Syngenta: A sustainable growth strategy
8 November 2011:
The finance function exists so an organisation can efficiently execute its strategy without excess risk. Redefining strategy, therefore, requires finance to adapt quickly. And it's a huge challenge when the change happens in a multinational corporation, requiring a global restructuring of the finance function. To make a transition of this magnitude, there needs to be a clear pay-off.
One company implementing this kind of transformation is Syngenta, a world-leading agribusiness that promotes sustainable agriculture through its innovative research and technology. With over 26,000 employees in more than 90 countries, any change across the entire organisation has to be carefully planned and rigorously executed, and Syngenta spent two years preparing for changes which are currently underway.
In broad terms, Syngenta's strategic goal remains the same: to maximise the productivity of agricultural land through sustainable technological innovation. But its execution is changing. The company has two main business lines - crop protection and seeds - and the new strategy brings them together globally to provide a suite of integrated solutions to the growers, ie customers.
Ultimately, Syngenta hopes to harness the power of its annual $1 billion R&D activities to drive more rapid innovation and create solutions tailored to its customers' needs. By mid-2012, the commercial integration should be complete, and by 2015, it will generate around $150 million in annual cost savings and an additional $500 million from procurement and supply-chain efficiencies.
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Source: Finance Director Europe
