What's new?: Case studies

This established family owned industrial group was facing substantial growth opportunities in manufacturing and finished products and was looking to appoint a successor for the Chairman of the Board to lead it through future growth.

We conducted a regional search for a director with appropriate strategic, operational, financial and communication focus leading to the appointment of an exceptional Chairman Elect of the Board.

This multi $ billion revenue major Australian company has been on a trajectory of significant growth and success over the last several years. Oppeus International had originally helped create the current board and was called back to assist in the addition of new directors.

We conducted a comprehensive national search that led to the appointment of two outstanding Non Executive Directors with the appropriate combination of strategic, operational, and commercial leadership experience, financial skills, and judgement to contribute to the further development of the company.

A leading Victorian Health Network was looking for an exceptional Chief Information Officer, with strategic and business understanding, technological expertise, and communication skills to strategically lead the technological needs of the organisation.

We conducted a comprehensive national search for IT professionals across several industries leading to the appointment of an excellent Chief Information Officer.

Two outstanding Chief Financial Officers were being sought for leading Australian firms in the industrial and services sectors to lead their respective organisations through a new phase of growth.

We conducted a comprehensive national search, for the respective organisations, across industrial, manufacturing and services sectors, that led to the appointment of two outstanding Chief Financial Officers.

Three outstanding Chief Executives for Victoria’s leading Health Networks, including Southern Health, Eastern Health, Dental Health Services Victoria, were being sought to take their respective organisations forward with commitment and confidence.

We conducted a comprehensive national and international search, for the respective networks, across the leading health institutions and networks that culminated in the appointment of three outstanding Chief Executive Officers. 

This established family owned industrial group was facing substantial growth opportunities in manufacturing and finished products and was looking to appoint a successor for the Chairman of the Board to lead it through future growth.

We conducted a regional search for a director with appropriate strategic, operational, financial and communication focus leading to the appointment of an exceptional Chairman Elect of the Board.

A key division of a multibillion $ leading Australian retailer was launching their 5 year strategic plan. With key objectives on increased expectations of performance and size of the organisation, the organisation was looking to launch their strategy, driving values and building the best team.

Oppeus International conceptualised, developed and facilitated an outstanding launch that integrated the new strategy while engaging over 200 executives in a unique, highly motivating day. In addition, we aided the client in reviewing current HR systems and processes, outlining a plan to assess and develop talent management, build on leadership development, increase retention, reward & recognition within an integrated and increasingly effective organisation. This program is currently being undertaken.

Two of Australia’s most prestigious Business Schools had decided to combine their resources to create one of the leading business schools in the region. Accordingly, the school required support in undertaking the post-merger tasks to integrate the schools’ operations, people, culture, facilities, and product portfolio to realise the intent, vision and business outcomes of the merger.

We conceptualised the merger by bringing the CEOs together, and assisted the Senior Leadership Team by providing professional project management support to effect the integration. Specifically, we provided project and change management support, HR advice and implementation advice.

A major Industrial Manufacturing Group and leading Australian road maintenance provider, was seeking assistance for the new CEO to aid his transition.  We were brought in on a retainer basis to work with the CEO, and executive team and lead the HR function during this critical transition period.

We provided strategic HR advice, as the organisation underwent a series of structural changes. This included a review of workforce capability, cost, deployment and efficiency for each business unit, organisation restructuring and performance management, reward and incentive scheme redefinition.

Walt Disney International, Consumer Products Division, as part of its growth strategy for its newly constituted Australian group, required a transformation program to create a High Performance Team (HPT) to meet the expectations of the groups’ strategic plan. 

We developed and conducted a high performance team development program aimed at transforming the group into a high performance team. The program focused on both the management team in Australia as well as on the Asia Pacific HR team and subjects covered innovation and creativity, relationship management and strategy execution. Andy Mooney, Global Head of Disney Consumer Products, was quoted in The Sunday Telegraph on February 27th 2005 as saying, “The Australian organization is the benchmark for the whole of Disney Consumer Products”.

A Victorian government department, following significant regulatory changes, required assistance in designing a new regulatory agency scheduled to commence operations within a six month window. The requirements were to assess the structure and role for the new authority to ensure streamlined cost-effective operations, independence and increased efficiency.

Using a strategic multi phase approach, we helped the client evolve an optimal model for the new organization, define capability requirements, redesign the new structure and identify resource requirements. The resulting design delivered an organization geared to remove structural duplication and inefficiencies, enhance independence and quality of service, provide seamless functional integration and improve overall cost effectiveness.

This Department of the NSW Government was facing a major strategic challenge to maintain sustainability in the light of increasing and shifting demand for its services and changes to the mix of funding sources and patterns. To ensure the Department could address these and manage the impact and changes required at both a system wide and intra Department level, the Director General and his team, undertook a journey planning process to confirm external demands and internal capabilities required, and identify impacts and organisation capability to manage the change journey successfully.

Two of Australia’s most prestigious Business Schools had decided to combine their resources to create one of the leading business schools in the region. Accordingly, the school required support in undertaking the post-merger tasks to integrate the schools’ operations, people, culture, facilities, and product portfolio to realise the intent, vision and business outcomes of the merger.

This major Industrial Manufacturing Group is a leading road maintenance provider throughout Australia. To rapidly improve performance and assist the new CEO with his transition, and radically reposition the HR function, we were brought in on a retainer basis to work with the CEO, executive team and lead the HR function during this critical transition period.

A key division of a multibillion $ leading Australian retailer was launching their 5 year strategic plan. With key objectives on increased expectations of performance and size of the organisation, the organisation was looking to launch their strategy, driving values and building the best team.

Oppeus conceptualised, developed and facilitated an outstanding launch that integrated the new strategy while engaging over 200 executives in a unique, highly motivating day. In addition, we aided the client in reviewing current HR systems and processes, outlining a plan to assess and develop talent management, build on leadership development, increase retention, reward & recognition within an integrated and increasingly effective organisation. This program is currently being undertaken.

A major Australian Energy group was looking to define its strategic path for the whole organization and for its key divisions.

We helped the client create a ‘Decisioning Roadmap’. We facilitated a series of strategic workshops to develop understanding of key issues and imperatives, defined the path for the future and formulated the 5 year Strategic Plan for the company and its key divisions.

This Department of the Victorian Government recently established a new statutory authority as a result of the introduction of the Seafood Safety Bill (2003); which will lead to seafood safety management practices being adopted that are consistent with other food industry sectors. Changes to the Board’s composition were required to reflect these changed and broader responsibilities. The activities of the newly established authority influence a significant part of the state’s economic activity – estimated to be over $5 billion.

This peak agricultural association is a unique and pivotal organisation with a long and proud history showcasing the performance of the agricultural, livestock and horticultural industries in our state. The organisation has grown in size and scope and has several challenges and opportunities including developing a joint venture with the State to manage $101m in funding. It was seen to be an appropriate time by the leaders and stakeholders of the association to focus on achieving continuous improvement for the Board.

A leading dairy manufacturer and exporter had announced its intention to publicly list on the ASX. Accordingly, the Board, and its Directors, wanted to ensure that they were adequately prepared to meet the requirements and expectations of being a publicly listed company, and to ensure the continuing success of the company.

We undertook a comprehensive investigation of the Board’s performance with a specific focus on ensuring that the Board possessed the necessary capabilities to operate in the newly changed environment. Based on our findings, we prepared a series of recommendations which outlined opportunities for improvement to ensure that the Dairy manufacturer continues to not only continue producing high quality export products but also to meet the expectations of its shareholders.

A multibillion $ company, operating in global markets, wished to ensure that its objective of continuous improvement was taking place at all levels. The Chairman, Company Secretary and Board recognised that the board governance through its committees was becoming increasingly important to the operation of a company with such scope and scale.

We were called in to lead a detailed review of key committees including their relationship with the Board and the Executive Team. Key aspects reviewed included: Structure, Processes, People and Strategy. The Chairman of this major global company remarked upon the completion of the first phase of this review, “This is an outstanding report.”

A Department of the Victorian Government established a new statutory authority as a result of the introduction of the Seafood Safety Bill (2003); which will led to seafood safety management practices being adopted that were consistent with other food industry sectors. Changes to the Board’s composition were required to reflect these changed and broader responsibilities. The activities of the newly established authority influence a significant part of the state’s economic activity – estimated to be over $5 billion.

We assisted the Chairman and the Board selection committee confirm, assess and select board members to meet the capabilities, competencies and chemistry to enable board members to effectively fulfil their roles and responsibilities.

A major Australian Energy group was looking to define its strategic path for the whole organization and for its key divisions.

We helped the client create a ‘Decisioning Roadmap’. We facilitated a series of strategic workshops to develop understanding of key issues and imperatives, defined the path for the future and formulated the 5 year Strategic Plan for the company and its key divisions.

This leading Australian resources company has been going through an accelerated growth phase and global reach. It was looking for advice on its long term incentive plan of its top line executives.

We conducted an assessment of resource sector remuneration trends, benchmarking the long term incentive structure of comparable organisations and provided an independent assessment on the long term incentive plan of the company.

A high profile not-for-profit organisation with revenue in the tens of millions needed to review the remuneration of the CEO and the executive team in the face of rapidly increasing remuneration and talent shortages in competitor organisations.

We were engaged as advisors the Chair and the Remuneration Committee regarding the CEO's remuneration. At the same time, we were requested to review the recommendations and supporting data from the CEO regarding remuneration increases for the rest of the executive team. We identified a range of organisations and industries to which the executives could be attracted. Based on a review of remuneration data for these organisations generated by us and the supporting data provided by the CEO, we provided advice on the level and structure of the CEO's remuneration and concurred in the increases proposed for the other members of the executive team.

A major Australian resources company was looking to update the remuneration of its directors to reflect current international trends.

We reviewed the current remuneration package for Non Executive Directors, conducted benchmarking to identify critical trends in comparable organisations and assisted the Board in defining the future remuneration for the Directors, including short and long term incentive plans.

A high profile not-for-profit organisation with revenue in the tens of millions needed to review the remuneration of the CEO and the executive team in the face of rapidly increasing remuneration and talent shortages in competitor organisations.

We were engaged as advisors the Chair and the Remuneration Committee regarding the CEO's remuneration. At the same time, we were requested to review the recommendations and supporting data from the CEO regarding remuneration increases for the rest of the executive team. We identified a range of organisations and industries to which the executives could be attracted. Based on a review of remuneration data for these organisations generated by us and the supporting data provided by the CEO, we provided advice on the level and structure of the CEO's remuneration and concurred in the increases proposed for the other members of the executive team.