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Infrared Sensors Manufacturer - Japan Representative Director (Retained Search)
A holding company with 15 companies under its umbrella needed a Representative Director for one of it’s subsidiaries with the aim of starting operations in Japan.
The client was a UK based leader of precision instrumentation and controls, employing more than 5000 people under 15 group companies with sales revenues of more than US$900 million.
The company had a long history in manufacturing for the aviation industry and in recent years embarked on an aggressive acquisition plan to expand its business and market presence. Over an 11 year period it acquired several instrumentation and control companies transforming the company into an umbrella structure holding 15 businesses in total. The company required a Representative Director for Japan for one of its group companies which specialized in infrared sensors and asked Optia to conduct the search.
As the Partner for Optia’s Manufacturing team had extensive experience recruiting for Japan’s manufacturing industries, the first step was to interview the client’s management team to understand their objectives and strategies for Japan in order to determine the right kind of candidate for the role. As it turned out the client had limited experience and knowledge of the Japanese market and it was determined that the new Representative Director not only needed to have an in-depth knowledge of their products and target customers, but also required strong strategic planning and communication skills to give guidance and direction to headquarters.
As the business would be small and because the products could be used in a wide variety of applications and markets, the strategy would be to find a playing manager with a technical background in the same field. The recruiting team set about researching and developing a list of possible target companies. Because the field was very niche, recruiting had to begin from the base level and many of the candidates had to be sourced from first contact.
The process took several weeks to identify 2 very qualified candidates who were interested. The team continued to search with the intention of producing a short list of 4 strong candidates; however the client was very impressed with one of the initial candidates and wanted to proceed aggressively with his hire. He came from a direct competitor, which already had a strong market presence and a well established customer base in Japan. The client worked with Optia to move quickly on securing the candidate and the deal was closed within the next 2 weeks.
The candidate proved to be the right choice. Upon contacting the client and candidate several weeks later the Partner learned that the new Representative Director had established several strong leads by leveraging his contacts in the field. He did not need ramp up time on the products and was able implement launch strategies and initiatives immediately. Both client and candidate were happy with the end result.
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