Owen Quinn

CFO

Nature’s Best Limited

EI CFO Forum 15th April 2015

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AGENDA

� About Nature’s Best

� Implementing Strategy

� Managing Change

� The key elements of successful strategic change

� Strategic Implementation Process within Nature’s Best

� Strategic Role of the CFO

� Q&A

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Healthy Convenient Food For a Better Ireland

Nature’s Grab & Go Products in

Centra

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Nature’s Best History & Background

• Founded in 1986 by Paddy Callaghan

• Manufacture and distribution of chilled consumer foods to retailers in Ireland and UK

• Located on 10 Acres in Drogheda beside M1

• 250 Employees & 200 Products

• 75,000 Sq. Ft. Purpose Build Factory

• €20m+ Investment

• All products delivered daily nationwide

• Winner of the Deloitte Best Managed Companies in 2011-13 & Gold Standard Award in 2014 & 2015

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Award Winning Innovative Products

� Blas na hEireann Gold 2013 Award for Curried Rice & Chicken Tikka Salad

� Blas na hEireann Bronze 2013 Award for Bulgar & Chargrilled Chicken Salad

� Great Taste 2013 Gold Star Award Pasta Spinach & Pinenut Salad

� Great Taste 2012 Gold Star Award Finest Moroccan Cous Cous

� Bord Bia 2010 New Creation Award Salad Shakers

� Bord Bia 2010 Best on Trend – Fluid Lives Award Salad Shakers

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Nature’s Best today

Orders in by 6am each morning

Preparation of Fresh

Raw Material by

12 noon

Production of Product

within High Care12 .00 to

5pm

Delivery to Depot 5pm

to 6pm

Delivery to store next day

Order to Production to Delivery Cycle

Freshness

Quality

Service

Support & Commitment

Innovation

Implementing Strategy & Managing Change

� Getting a clear focus for change

� Managing the change process

� Importance of Culture

� Dealing with resistance

� The key elements of successful strategic change

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Getting A Clear Focus For Change� Setting Interim Objectives & Action Planning = Translating your long-term

intentions into tangible & short-term actions

� McKinsey’s 7 S Model = Organisation’s Strengths & Weaknesses. Best use = Fleshing out Agenda for New Strategy Implementation. 7 S’s must move in the same direction, otherwise the co. is pulling against itself & goes nowhere. Soft Facets (Staff, Skills, Style & Shared Values) not actively managed = new strategy implementation will FAIL

� Gap Analysis i.e. How things are Now for each facet & the GAP between How I want things to be for each facet. The Gap Analysis = Agenda of Changes you must manage

� Focus your efforts – Pareto’s Principle: 20% of Effort will deliver 80% of the results. Break Objective Down – just a few elements can deliver 80% or more of the desired results

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Managing The Change Process� Lewin’s Transition Model – 3 Stages:

1. Unfreeze the present situation;

2. Change to the new strategy;

3. Refreeze new approach so that change becomes the norm

i.e. Creating Readiness, Transition & Initutionalising

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The Importance of Culture

� Culture consists of:

� VALUES & ASSUMPTIONS about what is important

� BELIEFS about how things work, what is possible

� BEHAVIOUR norms – “how we do things around here”

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Key Elements of Successful Change

� Increase Urgency = Burning Platform

� Build the Guiding Team

� Get the Vision Right

� Communicate for Buy-In

� Empower Action

� Create Short-Term Wins

� Don’t Let Up

� Make Change Stick

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Strategy Implementation Process within Nature’s

Best� The Stanford Cultural Diagnosis is used as a tool to ensure our culture

is aligned with our strategy e.g. A Launching of Finance Transparency Change Initiative

� Denison Culture Survey

� 360 Feedback & Coaching Action Plan was invaluable

� Bi-monthly Performance Appraisal System covering the following objectives:1. Strategic2. Transactional3. Behaviour

Traffic Light System for Key Deliverables

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Strategy Implementation Process within Nature’s

Best (Contd.)

� EI Leadership Programmes invaluable i.e. CEO L4G, SL4CFO’s, Transform, etc.

� Strategy Benchmarking/Feedback – Deloitte BMC, EY Entrepreneur, EI Funding, BOI Funding, etc

� Implementation of Performance Measurement Dashboard – based on Balanced Scorecard

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Strategic Role of the CFO� CFO = strategist - helping to shape overall strategy & direction

� CFO = a catalyst - instilling a financial approach & mind set throughout the organisation to help other parts of the business perform better

� Powerful Guiding Coalition i.e. With CEO & Management Team

� CEO wants support from CFO who truly understand their problems

� Moving up the CFO Value Chain = Strategic Business Partner i.e. Getting Out of your Comfort Zone – Start with the Place you are Avoiding

� Data Driven Culture = Facts NOT Opinions

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GROWTH STRATEGY

STRATEGY AS INITIATIVE

PORTFOLIOS� Protect & Extend – Innovate existing products

continuously in Existing Markets – Most of our activity was in this area in the past

� Build – Build new distinctive assets, know-how, skills in Existing Markets – our H2 Innovation Activity has increased this activity

� Leverage – Enter major new segments and geographies –we leveraged our H2 Innovation to achieve UK Growth

� Transform – Create new business distinct from core i.e. H3 Growth - New Market & New Distinctive Competencies

Q&A

� owen.quinn@me.com

� http://ie.linkedin.com/pub/owen-quinn/21/5b0/554/

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