Search results for: 'Cultura'

The case study describes the experience of Javier Rutz as operations director and later as general manager of NERTUS, a leading company in the sector of railway maintenance services in Spain.

The company was founded by Spanish rail operator Renfe and Siemens, a leading train manufacturing company, to provide maintenance services for Siemens’ trains. From the beginning, NERTUS stands out for the high quality of its services and its great capacity for continuous improvement.
Shortly after its Foundation, Javier Rutz joined the company, first as director of operations and later as general manager. During this period, the philosophy of continuous improvement reached its maximum splendor.

After concluding a highly successful professional stage, Javier Rutz leaves the company and asks himself which is the best way to exploit his experience for his professional future: should he continue as a senior executive in another company or undertake a different challenge through his own company to provide consulting services that offer “the design and implementation of management models based on continuous improvement, with a strategic perspective?” 

Aims to identify what are the key strategic and organizational elements that allow the successful implementation of a continuous improvement methodology. These strategic and organizational variables, such as customer orientation, company culture, leadership, transparency of information, etc., are shown throughout the case in a general way and in some examples presented by J. Rutz on NERTUS.

This case presents four interviews about the negotiation culture in Spain, conducted with Chinese, French, Cuban and Japanese people who have a broad experience in Spain. They describe and interpret the predominant negotiation culture in Spain from the particular viewpoint of their own culture, and in the different spheres of their business: international commerce, construction industry, technology and the diplomatic world.

The diversity of perspectives and experiences pose a challenge in summarizing the negotiation culture in Spain, customs, attitudes, beliefs and most common behaviors that are found when searching for solutions to solve a dispute in this country.

And so, in short, the case does not only address the question of how negotiations are done in Spain but also, for someone who comes to Spain to negotiate, it provides inputs for a discussion on: How should you negotiate with Spaniards?

Rafael Felices Huarte, general manager of PERI Spain, had to make some big decisions but was facing many challenges. The company was growing and had undergone a strategy change. He needed to fill the new positions but the construction managers were hard to find. He also needed to ensure that the values of the organization, its high quality standards and low accident rates would be maintained during the rapid expansion. In order to help readers understand what was at stake, the case tells the history of the company, emphasizing its success as a world leader in the development of new products in its field and explaining how it has managed to keep its accident rate so low compared to the industry’s average due to its strict policies and training. Because of the job security offered by PERI, the case explains how it has also managed to achieve low rates of voluntary staff turnover. The case then delves into the culture at PERI Spain which is characterized by its values of self-discipline, responsibility, communication and learning and also into the company’s structure and organization. It explains how two new divisions (civil engineering and industrial scaffolding) were created to change the company’s strategy and brings up one of the greatest challenges involved in the strategy change: recruiting new foremen. At the end of the case, Felices Huarte ponders the future. There had been a recent wave of accidents at other construction companies, so he was wondering if accidents at PERI would increase if the workforce were to increase. He also had to decide what strategy to follow to fill foremen vacancies. Should they promote employees internally who were unfamiliar with the work of the two new divisions or recruit from the outside job market and face the challenge of maintaining the organization’s culture? In addition, he reflected on the pressing need to hire construction workers and whether they should be employed directly or subcontracted.

The case wraps up by asking readers what they think Felices Huarte should do.

This case is an interview with Gerhard Hexel, the managing director of PERI Spain, about the company’s management philosophy. Firstly, Hexel explains the staff training and occupational safety policies that exist at PERI such as driving courses. He emphasizes that although they are involved in a dangerous business, they are the safest company in the industry and have an annual accident rate of zero. He then boasts that staff rotation is very low due to the great training they provide and that people who do leave usually end up coming back. In order to motivate employees, he describes how the company organizes lots of activities such as sports, English classes, and parties. Regarding his management philosophy, he believes in delegating work, giving people freedom and getting work done more efficiently, not spending more time at work. He also believes that people should like to work and explains how it can be like a hobby. Although the company is now an example in the industry, Hexal explains that PERI Spain went through tough times and had to confront a crisis in 1992-1993 that it got through by cutting the employees’ salaries. Lastly, he discusses the future of PERI Spain and how the company plans to continue growing.

This case features an interview with Rafael Felices Huarte, the general manager of PERI Spain. First, Felices Huarte explains how the trust that management has in its employees has led to PERI’s extremely positive results, low turnover rate and low number of occupational accident rates. He also emphasizes that they focus on the best solution for the customer, not the lowest cost. The employees are highly motivated and an important part of the company’s growth. He also delves into the company’s values of self-discipline, responsibility, communication and learning. Next, he describes the company’s new diversification strategy of extending the range of services with the aim of earning a high market share. In order to carry out this strategy change, the company needed to hire construction foremen, which was a challenge due to difficulties in obtaining qualified personnel for on-site work. The company faced this challenge by setting up a professional training program which required the support of the director of logistics and civil engineering. Felices Huarte explains how he is not worried about hiring new staff endangering the company’s culture due to adaptation processes they have in place, other departments which influence conduct and leisure activities that help new staff to embrace the company’s culture. He wraps up the interview by talking about corporate social responsibility at the company and explains how basic principles such as rigorous administrative management of all staff on site (social security, medical check-ups, payroll, etc.), training courses on the tasks to be carried out, and strict compliance with occupational risk-prevention measures ensure they are able to survive in the long term.