Frost & Sullivan – “Please re-consider, seriously.”

Pros

GLOBAL REACH
- Of all its talk about being a global company, I must say that it truely is. It's probably the only company in the world where a manager can actually sit in the USA and become the Asian head of a business unit (BU). Better still, a country managing director who's not based in that country but working from India!
- From its list of 30+ countries where Frost & Sullivan declares proudly as having a presence, it'll be worth taking note of how many are actually "virtual offices", where one-man-shows operating out of his/her living room is considered as the head office for that country.

RACIAL PREFERENCE
- It's the perfect job if you're an Indian national. 90% of senior management hail from India, and being an Indian opens up a ton of opportunities to progress and develop your career within the company. Overall, more than half of the entire Asia Pacific office comprise of Indians.

HR MANAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT
- This gets even better, HR policies are strictly adhered to and complied with by the HR team, ensuring that nobody even gets a chance at clocking off work 1 minute earlier.
- The security access cards for employees to tap into office are not meant for security purposes, but rather to track the individual clock-in and clock-out timings for everyone, with the timesheets compiled monthly and sent to their managers for questioning.
- The HR team does a fantastic job of policing the office, taking attendance during company meetings (and following up with emails to check on absentees), walking around to ensure that you're working diligently at your desk, etc.
- On top of the New Employee Orientation training program, senior management generously fly across the Pacific and Atlantic to conduct regular Sales training, ensuring that the Sales force know how to sell each and every single service that Frost & Sullivan has. A really comprehensive program, except for the fact that the execution team (Consultants and Analysts) are not taught how to deliver the new products/services that the Sales team are trying to sell.

SALES FOCUS
- The best trait about the company is how Sales-focused it is. Weekly management meetings are spent stressing out over how many invoices can be issued out every month, even if clients haven't signed on the dotted line, a verbal confirmation is good enough for invoices to be printed and sent out to clock the sale for that month. Amazing.
- Given this culture, it's actually a fantastic environment for short-term selling: Nobody really cares whether the job can be done, as long as the deal is closed and invoices sent out. Anything the client wants, Frost & Sullivan can do it. ANYTHING.
- Whoever brings in the most revenue is the king, and can do virtually anything he wants.

Cons

VAGUE PRODUCT/SERVICE PROPOSITION
- The chairman's Blue Ocean Strategy of breaking away from its competition is a noble one, with Growth Parnetship/Consulting the obvious fruit of his labour. Only question is, what actually is Growth Parntership/Consulting?
- From the CEO's 360 Perspective, to the Growth Team, to the (in)famous Growth Pyramid, the Growth Excellence Matrix and Growth Workshops - the whole array of services tend to complicate what exactly Frost & Sullivan can offer its clients, instead of helping people understand what Growth Consulting is all about.
- This hypermarket approach might actually be a good thing though: Whatever requirements a client might have, it can be easily weaved and packaged under one of the vague services within the Growth Partnership/Consulting umbrella (See Sales Focus under Pros). Heck, even events management and organising are being done!

WEAK MANAGEMENT TEAM
- Of all the manegement team in its Asia Pacific office, most (if not all) of them are there by virtue of their length of service within the company, rather than their actual capability. For some of them, its their first job straight out of college, and its absolutely comfortable staying in that position for as long as they can.
- Many of the BU leaders (Directors/Vice Presidents) are out of touch with the industry, have no idea about the latest techniques/frameworks that are being used for consulting work.
- For one particular BU leader, his superlative EQ (or lack of it) has prompted multiple client complaints, leading to his staff labelling him as a liability to bring for client meetings where he's absolutely certain of trashing any potential deal on the table. Enuff said.
- Interestingly, even with the supposed hiring freeze across the company, new directors are still being brought into the company: People with zero industry experience being tasked to drive the Sales figures for that BU. Pity them as they attend client meetings with absolutely no knowledge of the industry that they're trying to sell into. Management must be thinking that pitching a consulting project is akin to selling a can of Coke.

HIGH STAFF TURNOVER
- Turnover figures are amazing. Even in the midst of a crisis like this, people are going through the turnstile at an amazing speed, with latest figures showing an average of 4-6 people leaving a month across its Asian offices.
- Given a size of about 300 staff across Asia Pacific, about 15-20% of its workforce is expected to be "refreshed" every year, and anybody who actually manages to stay longer than 18 months would be considered a senior within the office.

POOR REMUNERATION & BENEFITS
- Assuming Growth Partnership/Consulting is akin the actual consulting work, then the consultants are severely underpaid compared to other consulting firms. If Frost & Sullivan does stick to its roots as a Market Research firm, then it does pay its analysts a decent paycheck that's comparable to the multitude of market research firms out there. Don't expect anything more though.
- There's no annual bonus payout structure of any sorts. It entirely up to the whims and fancy of senior management, and even if they do set a target for annual bonuses, these can easily be retracted by cooking up a variety of excuses to explain how bad the company is faring, whilst fattening up their own wallets with huge management bonuses.
- Benefits are kept to the bare minimum to prevent the company from running afoul of the law. Don't expect any fancy insurance or mobile phone packages.
- Even better are the travel policies within the company, where staff are made to travel by bus (between Singapore and KL) and budget airlines wherever possible. The ridiculous hotel and meal allowances might just be enough to get a single room in YMCA or a student's hostel, and have 3 full meals of fast food everyday.

Advice to Senior Management

REVIEW HR POLICIES
- Face it, all your staff are unhappy, even though they might smile and be polite in front of you. Do something that actually benefits them and not the company. Forcing people to attend colouring competitions and talent contests ain't gonna cut it.
- Enforcing rules and regulations like an army camp isn't gonna work. Be it market research or consulting, we're not running a production line here, staff don't need to be sitting their desks to be productive. If someone actually works faster/better in Starbucks, why not?

LOOK AT THE MANAGEMENT TEAM
- A more balanced outlook and racial mix is required. Fire those who are obviously not doing any work at all, and have zero value-add to the company. Pay to attract and bring in proper talent to lead the company.

CLEAR PRODUCT/SERVICE DELIVERABLES
- The sales team need to know what they're selling. The execution team need to know how to deliver what the sales people are selling. Everybody needs to know what the company is actually trying to sell.

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
- Morale needs alot of lifting here. Your staff are travelling on behalf of the company for work, not on a jolly holiday (though some of the BU leaders actually have their family trips charged to the company on a pretext of business) - treat them well and let them have a comfortable stay so that they can actually concentrate on work whilst in another country.