Case Study

Integrating Fragmented European Operations and Unlocking New Market Growth

Client Context

A Northern European industrial business operated with fragmented regional structures and inconsistent performance across its European footprint.

The organization included:

• A Northern European business that was not aligned with the broader global organization

• A U.K.-based business operating independently and generating losses

• Two production facilities:

• U.K.: inefficient operations and a non-competitive product portfolio

• Spain: strong technical capabilities and competitive production costs

At the same time, the company identified significant growth opportunities in Germany and Eastern Europe, but lacked local market presence, sales capability, and customer access.

The Challenges

The organization faced a combination of operational, commercial, and cultural integration challenges:

• The U.K. business operated autonomously and was not integrated into regional or global management structures

• The U.K. operation was unprofitable, with inefficient production and legacy contracts eroding margins

• No commercial presence or sales capability in Germany or Eastern Europe

• Inconsistent management processes, decision-making, and performance visibility across regions

• Limited knowledge sharing between regional teams, slowing execution and alignment

These challenges constrained both profitability and growth across Europe.

Our Role

We supported the leadership team as a cross-border integration and execution partner, working across operations, commercial functions, and regional leadership teams.

Our role was to:

• Align regional teams and leadership behaviors across borders

• Design and embed consistent operating and management processes

• Enable market entry and scalable commercial execution in new geographies

• Ensure cultural integration supported—rather than hindered—execution

What We Did

Operational & Structural Integration

• Refocused the U.K. production facility on high-volume, economically viable products

• Shifted production of advanced and higher-margin products to the Spanish facility

• Integrated the U.K. team into the broader European and global operating model

Commercial Expansion

• Built new sales teams in Germany and Eastern Europe

• Established direct customer access and local market presence

• Transferred proven U.S. customer-facing processes to the Northern European region, including the U.K., Germany, Benelux, and Eastern Europe

Management & Cultural Integration

• Assessed subject-matter expertise across regions and teams

• Defined cross-border decision points and identified knowledge leaders

• Established a clear decision tree to support faster and more effective execution

• Introduced a structured meeting cadence and standardized agendas

• Implemented Salesforce.com as a common CRM platform across the region

• Defined shared KPIs and dashboards visible across all regions

The Results

The integration delivered measurable commercial, operational, and financial outcomes:

• $1.26M in first-year new revenue through successful market entry in Germany and Eastern Europe

• Established selling relationships with Daimler AG, Bosch, and BMW

• 4% improvement in profit margin within the previously underperforming U.K. vertical

• Identified, renegotiated, or exited unprofitable legacy sales contracts

• Fully integrated U.K., Spanish, German, and Eastern European teams into a unified operating model

• Improved transparency, accountability, and execution discipline across regionsTBD