Now, the first steps towards successfully integrating the two companies into a single entity have been taken.

 

“In December 2017, we signed an agreement to merge the two companies under specific conditions,” explains Fabrizio Rutschmann, HR Director, Prysmian Group. “On June 6 2018 the deal was closed. Just five days later, we had a new organisation in place and an extended leadership team in place, ready to lead the new entity, at corporate, regional, business and function level.”

 

This was preceded by a period of extensive assessment and planning. The differences between the organisations were analysed extensively and designs were created for the new organisation. Furthermore, a large number of assessment were carried out, especially where overlap existed between functions or geographical regions. The many additional initiatives included a new value scheme and model. Prysmian expects the combined group to generate pretax cost benefits of some € 150m within five years. This will mainly come from procurement, overhead costs and plant optimisation.

 

Fabrizio: “As a result of this merger, we expect to be much stronger in terms of geographical footprint. General Cable has always been strong in the Americas. Through the merger, Prysmian Group has doubled its position in this region.  Revenue protection and development is another important outcome, with an enlarged customer portfolio and increased coverage. We also expect to achieve significant value in terms of cost synergies and realize large savings. There will be gains in different areas, from organisation, efficiency, and procurement to working capital.”

 

On June 19, alignment activities commenced, and 450 key managers of the combined entities spent a few days together, to get a full understanding of the new direction and priorities. In a merger such as this, where two formerly competing peers join forces, discussions around cultural integration are important.

 

“The merger has increased Prysmian’s exposure to American business practices and culture, which needs to be managed carefully. To facilitate a smooth introduction of our new entity, we collected a vast amount of data on various cultural aspects at different levels of our company. Of our 30,000 employees, 1,500 took part in a survey on this topic.”

 

“The next step is to discuss the outcome of this survey and develop our management approach in regional workshops. We will be developing proposals for new values, required behaviours and leadership traits, which are to be shared and discussed with the management team. Next year, we aim to introduce a performance management system through which we assess individual contributions. Like all HR processes and tools, this will have to reflect our cultural integration and values. An extensive internal communications plan, and the fact that we have all the right competences in place, will further support the success of our new combination.”

 

“We have a long journey ahead and it is crucial that we start this properly. First impressions are very important, and so far, people have responded well. We have positive expectations for overall results as well as employee and customer satisfaction!”