StrategyCore K.K.

Overview:
A global SFA enterprise software vendor needed to hire an alliances director for their growing Japanese subsidiary. A recent change in company sales policy resulted in the client requiring sales employees with strong system integrators and distributor relationships. StrategyCore executive search experts introduced a number of qualified candidates, with the eventual outcome being a successful hire.

The Background:
The client explained the position they sought to fill and the recruiting challenge that lay ahead. The client had a large, growing Japanese business but faced some uphill challenges concerning future product sales and channel conflict. The decision was made to decrease the number of partners and focus on the key revenue generators. Now, the client only needed to manage those key partnerships and began the search for its newly created role of Alliances Director.

The Challenge:
With market confidence down in the face of major corporate changes, the ability for StrategyCore to find the most qualified candidates interested in the job became tricky. Likewise, internally the client was involved with major organizational issues that could have taken priority over recruitment activities and process. Although the job specifications were clearly stated, the position was newly created, and still required buy-in from senior management personnel in Japan and overseas. StrategyCore offered its executive search and selection service. The client would interview over twenty candidates for this position.

The Solution:
To kick-start our executive search service, StrategyCore assisted in the development of a position specification from information provided by client executives with key relationships with the alliance director position. We then searched our recruitment database and aggressively searched the software market, targeting both foreign and Japanese vendors, including competitors and market leaders. StrategyCore screened qualified executives in order to obtain comprehensive understanding of their accomplishments, capabilities, and potential. This process yielded several qualified candidates to compare and evaluate competitive against each other. We then introduced these qualified executives by preparing and providing comprehensive StrategyCore candidate summaries for evaluation.

The Results:
After almost nine-months of extensive searching, a total of three qualified StrategyCore candidates were introduced, resulting in two final candidates being flown to client headquarters for further discussions. After a rigorous interview selection process, a new alliance director emerged and a decision to extend an offer of employment to one executive was made. We then began negotiations. Using knowledge of competitor salaries and locally based pay scales, a mutually satisfying employment agreement was reached between the new alliances director and his new employer. Using a local recruitment approach, the client successfully hired their alliances director.

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