fixing a performance-management-system incl. continuous improvement process (CIP) at a shared-services center of a specialty-chemicals group with ca. 1,800 employees in 14 service departments and approximately 400 mn EUR of total revenue (ca. 35% externally earned)
 

PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Introducing a performance-management concept highly proven in the automotive industry incl. organizing an experience exchange with other companies from the automotive and industrial-goods sectors

Performance cockpit:

  • Providing transparency
  • Developing a KPI system and preparing its realization in an IT system

Continuous improvement process:

  • Further developing the existing relevant expertise
  • Defining all relevant processes and organizational elements
  • Developing a ‘tool box’

Performance and innovation culture:

  • Running an accompanying communication
  • Diagnosing the current situation and taking actions to strengthen the performance ‘DNA’

RESULTS

Performance-management concept adapted to the client-specific needs and comprehensively documented

Client employees informed, mobilized, and introduced to the concept

Performance management extensively introduced and organizationally fixed after the successful pilot in 4 service departments within the scope of the project in 2011

On average an efficiency increase of 5.4% per year achieved and a broad range of measures successfully implemented to enhance the effectiveness and the satisfaction of internal and external customers


04/2011 - 05/2011
Preparing the Process Benchmarking of Two Commercial-Vehicle OEMs
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

How to prepare the future assessment of value levers by creating a homogenous basis of comparison with respect to the process landscapes and performance prior to the merger of two commercial-vehicle manufacturers?

How to evaluate the current performance capability and to identify stand-alone improvements?


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Defining the methodology:

  • Developing a joint methodology leveraging proven approaches and tools
  • Coordinating the approach with the merger partner—only regarding methodological issues

Finding relevant facts/information:

  • Harmonizing the process model and identify the proportion of value added
  • Mapping capacity (in FTE) onto processes, functions, and products
  • Analyzing process KPIs
  • Conducting function-specific analyses (e.g. material cost, investments in R&D and production)

Planning of the following phases incl. determining the milestones and activities for …

  • Identifying the key value drivers (synergies, stand-alone improvements):
  • Objectively benchmarking of core processes, capacity, and KPIs
  • Comparing the cost and revenue structures
  • Developing a mutual vision, joint initiatives and an implementation plan

RESULTS

Approach and methodology to prepare the benchmarking defined and aligned on both sides

Process landscapes, bound capacity, and process KPIs independently of one another ascertained and documented

Activities of the following phases—after the competition authorities’ approval—contrived

Merger successfully accomplished in the meantime


06/2010 - 07/2010
Optimizing the Wholesale and Retail Network of a Premium Carmaker
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Preparing for the additional sales volume according to the medium- and long-term planning—especially coming from new compact-car models and the market growth in this segment

What best practices regarding sales approaches/concepts and efficiency can car dealers learn from their—not directly competing—peers and from successful players in other industries?


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Analyzing and editing best practices shown by top-notch car dealers

Identifying, running detailed analyses, and editing best-practice examples from other industry sectors (e.g. with respect to ways of increasing the showroom traffic)

Identifying key success factors resulting in outstanding sales figures

Assessing detailing the transferability to automotive wholesale and retail operations—with main focus on …

  • New sales approaches
  • Sales efficiency in order to pave the way for the planned increase in sales volume

RESULTS

Successful sales approaches and concepts—developed by leading national sales companies, importers, and dealerships as well as by sales professionals in other industries—identified and edited

Key success factors derived from best practices and assessed on their importance

Transferability of the reviewed approaches and concepts evaluated and specified with respect to their applicability to automotive sales

Action plan developed


05/2010 - 07/2010
Managing the ‘Product & Process Quality’ for a Passenger-Car Maker
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Need to ensure the systematical and structured execution of the program—from the identification of measures to the repeatedly continued, i.e. sustainable, application of the quality processes and their results in all relevant product lines

Advancement and strengthening of the network model in order to ensure the success of the program—even after its completion

Assurance of the accepted and planned long-term reduction in warranty costs for all quality-related projects and processes


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Ensuring and increasing the previously agreed warranty benefit  for the quality-related projects that were already cleared and transferred into the line organization:

  • Reviewing the practices brought forward by all cleared projects
  • Comparing current practices in the various product lines and departments based on the review results with documented project results and process definitions
  • Analyzing and documenting deviations and their root-causes as well as their impact on the benefit

Generating suggestions on improvements and benefit proliferations:

Running workshops in order to detail and further develop recommendations regarding improvements of practices and benefit increases

Documenting and handing over:

  • Describing and getting alignment on required changes in the ‘generic’ processes
  • Submitting documented changes at the respective process owners and offices for approval
  • Initiating eligible change-management measures if useful or necessary

Project management office (PMO)


RESULTS

Reviewed as-is practices and variances depicted

Propositions on improvements of practices and benefit increases pointed out

Required changes in the ‘generic’ processes documented in writing (electronically) and handed over to the relevant process owners and offices

Results filed in the ‘sustainability cockpit’ and ‘benefit monitor’


01/2010 - 02/2010
Adapting the Used-Car and Fleet-Sales Strategy to the Chinese Market
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Strongly growing used-car market in China

Dealerships not prepared for the trade-in of used cars—not even for the own brands—in stark contrast to the professional used-car markets

High growth rates and professionalization of the flees business in the Chinese market—beyond the traditional sales to administrational bodies


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Preparing the project:

  • Preparing and running a kick-off meeting with all involved people
  • Identifying pre-conditions and a framework for the used-car business; reviewing all existing pre-work

Diagnosing the starting situation:

  • Consolidating and—if necessary—updating all existing findings on market, target customers, competitors and legal requirements
  • Reviewing the overall performance of the current used-car business, assessing the internal capabilities, and identifying weaknesses

Developing the to-be concept:

  • Defining the new operating model
  • Determining the investment needs
  • Working out a feasibility study
  • Preparing a detailed implementation plan

Piloting:

  • Defining the pilot model
  • Selecting the pilot cities
  • Analyzing the pilot phase and editing the lessons learnt

RESULTS

Client team mobilized

Pre-conditions defined and a comprehensive understanding of the external and internal starting situation achieved

Used-car and fleet-sales concept for the Chinese market defined (incl. business case) and adapted based on the learnings from the pilot phase

Implementation roadmap incl. a catalog of measures developed

Rollout initiated


10/2009 - 12/2009
Competitive Product and Cost Analysis for a Turkish Bus Manufacturer
Confidential (Other, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES
Uncertainty on the side of the corporate parent of the bus manufacturer about their potential to succeed


PROBLEM-SOLVEING APPROACH

Analyzing the competitive position regarding product-related aspects:

  • Analyzing the development of the market and its segments
  • Appraising the market attractiveness
  • Deriving the customer preferences and buying-factor profiles
  • Ascertaining the customers’ perception of the client’s and their competitors’ brands and products

Analyzing the competitive position with respect to costs:

  • Detailing of the cost structure
  • Analyzing product profitability
  • Comparing KPIs
  • Conducting a conceptual benchmarking and a value analysis
  • Deducing cost-reduction measures

Determining the future strategic directions:

  • Defining a regional strategy:
  • Prioritizing focus markets and determining the market-penetration path
  • Assessing the entry into new markets, especially with respect to R&D cost versus the additional sales and revenue potential
  • Defining strategic levers:
  • Selecting and improving products in order to meet the market requirements
  • Optimizing the existing sales organization
  • Sketching a roadmap to the consequent positioning of the client’s brand on ‘value for money’ while increasing the profitability

RESULTS

Short-term measures defined to refocus on core markets

Mid-term approaches to a careful geographic expansion developed

Long-term directions identified in order to selectively enter new markets

Measures packages consequently and successfully implemented after having completed the project at the end of 2010:
Net revenue more than doubled until 2016


06/2009 - 12/2009
Defining an Organizational-Development Program for a Border Guard
Confidential (Other, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

How can the Border Guard of a Middle-East country be developed into an effective 21st century security force?

Requirement for close cooperation with other contractors (e.g. with an international technology corporation as the prime contractor and police units of another country as instructors)

Design and planning of the entire program management in order to cope with the above-mentioned challenges


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Communication campaign:

  • Managing the interfaces to the module Change Management
  • Planning and executing the initial communication

Vision 2020/strategic setting:

  • Analyzing the as-is status and best practices
  • Defining the vision, mission, etc.

Organizational Redesign:

  • Analyzing the as-is status and best practices
  • Defining and operationalizing the target operating model
  • Planning the workforce transition
  • Providing the process house
  • Defining the organizational structure (to be)
  • Developing the implementation guide
  • Transforming the results into the relevant IT systems

Change Management:

  • Analyzing the as-is status and best practices
  • Planning the communication
  • Planning and executing marketing measures
  • Periodically assessing the change readiness
  • Deriving the HRMS warehouse information
  • Designing and coordinating change efforts
  • Aligning change trainings with other training efforts
  • Planning and conducting change trainings

Project management office (PMO)


RESULTS

Kick-off event for the program prepared and brought off

Planned organizational-development program meanwhile realized


12/2008 - 05/2009
Developing an Innovative Sales and Service Concept for an Automotive OEM
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Traditional business models of an OEM pressurized by changing customer requirements and significantly increasing costs evoked by alternative powertrains

How should the ideal design of a new sales and service model for a new ‘megacity vehicle’ look like?

How can new target groups be unlocked in order to exploit additional sales potential along the product life cycle?

Need to reduce the sales and service costs far below the current level


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Analyzing existing—sometimes weakly developed—social trends to understand future customer demands

Systematically identifying and assessing best practices within and beyond the industry boundaries in addition to further incitements

Segmenting the target customers

Developing alternative concepts for the new sales and service model, especially with respect to processes and retail formats along each target group’s customer journey

Describing all relevant processes in detail and deriving the required resources

Evaluating the customer benefit for the various possible customer touchpoints along all sales and service processes

Selecting the elements of the to-be concept based on a comprehensive business case incl. sales, cost, and revenue levers as well as based on the customer-value assessment


RESULTS

Joint venture between the client and a business partner initiated in order to jointly establish a car-sharing offering (already realized now)

New processes, roles, and retail-formats (e.g. tailor-made showroom concepts) piloted in selected test markets and meanwhile fully implemented

Sales and services costs significantly reduced

New approaches successfully transferred to the client’s core brand by a huge worldwide corporate program


10/2008 - 12/2008
Assessing the Risk and Developing a Contingency Plan for a Retail Network
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Many Chinese dealers of a German passenger-car manufacturer’s sales network facing financial difficulties up to bankruptcy due to the financial crisis and economic downturn in 2008

Need to understand the financial situation of the dealer network in China and to assess the potential impact on the business

Necessity to develop and apply a systematic approach that allows for swiftly collecting and analyzing all required data/information due to the sheer number of dealerships (ca. 1,000)


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Collecting the data and conducting a static risk analysis:

  • Systematically gathering financial data (balance sheet, P&L statement, cash-flow statement) regarding the recent years by sending out a standardized questionnaire to various organizations (dealerships, OEM/wholesale level, and third parties)
  • Validating the data regarding consistency and correctness with the aid of a CPA team
  • Assessing the financial strength based on selected key performance indicators and evaluating the strategic importance of the dealers
  • Displaying all dealerships in their respective positions in the static risk matrix

Running a dynamic risk analysis:

  • Developing alternate scenarios (base/best/worst case) based on different assumptions regarding the future macro- and microeconomic conditions
  • Simulating the liquidity needs for each dealership under all 3 scenarios over the next 18 months

Developing a contingency plan:

  • Categorizing all dealerships in order to prioritize them
  • Defining first countermeasures for the prioritized dealer categories

RESULTS

Concept for assessing the financial risk developed and operationalized

Distribution of risks in the entire Chinese retail network ascertained—broken down into a portfolio analysis and the likely implications on the dealerships’ sales and revenue performance

Liquidity gaps and the financial resources determined that are required to safeguard the threatened dealers

First approaches and measures developed in order to mitigate the risk


07/2008 - 10/2008
Developing a CO₂ Strategy for a Manufacturer of Premium Cars
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Requisite to take CO₂ emissions more into consideration as a key impetus for the product/engine strategy due to considerable changes in customer behavior and legal requirements

Endorsement of the so far dominant technology orientation with a stronger market focus

Need for an interdisciplinary integration of the marketing & sales and the research & development departments to allow for achieving sustainable and company-wide accepted results



PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Conducting a driver and trend analysis with respect to legislation, customer behavior, competition, and total cost of ownership (TCO) for the main markets

Formulating various scenarios based on the driver and trend analysis to determine the potential future development of the markets and the concomitant sales volume

Identifying strategic courses of action, especially to secure the planned sales and revenues

Prioritizing the courses of action with respect to their relevance for reaching the pre-set objectives

Describing the cross-departmental CO₂ strategy in an operating model that allows the realization based on new responsibilities and roles along the relevant processes

Developing an implementation plan


RESULTS

Clear understanding of the legal and market requirements in addition to the globally relevant trends with relevance to CO₂ emissions

Viable basis for decisions related to the product strategy laid

CO₂ issues firmly incorporated in the product-strategy development process by establishing a CO₂ steering committee


04/2007 - 06/2008
Establishing a Function for Organizational Development
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)


07/2006 - 03/2007
Optimizing the Operational Sales Processes at a Sports-Car OEM
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Increase in sales effectiveness:

  • Meeting the ambitious sales, price and revenue targets
  • Raising the repurchase rate
  • Optimizing the price structure between new and used company cars and improving the residual-value stability

Increase in sales efficiency:

  • Laying the basis for new growth through new vehicle projects
  • Allocating the resources within the sales organization on OEM and wholesale level according to functional requirements—taking a rationalizing target of 10% as a basis

PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Developing a process model across all sales levels

Preparing the project and compiling the project definition

Analyzing the as-is situation:

  • Conducting rough analyses to identify and prioritize weaknesses along the as-is processes
  • Analyzing the prioritized weaknesses in detail
  • Recording the bounded capacity (as is) in full-time equivalents (FTE) in order to determine the base line for the computation of the rationalization target in absolute numbers

Shaping the to-be organization:

  • Working out concepts and approaches in order to overcome the prioritized weaknesses and pooling them into action fields/bundles of measures
  • Defining the to-be processes
  • Deriving the organizational structure (to be)
  • Allocating capacity to the to-be organization

Preparing the implementation and developing an action plan incl. dates, responsibilities, budgets, etc.

Supporting the implementation:

  • Communicating on a regular basis
  • Controlling taken actions
  • Controlling effects

RESULTS

8 out of 18 action fields prioritized

Sales-network development organizationally separated from the sales operations (new department established)

Processes and the remaining organizational structure adapted to the to-be concepts

Significant increase in effectiveness in the form of additional contribution margins considered in re-worked target agreements of the relevant directors and additional capacity created by efficiency improvements


01/2006 - 12/2006
Optimizing the Processes Regarding the IT Landscape for a Sports-Car OEM
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Increase in efficiency and effectiveness of the processes regarding the planning, development and management of the information systems (IS) within the group

Definition of a clear and lean organizational structure (incl. committees)

Optimization of the management and the quality-assurance in IS projects

Identification of the rationalization potential of 10% (defined top-down by the board members) based on the internally bound capacity



PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Allocating the processes to the elements of the generic IT value chain ‘plan—build—run’ and categorizing the support functions (e.g. IS controlling, IS procurement)

Preparing the project and compiling the project definition

Analyzing the as-is situation:

  • Conducting rough analyses to identify and prioritize weaknesses along the as-is processes
  • Analyzing the prioritized weaknesses in detail
  • Recording the bounded capacity (as is) in full-time equivalents (FTE) in order to determine the base line for the computation of the rationalization target in absolute numbers

Shaping the to-be organization:

  • Working out concepts and approaches in order to overcome the prioritized weaknesses and pooling them into action fields/bundles of measures
  • Defining the to-be processes
  • Deriving the organizational structure (to be)
  • Allocating capacity to the to-be organization

Preparing the implementation and developing an action plan incl. dates, responsibilities, budgets, etc.

Supporting the implementation:

  • Communicating on a regular basis
  • Controlling taken actions
  • Controlling effects

RESULTS

42 top weaknesses identified; 6 action fields prioritized; 5 design concepts across processes defined

Processes, functions and roles brought in line with the Standard IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)

To-be processes and organizational structure adjusted

Targeted rationalization potential identified and realized through 8 work packages over a longer time period


02/2005 - 08/2005
Developing a Growth Strategy for a German Commercial Vehicle Manufacturer
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Do in the market segment ‘light commercial vehicles/vans’ exist growth opportunities for the client organization?

Should the client enter this market segment, and if so, how?

To what extent would an entry into this market segment increase the utilization of the workshops/service network?


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Creating a deep understanding of the market with respect to the relevant segment:

  • Compiling data regarding the worldwide market size and the forecasted market development over the next years
  • Ascertaining the size of the various target customer segments
  • Incorporating the market trends with relevance to the customer segments

Identifying the factors that determine market success:

  • Analyzing purchase criteria
  • Deriving the vehicle characteristics (to be)
  • Assessing the fit between the client brand and developing the requirement specifications

Analyzing the cost structure and the operational competencies:

  • Generating an understanding of the main cost drivers and deriving a reference cost structure
  • Working out the most important levers to increase profitability (sensitivity analysis)
  • Developing a profitable target-cost structure based on a ‘best-of logic’

Defining the market-entry strategy:

  • Determining prioritized regions
  • Assessing potential cooperation partners and acquisition targets respectively
  • Preparing a detailed business plan

RESULTS

Disproportionate high costs/risks compared to the potential earnings/chances

Effort to enter the market segment ‘light commercial vehicles/vans’ abandoned

Project stopped ahead of schedule

No market entry in the relevant segment by the client organization according to the recommendations—even not 12 years after the project


02/2005 - 04/2005
Reorganizing the Key-Account and Direct-Trade Business for a Leading Car Brand
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES
What processes and organizational structure are ideal for being successful in the key-account and direct-trade business and—as measured by the potential profit contribution?


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Analyzing and making the established organizational concept plausible:

  • Roughly segmenting the key accounts and direct customers
  • Describing the core processes by customer segments
  • Contrasting the processes and organizational structure with best practices
  • Anticipating future requirements
  • Enhancing the concept by interviewing typical customers
  • Identifying weaknesses and deriving/prioritizing actions based on the need for action

Designing the to-be organization:

  • Documenting the to-be processes
  • Developing different options for the organizational structure
  • Evaluating the options and selecting the favorite options
  • Planning the required capacity and resources
  • Specifying the internal and external interfaces
  • Identifying further levers for effectiveness and efficiency improvements

RESULTS

To-be processes defined by customer segments

Organizational structure (to be) derived and backed with capacity/resources


08/2004 - 02/2005
Systematizing the Planning and Management of Development Cost for New Cars
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES
How can a centralized planning and cost estimations for new car developments effectively conducted on component, cost-center, and activity level?


PROBLEM-SPLVING APPROACH

Defining a standardized vehicle structure:

  • Defining a standardized structure for the vehicle and the components
  • Matching the standardized structure with existing structures/modules

Identifying the cost levers and defining the premises:

  • Ascertaining crucial cost drivers
  • Detailing the components with respect to functional and technological specifications
  • Aligning the standard specifications within and between the relevant departments

Detailed analysis of past vehicle projects:

  • Selecting reference projects
  • Evaluating as-is values
  • Recording the process steps
  • Detailed appraisal of the cost drivers for selected components

Determining to-be values for the development costs based on the functional specifications of a standard vehicle

Applying the new planning method:

  • Defining new processes for cost planning and management
  • Conducting pilot applications on selected vehicle projects

Conceptualizing and developing a new IT tool for planning


RESULTS

Effort and time required for estimating the development costs for new vehicle projects significantly reduced

Reliable and ambitious basis for the planning of development cost established that is well accepted by the various departments

Key cost drivers determined that can be used to assess the costs of different technological concepts

Transparency on costs improved to allow the definition and prioritization of project/vehicle specifications

Basis for systematically identifying improvement potentials and following up the initiated measures in a transparent way


07/2004 - 09/2004
Developing Distinctive Knowledge Around Innovation Commercialization
Confidential (Other, 5000-10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES
Developing distinctive knowledge on the successful commercialization of innovations, particularly new product or service offerings—from just after the idea generation until peak sales


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Reviewing established approaches and conducting interviews with clients and consultants in order to develop a consistent framework along the following aspects that run parallel to and are highly complementary to the technical product-development process:

  • Design-to-market issues:
  • Market and customer segmentation
  • Customer-value analysis
  • Value-proposition development/testing
  • Pricing of new offerings and value-capture strategies
  • Launch management:
  • Brand positioning and promotion
  • Sales-/communication-channel management
  • Sales operations and sales-force execution
  • Strategic partnerships/alliances

RESULTS

Learning codified and new knowledge materials developed along the various elements of the framework for successful commercialization of innovations:

  • Document that can be used with senior-level clients
  • Comprehensive documentation incl. best-practice examples

07/2001 - 07/2004
Analyzing Cultural Dynamics: On Safeguarding Classical Music Orchestras (Leave of Absence; Doctoral Thesis, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland)
N/A

CHALLENGES

In what way do an age structure with a disproportionate number of elderly classical-music listeners and a potential future decrease in size of the classical-music audience threaten the existence of orchestras?

What are the leverage points for safeguarding the classical-music orchestras in the long run?


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Exploring the current situation with respect to …

  • the development of the number of orchestras and the number of their established posts
  • the importance of attendances and utilization for the existence of classical-music orchestras
  • the age structure and development in size of the classical-music/opera listeners and people attending such live performances
  • potential implications

Presenting the underlying causes for the age structure of the classical-music audience:

  • Reviewing and integrating the relevant literature
  • Developing a qualitative model

Developing a simulation model:

  • Extending the qualitative model by mathematical formalization
  • Validating the model sectors and the model as a whole

Running simulations:

  • Extrapolating the status quo
  • Simulating various policies

Communicating and implementing results:

  • Defining evaluation criteria for the policy design
  • Deriving recommendations regarding policies/actions

RESULTS

Significant decrease of the classical-music audience over the next 30 years projected

Three main directions of impact identified:

  • Encouraging children’s and adolescents’ instrumental activity
  • Inciting children and adolescents to listen to classical music and opera
  • Fostering musical education

Need for action clearly communicated (e.g. via associations and councils, by contributing articles to journals/magazines and radio broadcasts)


03/2002 - 05/2002
Creating a Broader Financial Scope for a German Top Orchestra
Confidential (Other, 50-250 employees)

CHALLENGES

Attendances growth not appropriate to the artistic successes

Financial restrictions: Too small budget measured against the artistic successes and in comparison to other orchestras

Need for a broader financial scope—in consideration of all relevant economic and artistic-strategic levers


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Examining the as-is situation regarding earnings, costs, concert management and business processes

Analyzing best-practice examples

Optimizing existing sources of income:

  • Increasing the number of attendees/subscribers by optimizing the concert bill as well as by improving marketing and public-relations efforts
  • Improving the subscription and pricing concept
  • Raising the advertising revenues
  • Optimizing merchandising/CD sales
  • Safeguarding existing subsidies

Exploiting new sources of income:

  • Setting up an advisory board
  • Fostering special projects
  • Developing a fundraising/sponsoring concept

Reducing the costs:

  • Exploiting new ideas for cost reduction (e.g. outsourcing of the concert management and sale of tickets)
  • Reducing the running operating costs (e.g. by optimizing the processes)

RESULTS
Financial scope quickly broadened and sustainably ensured by medium- and long-term measures

01/2001 - 07/2001
Target-Costing with Respect to a Passenger-Car Class Under Development
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES
Systematically reducing the cost of applicable materials in order to meet the currently unmet top-down objective prior to the development of the product-requirements document


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Deriving target costs in a bottom-up approach and assessing the customer benefit for single applicable-material items:

  • Defining the premises (e.g. planned CIP-rate) and formats
  • Deriving the target costs based on the agreed specifications of the bought-in applicable materials
  • Evaluating the contributions to the overall customer benefit and estimating the required budgets for meeting the desired product characteristics
  • Presenting and approving target costs in review meetings and documenting the target costs for the single applicable-material items

Comparing the bottom-up with the top-down target costs for all applicable-material items of the entire vehicle (‘matching’):

  • Aggregating the target cost for the single items to an overall sum
  • Matching the bottom-up with the top-down target cost
  • Agreeing on a target-cost structure

Defining specific paths for meeting the target costs for all single bought-in applicable-material items:

  • Allocating the deviations between the expected and targeted costs to levers
  • Identifying chances and risks regarding meeting the target costs
  • Developing an action plan

RESULTS

Ambitious target costs for all single bought-in applicable-material items calculated and documented in a standardized way

Contribution of the various applicable-material items to the overall customer benefit with respect to the target positioning of the vehicle assessed and considered

Gap between expected and targeted costs completely closed and alignment of the target-cost structure for all applicable-material items achieved

Work plan with specific measures for achieving the target costs for prioritized applicable-material items developed


08/2000 - 12/2000
Establishing a Business-Plan Competition in Austria: ‘ideas to business’
Confidential (Other, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES
Enhancing the technologically innovative strength of the Austrian economy by promoting start-up companies

PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Joining the forces of private companies and organizations under public law as sponsors of the initiative

Organizing a business-plan competition to support technology-based business ideas:

  • Defining the concept/setup of the competition
  • Mobilizing a strong network by winning partners/sponsors/promoters
  • Preparing materials for documentation and advertising purposes incl. TV spot, planning and conducting events (e.g. kickoff/road-show events, coaching evenings, ‘coaching the coaches’, price award ceremonies)
  • Providing expert assessments for submitted business plans

RESULTS

In the first year: 134 business ideas received and 58 business plans completed

2016: Almost 18,000 website visits on average per month (www.i2b.at); 395 specific business ideas recorded, 230 business plans qualified for the competition

i2b Austria-wide well established as an initiative that enhances the preparation of business concepts and plannings in written form

Actually, a considerable number of start-ups successfully founded


12/1999 - 07/2000
Developing a Growth Strategy for a German Premium Automotive OEM
Confidential (Automotive and vehicle construction, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES
How can innovative product offerings and a better market coverage help to achieve profitable growth?


PROBLEM-SOVING APPROACH

Market/customer segmentation and analysis of the product positioning:

  • Carrying out a factor and cluster analysis by drawing on NCBS-/NVES data (New Car Buyer Survey/New Vehicle Experience Study) for the most important triad markets in order to identify buying factors and customer segments
  • Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the client’s and their competitors’ product portfolios
  • Identifying and assessing market niches

Rough economic feasibility study:

  • Defining scenarios with respect to sales (incl. substitution effects)
  • Preparing the business case

Development of a detailed concepts for a new model range:

  • Defining the target positioning, evaluating the fit between the client’s brands and the target positioning
  • Evaluating and selecting alternative brands
  • Deriving the key characteristics of the new model range
  • Refining the business case

Developing the product strategy and product profiles for the new vehicles:

  • Determining the platform strategy for the new model range
  • Designing the business model
  • Ascertaining the product requirements/functional specifications

RESULTS

New vehicle segment established that attracted in the meanwhile other competitors for entry

More than 170,000 vehicles of the first generation worldwide sold by the client

Model range extended by additional models due to the big success


09/1999 - 11/1999
Developing a Power-Generation Strategy for a Major Energy Utility Company
Confidential (Energy, water and environment, >10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Strongly negative net present value (NPV) of the power-generation portfolio (own power plants and industrial investments/contracts) over the next ten years—even when taking already defined but not realized cost-cutting measures into consideration

Urgent need for action to improve the NPV of the existing portfolio by operational and structural measures

Limited opportunities for growth:

  • Highly competitive environment for gas-fired and steam power plants that cogenerate heat and power; attractivity of other technologies very restricted
  • Opportunist asset acquisitions possible, but require superior skills due to the high price level

Additional risks due to the uncertain future development of coal prices and CO₂ emission taxes


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Building a quantitative model in order to simulate the future development of the power-generation market by drawing on the System Dynamics methodology

Examining the current cost and revenue structure and defining additional cost-improvement/value-enhancement measures

Conducting a market and competitor analysis and a high-level benchmarking

Computing a business case in order to determine the target costs for the existing power plant portfolio and for the contracted capacities

Identifying sources of competitive advantages and deriving strategic options by applying game theory

Supporting the communication of the results (e.g. with power plant managers)


RESULTS

Power-generation portfolio optimized along the following key levers:

  • Operating & maintenance (O&M) costs of the (partially) owned power plants reduced to best-practice level
  • Unprofitable block-unit power stations/sites sold or shut down
  • Contracted capacities further consolidated and successfully renegotiated
  • Own market power moderately exerted in bidding situations
  • Purchase price for lignite reduced as a result of renegotiations

Selective international expansion by new gas-fired and steam power plants with power-heat coupling initiated

Forward-looking vision and concept for the role as an asset-backed world-class electricity trader in a market maker position


06/1999 - 09/1999
Generating Distinctive Knowledge on How to Achieve Profitable Corporate Growth
Confidential (Other, 5000-10.000 employees)

CHALLENGES

Pressure on European companies to expand and fulfill their growth expectations due to an increasing relevance of the capital market perspective resulting in a soaring number of growth projects

Special opportunities for growth due to an advanced European integration

Clear gap between the aspirations and the actually pursued strategies and entrepreneurial culture at many large corporations

New emerging international growth initiatives launched by various consultancies and increasing releases of respective books and other publications

Need to systematically expand and promote one’s own competence and reputation in the area of growth


PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH

Improving the understanding of the need to grow and identifying the value-creating potential of growth:

  • Assessing the growth imperative in general
  • Analyzing company-specific growth aspirations

Developing a better understanding of the (industry-specific) growth drivers and identifying generic growth strategies:

  • Examining growth cases and learning from ‘best-practice growers’ in various industries
  • Defining typical growth arenas
  • Systematically distilling characteristics of and commonalities between successful growth cases

Determining viable growth strategies

Developing a comprehensive and specific growth consulting framework by categorizing frameworks, tools, etc. according to industrial specifics and companies’ situation


RESULTS

Real-world case studies identified, edited, and filed in case library

Lessons learnt derived and documented

Concepts along the following topics developed:

  • Need for growth
  • Growth strategy
  • Building new businesses
  • Structuring and organizing for growth

Materials for knowledge transfer compiled

Internal knowledge network established


Local Availability

Open to travel worldwide
Profileimage by ThomasK Hamann Unternehmensberater & Führungskräfte-Trainer from Muenchen Management Consultant & Executive Trainer
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