Todays Opportunities - Operating Globally

“Think global, but act local” in an increasingly competitive Global-village, is your key ability to operate profitably in diverse geographic markets, and to shift operations flexibly between countries may be essential to the success of your business. But operating globally generates a wide variety of practical legal, operations, HR and finance issues; multinational companies must comply with host countries' laws on tax, pensions, business practices and human resources. A country's entrepreneur may be another's antitrust violator! the member firms of Ladlas Prince and alliances offer a complete range of audit and assurance, transactions/crisis management, performance improvement, tax and human resource services, tailored to your specific industry and need, wherever you may need them. We can help companies navigate the minutiae of statutory reporting and tax compliance, advise on the training and development of local staff, help forge cultural and political alliances in local communities, and create operational strategies to protect new market entrants from financial risk. It's all part of our commitment to helping you address your company's business challenges around the world. Assistances we can provide include:

• Expanding internationally
• Assessing and investing in emerging markets opportunities
• Off-shoring and global supply chain management
• Responding to the impact of emerging markets on world supply and demand
• Managing commodity price and currency risks
• Managing geopolitical risks
• Managing cash repatriation
• Global workforce and expatriate planning
• Taxes and transfer pricing
  

Orchestrating outsourcing and shared service arrangements
Many businesses have already outsourced their information systems and back-office functions or established shared services centers for their major business processes. They are now outsourcing core activities like research, product development, taxes and legal services, as globalization and e-connect enable new ways of doing business. The motivation for outsourcing is thus changing dramatically; a growing number of organizations see it as a means of obtaining strategic advantages, not just as a cost-cutting measure.

The scale and complexity of outsourcing is also increasing. The earliest outsourcing contracts were long-term, one-to-one arrangements. Today, with e-connect, the trend is towards multi-sourcing, where a lead supplier functions as a contractor and orchestrates other suppliers or where a group of suppliers collaborates to provide a collection of services.
The outsourcing lifecycle consists of six phases, each with its own set of challenges. Our professionals focus on the big picture, and look at the full term of the deal as well as the issues arising in each phase. We can help you:

• Identify which activities to outsource
• Define your requirements and assess potential suppliers
• Negotiate the right terms
• Draft tight-contracts covering the sharing of intellectual property,
• performance criteria and penalties for non-performance
• Make major changes and communicate with employees about
• alterations in their working environment
• Manage political, regulatory and operational risks
• Review and manage existing contracts
• Resolve disputes.

Procuring/providing materials, products, and services in this new Global-village
Many businesses now regard the sourcing of materials and parts in developing economies as a key means of reducing their costs and reaching high-growth markets. Despite the China and India lead, new off-shore locations are also emerging; for example, the Philippines, Brazil and Russia are becoming increasingly popular, as lack of manpower drives up production costs in more matured regions. However, strategic sourcing isn’t easy. Mostly companies fail to realize all the benefits they anticipated before going off-shore, and many companies will admit that they struggle to manage such projects. Some of the challenges include ensuring quality control and continuity of supply, not to leave out the mighty ethical issues. Working conditions at offshore locations are a source of major concern, as are the implications of moving jobs out of the home country. Our Holistic approach, which integrates the management of working capital with other operations, includes the transformation of the supply chain, which is essential to realize and maintain the full benefits of sourcing in a global-link. We can help you:

• Determine which materials and parts are suitable for outsourcing in developing countries
• Analyze the potential of different locations, including the impact of different tax systems
• Identify and evaluate suppliers
• Negotiate the best terms and create the most efficient arrangements
• Manage intellectual property issues, quality assurance and risk
• Monitor your suppliers
• Ensure regulatory compliance.

Everyday, Ladlas Prince personnel apply what we call "thinking global, acting local" on behalf of our clients and within our own organization to meet those business challenges and evolve as true leader.

Reducing costs, increasing and reporting performance
Being efficient; your company may seek growth, but, the demand to reduce costs never goes away, therefore, you better find a way to do both, simultaneously. Of course, developing cost reduction strategies that maximize efficiency, without compromising growth potential is a tricky balance. You have to resist pressure to haphazardly cut or slash headcount across the board; your job is to trim the fat, not to cut into the bone! You need to identify your entity’s core competencies where efficiency can be improved, trim and consolidate non-core functions, and reinvest the savings in critical business assets; before you start, you need buy-in from your company employees.

Outsourcing may be an easy answer; in many industries, contracting out non-core business functions such as human resources, billing or payroll to third-party providers continue to gain acceptance. Some companies have even outsourced parts of their operating processes, but once you outsourced, it also exposes you to new forms of risk. For example, a company that outsources its payroll section will be exposed to data privacy risk on site and a remote site, but benefit from a business continuing stand point, if its location was to get hit by a disaster.

So whichever route you take, you must move with caution, and knowledgeable counsel. At Ladlas Prince, we have considerable experience in planning, implementing and evaluating cost reduction and cost containment. We can render formal recommendations on business and asset values for tax and accounting purposes, business transactions, and joint ventures; what we can provide professional services on include:

• Capital structuring and cost of capital
• Downsizings and carve-outs
• Employee benefits and compensation programs
• Financial function and it effectiveness
• Location planning
• Off-shoring and global supply chain
• Outsourcing
• Taxes

Reporting
Reporting corporate performance in a way that complies with all the complex corporate reporting regulations and laws of each country in which you operate has never been easy. Now, new regulations and standards such as Sarbanes-Oxley and IFRS as well as the continuing proliferation of guidance and regulations relating to ‘narrative’ reporting accompanying financial statements, have made the task even more challenging.

Here's something else to consider; investors today are on guard against reporting that may pass regulatory muster, but fails to provide a fully transparent view of a company’s health and prospects. Increasingly, investors also want companies to report on a broad set of non-financial measures, which, combined with financial reporting, might provide a better basis for judging their performance.

High quality reporting is too important to be determined solely by the shape of externally imposed regulation, and that’s why your company must foster a culture that views reporting transparency as a worthy exercise in itself, independent of rules and regulations. At Ladlas Prince, we know what it takes to meet both the high standards of today’s regulatory reporting requirements and the even higher expectations of your stakeholders. Wherever your company does business, we offer a wide range of services that will ensure that your corporate reporting is clear, complete and relevant, and they include:

• Compliance with regulations and laws
• Dealing with regulators
• International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) requirements
• Non-financial and sustainability reporting (environmental, safety, and social responsibility issues)
• Sarbanes Oxley
• Transparency and increased disclosure
• Transaction accounting and reporting
• Understanding trends in corporate reporting

Revenue growth
The selling process is becoming much more complex, the e-connect or i-world has facilitated mass customization and created new routes to the customers, but it has also raised people’s expectations. They now want their goods and services tailored to their individual needs/preferences, a consistent service and a single access.
The traditional push is simultaneously giving way for a more consultative push, long-term approach, and procurement functions are becoming increasingly professional. Therefore, suppliers have to improve their sales techniques, but, still many companies are struggling to get a clear picture of their customers because they are different in channels, lines of business, systems and in countries.
Selling is primarily about people and skills, but, processes and technologies have their roles too; it is the adequate intertwine of all these components that determine the productivity of sales channels and their impact on growth. We can help you:

• Understand your customers’ needs
• Evaluate new markets and test different product, pricing and distribution options
• Improve your sales channels and sales management processes
• Develop effective customer-segmentation, service and retention strategies
• Measure the profitability of different markets segments, and enhance your productivity
• Review your accounting systems to maximize your VAT recovery/reduce your taxes
• Create communications plans to win over key staff, and ensure that your organization’s systems, processes and culture reinforce the changes you make