The short case study analyses the actions taken to enable a regional tea manufacturing and selling company to overgrow at home and abroad.

BACKGROUND
A Saudi tea company was at crossroads of business transformation with aspirations to grow rapidly at home and through geographic expansion. I helped them develop: 1. A robust 5-year strategic business plan, 2. Turn around IT & Finance departments, and 3. Inspire a courageous mindset in the organization. I worked on the assignment with the Chairman, the CEO, and his leadership team. It was difficult as the business had archaic systems, and people were used to operating in a particular way and resisted change. The issue was that they knew that old working methods would not provide growth and prosperity.

ACTIONS
I worked with the leadership team, the Board, and key players for six months. It was intense work as it needed a change in attitude and skills. I trained the team on using a robust mix of financial and strategic tools and capabilities to set a strategic direction for value creation, combined with upgrading the infrastructure and skills and working with the team in breaking their limiting paradigms (for example, we did it before and it does not work). The first step was to work on a robust five-year strategic plan that outlined the growth and strategic imperatives needed to achieve it—got approval for investing in the business. Once it was aligned and approved by the Board, we started the work on leadership development, laying the pipes for solid systems and processes and ensuring that business activities focused on delivering the growth strategy. Finally, we made needed organizational changes and introduced new blood to create an optimal blend of experience and exuberance.

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RESULTS
The results were high single-digit growth in a declining market and 5-year strategic plans approved by the Board in the first round. In addition, the people were happier, and the systems and processes were working well and supporting the organization in delivering on the five-year plan.