At the beginning of the autumn business season, CONSORT completed a long and difficult search for a Commercial Director for the Kazakhstan division of a multinational company. At the request of the Customer, our consultants had to conduct an in-depth study of the Kazakhstan market in several segments at once: FMCG, consumer electronics, household goods, building materials and professional tools.
Of particular interest were the heads of the commercial function from foreign companies with a wide distribution system in Kazakhstan and experience in managing a team of 10+ people. Our research, however, showed that in Kazakhstan,there are few Western players working with more than 2-3 distributors at the same time; there are practically no sales managers with a large team in direct subordination. Often, the role of a Commercial Director or Sales Director simply does not exist in the company structure, and sales managers directly report to the CEO, who, naturally, perceived the position of our Customer as a demotion.
As a result, despite the impressive scope of the Search Map, it was not possible to find a suitable top manager on the local market. The main reason was that the price-quality ratio of candidates from competing companies did not meet the requirements of the Customer and the level of similar candidates in Russia.
Nevertheless, the consultant Elena Kvartalnova, who was responsible for the search, did find a candidate who combines work experience in both Russia and Kazakhstan in his work biography, has the necessary professional and managerial expertise and, moreover, has a good command of English.