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October 7th, 2008
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10 Questions

with Radek Tesař
10 Questions | Search restaurants | Archives

July 9th, 2008 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Tesař sees his company's role as that of a doctor or trainer for successful midsize companies.
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THE TESAŘ FILE



Job title: Vice Chairman, Triton Group
Age: 50
Previous position: Chief human resources manager, Spolchemie
Family: Married, one daughter
Education: University of Economics in Prague, M.A. in Statistics
Two years ago, local management consulting firm MC Triton launched a new service focused on midsize companies. Often founded during the post-communist boom of the mid-1990s, these companies continue to experience exponential growth and, correspondingly, new managerial challenges. As an increasing number of owners and managers turn to consultants like MC Triton in search of the next step, Vice Chairman Radek Tesař talks to The Prague Post about the challenges of consulting and the growth potential of midsize businesses.
? You’ve operated on the Czech market for 18 years. How have your clients changed over the years?
From the beginning, most of our services have focused on sales and HR, and we have been approached by an assortment of clients. We started with financial institutions such as insurance companies, banks and building and loan associations. Then hospitals and smaller companies came along, which led us to restructure our services into four categories: large businesses, health care and the public sector, management training and coaching, and mid-size entrepreneurs.
? Midsize business consulting is a relatively novel concept in the Czech Republic. What led you to launch this service?
We were motivated by growth. Typically, people associate our services with the word ‘problem’, but it is not a question of problem-solving as much as managing growth. In 2005, we were approached by Stomix, an extremely successful thermal insulation company. It had branches throughout Europe and faced difficulties concerning their results. This client had countless ideas on how to expand products and services, but couldn’t manage them all. So they hired us to make these ideas look good, and surprisingly, it worked: Both we and the client profited, and that pointed us toward a growing need within the market. We realized there was an untapped group of clients who needed help.
? What types of challenges do midsize companies face here?
The client needs to transition from being driven by intuition to using specific tools to run the company. It  may have more than 100 employees or multiple branches, and the client may have several ideas about improving them. But if you want to motivate people, to have some sort of a career system, then using specific tools becomes much more effective than intuition. It is the same as seeing a doctor instead of self-diagnosing. Like the doctor, the consultant sees 100 patients, or companies, each year. Meanwhile, the client has expertise in selling his product. Our job is to balance this and figure out what medicine will make the company function more effectively.
? Who are some of your clients?
Usually, they are private-owned businesses with one to four owners. They tend to be wealthy, extremely capable people, but there are also those who don’t have an MBA education and are asking how to manage their company in the future. Our client can also be the owner of a family business that grows until it has 50 employees and 100 million Kč revenue. Suddenly, the owner finds himself unable to manage it. He has bad experiences with hiring managers from the outside, so he asks the consulting company to manage his assets. The last group comprises owners who have managed their business for 15 years, grown tired and are looking for a buyer. We help them evaluate and increase the business’ value before they sell it.
? What tools does a midsize company need to increase its value?
Often, the company has absolutely nothing. Its manager understands straightforward entrepreneurship, but his 20 employees are just along for the ride. In those cases, you have to start from scratch and install the individual tools into the company. At the same time, you don’t want to use all the strategies used by large companies, but some of the basic principles, such as accounting, controlling, HR or database usage are essential for any company, be it a large bank or a small advertising agency. It’s like a diet — the consultant understands the company’s anatomy and prescribes it a meal plan, step by step. We call it an implementation plan.
? What types of problems do you face when implementing this plan?
There are three types of errors. Two are market-related, the third is human. You write up a 1.5-year contract with a client, and suddenly a dramatic change occurs in the market. The second example is when a company relies on two stable customers, one of which changes owners and fails to renew the contract. There are also internal traps — sometimes a key person in the company, someone we trust, doesn’t achieve the expected results.
? What strategies do you use to identify suitable clients?
It has to be a win-win situation. I have never seen a company that didn’t have any reserves, and I’m certain that some reserves exist in our own company. However, I cannot go into a company that refuses to invest even a penny a month into consulting. On the other hand, we are prepared to get a reward only after our client makes money. I always consider how much the company could profit without us. Before turning to us, it was alive and well without a consultant, so we are obliged to increase its profits dramatically. It won’t happen in two months, but it usually happens in a year and a half. So, unless a company is completely exhausted, it can afford a consultant.
? To what extent do you focus on revamping a client’s sales strategy?
The sales department obviously plays a cardinal role, because no other department can increase profits. However, this often touches on a whole range of other departments, because it’s all about the system through which sales operate. It could mean recalculating the price of the service or product, or retraining the sales staff itself. All of this slips into other departments, such as finance and HR.
? Are any of these implementation strategies specific to Czech companies?
The consultant possesses the same set of tools here as he does in Bulgaria, but the client is different. The Bulgarian will have different values and resources, so he will act differently as a customer. The consulting firm relies on the implementation tools as well ason emotional intelligence. The principles of providing a service remain the same, but you have to use different strategies to acquire that level of trust.
? What areas will local management consultants focus on in the future?
I see incredible potential in the growing needs of midsize business owners. These people are smart and successful. They are developing their companies, buying and selling them. At the same time, they remain interested in improving their businesses, which is a great opportunity for us. Our aim is to process and implement these changes for the client, and it seems to be working. Raising profits from 100 million to 120 million Kč — that’s what makes our services sound interesting.
Want your manager to answer our 10 Questions? Contact Markéta Hulpachová at mhulpachova@praguepost.com


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