An interview with Jean-Paul Evrard, managing partner of Globalpraxis
“You can come out stronger after a period of crisis and uncertainty. Our job is to help our clients to do so.”
Jean-Paul, as managing partner of Globalpraxis, could you briefly describe your company?
Globalpraxis is a 20 year-old management-consulting firm specialized in route-to-market and revenue growth management. We operate in all continents, mainly with fast-moving consumer goods and beverage companies, but we cover also other sectors, such as retail, utilities, pharmacy, and services.
We have a very peculiar model. Only one office, based in Barcelona, but deployment of our teams across all continents. We believe that a physical office is a constraint more than a benefit and we do not think that it is productive that we charge the “brick and mortar” cost to our clients.
Being based in Barcelona does not mean that we are Spanish; in fact, we are truly global. Working for us means speaking 3 to 4 languages, traveling extensively, and being totally multicultural. As we speak, we are currently delivering projects in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa…
We have also a unique model, combining professional consultants, industry leaders, subject experts, and leading professors.
What is the key reason for your longevity in such a competitive business?
There are several reasons. I don’t want to sound pretentious, but the first one is the quality of our delivery. We believe that we are the best in what we do and this is rewarded by a very high customer loyalty. We have a very healthy recurrent business with our top customers.
We are fact-based, quantitative. Our pragmatic view of the business is a key element of our success and also our USP. From experience, we know that our clients want results, as fast as possible and they want to see some real, tangible effects of our recommendations. Let me insist on the fact that we are very happy to assist in the implementation of our recommendations.
We are also highly specialized. We do not think that it is possible to be good at everything, to offer outstanding results on any subject. So our clients know what we are the best at, and they precisely hire us for it.
Have you been affected by the pandemic?
Of course. Who has not? But I am happy to say that we have been agile, and that we have adapted quickly to the new reality. We have developed new operating models to be able to cope with the situation and stay operational. This is crucial if you want to be efficient in helping your clients.
But for us, the key consequences of the pandemic are the fundamental changes that it has generated in business. Consumer and shopper behavior is evolving and the changes will last. This is affecting RTM and RGM and we understand that very well. We have developed tools and models to analyze and understand better the consequences of these changes for our clients and we are offering some real competitive solutions.
How do you see the future?
Challenging, and exciting. We are at a turning point. There are many opportunities today for companies to improve their performance. There are many inefficiencies in their value chain (we call them margin leakage), and also transformations to understand and implement to respond to the new challenges. It is a mix of short-term and medium-term opportunities that are exciting. We are equipped to help our clients with these challenges. This is why I am really focused and excited about the business perspectives facing us.
You can come out stronger after a period of crisis and uncertainty. Our job is to help our clients to do so.
