A French pharma & cosmetics firm needed a business unit leader for their hair & skin business

A French pharmaceutical and cosmetic company focusing on skin and hair care products required a business unit leader to work closely with their joint venture partner who was acting as their regional distributor.

The client needed someone culturally versatile to negotiate between a highly international business environment and a very conservative and provincial JV partner. Ideally they wished for an individual with strong experience selling into hair salons.

This search required a deep market map of prospective cosmetic companies dealing with hair and skin care as a target for potential candidates. Once developed this map was used as a basis for candidate development. In total we needed to speak to over 400 candidates through the course of this search as most candidates were either too provincial, too international, or too siloed to have sufficient breadth of experience.

Though he had superior strategic and leadership skills the successful candidate had neither the salon experience nor the product experience the client was requesting. However, we advised the client that an opportunity lie in considering a candidate with superior strategic sense and leadership skills, and the capacity to learn and be trained on the product line.

The 5 year business plan the candidate presented ultimately convinced the client of his capacity to take on the job. At the 2 year mark of his tenure, the candidate was exceeding expectations in the role.