Acquisitions of underperforming foreign operations:
Winding-up and closing of foreign operations, in China specifically, can take between one to two years, is extremely costly, and fraught with ambiguity. The Lancaster acquisition of Centria Building Materials (Shanghai) is a great example of how we can provide an exit alternative to winding-up that saves foreign corporations time and money.
Turnaround Consulting and Interim Management:
Lancaster professionals will step in as interim General Managers for 3 to 12 months to help achieve business sustainability. Example: A US chemical manufacturing company had experienced four years of sales decline and unprofitability in China. Lancaster stepped into the interim General Manager role for a year, after which administrative costs were reduced 30%, the sales force was realigned and pricing authority restructured, factory delivery improved from 75% to 98% on-time to customer request date, the business experienced the first three consecutive months of profitability in four years, and a long-term General Manager was in place.
Commercial Entry and Distribution Development:
Lancaster dedicated a full time professional to the development of an Asian distribution network for a California based manufacturer of thermal equipment. Lancaster landed the US client it’s largest OEM client globally, and created a distribution network in China, Japan, Korea and Singapore that became roughly 25% of the client’s sales.