The Palladium Group
The Palladium Group
Full Time
The Palladium Group
United States
United States,
Operations Efficiency Consultant: Advisory Services to
Improve the Operating Efficiency of Supermercados El Gran Gallo Stores and
Distribution Center
Company Overview:
About Palladium – Palladium is a global leader in the design, development and delivery of Positive Impact – the intentional creation of enduring social and economic value. We work with governments, businesses, and investors to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. With a team of more than 3,000 employees operating in 90 plus countries and a global network of over 35,000 experts, we help improve economies, societies and, most importantly, people’s lives.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.
Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com
Safeguarding – We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.
Project Overview and Role:
I. BACKGROUND
The Guatemala CEO Project invites you to participate in the call for professionals to carry out the consultancy “Advisor to Improve the Operational Efficiency of the Supermarkets El Gran Gallo and Distribution Center”. The Terms of Reference are attached for your consideration. Interested parties should include a letter of expression of interest and their curriculum vitae. The deadline to receive expressions of interest is Tuesday, November 16, 2021.
Guatemala is a developing country with
great economic growth potential. However, notwithstanding the efforts by the
Government to boost growth, Guatemala is still facing great challenges with
respect to sustainable development. The country’s estimated population is 14,901,286
inhabitants (48.5% men and 51.5% women), and nearly 41.7% of them are
indigenous. Guatemala is considered a young country, since 54.69% of the
population is 24 years old or less. Despite this potential, 59.3% of the
population lives in poverty, earning less than Q. 10,218.00, or US$1,327.31 per
year. Guatemala faces a number of adverse realities, which include, in addition
to poverty, high indices of social, cultural, and historical violence that
divide the country into ethnic, economic, and geographic groups. Migrants state
that the problem is “the lack of employment opportunities, income generation,
and opportunities for education. There are no technical professions for
Guatemalan youth.” According to Ministry of Education data, 170 thousand
students graduate every year; however, the gross occupation rate remains under
60%, highlighting the problem of employability in the country.
USAID/Guatemala’s Creating Economic
Opportunities Project (CEO) supports economic growth, private-sector
development, competitiveness, and job creation in Guatemala. In addition, it
strengthens investment and business promotion, catalyzes productive
infrastructure, develops Guatemala’s labor force, and fosters an enabling
entrepreneurial environment. A core objective of the CEO Project is to
strengthen the private sector as a driver for growth to reduce poverty, improve
living conditions, and create sustainable economic opportunities for
Guatemalans in Guatemala. By focusing on the country’s secondary cities as
natural platforms for investment and growth, fostering alliances among
stakeholders in the public, private, and civil-society sectors, and placing
emphasis on an ecosystem conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship, the CEO Project
plays a leading role in creating jobs, facilitating investment, and promoting
prosperity in the interior of the country.
Within this context, one of the strategic
and operational actions is contributing to improve the financial service
practices in banks, cooperatives, financing companies, and impact funds in the
territories covered by the Project, through interventions that address the
offer of capital for small, medium and large businesses, as well as
strengthening the demand practices and skills insofar as presentation of
bankable business projects by these businesses and/or SMEs operating
independently or as part of productive value chains.
In turn, the company Comercial Los
Hermanos, S.A. (commercial name El Gran Gallo) –whose line of business focuses
on buying, selling, importing, and exporting over 13,000 everyday items and
general merchandise, generating over 400 jobs in its stores and purchasing,
warehousing, and administration areas– is planning to expand its operations and
to open new stores in the next five years, increasing its 26 present points of
sales to 35. This entails considerable investments, increased sales, and generation
of new jobs for young women and men. Conversely, within the framework of the
alliance established between the Project and that company by means of the
Letter of Understanding, it was determined that one of the priority areas to be
modernized and innovated is the one relating to the administrative and
commercial processes that support plans to grow and expand company operations.
Thus, the Project and the SME have jointly prepared these Terms of Reference to
identify a consultant who can provide advisory services aimed at implementing
actions to modernize operations at the stores and to streamline the administrative
processes and the registration, control, and analysis tools for the company’s
logistical information.
II. OBJECTIVES
• General Objective
To strengthen business management by
modernizing store operations, improving the administrative processes, and the
tools for information registration, internal control, reporting, and analyses that allow greater
efficiency and generation of solid bases for decision-making purposes.
• Specific Objectives
For El Gran Gallo company to improve operations at the level of its stores and distribution centers in order to allow greater logistical efficiency.
For El Gran Gallo company to establish strategic performance indicators (key metrics and business graphic dashboard) and to improve its administrative tools to streamline its general operations.
III. CONSULTANCY OUTPUTS
A diagnosis showing the status of store operations, administrative processes, and registration and internal-control tools.
• A proposal for the strategy to modernize
store and distribution-center operations, which will include at least:
o The company’s strategic indicators (key
business metrics)
o The
managerial, administrative and management procedures to enhance the company’s
performance, aimed at achieving its operational excellence.
o To
suggest key changes, their sequence, and processes to be implemented
• A report with the results of action implementation,
advisory services, and training for at least 25 key company staff, including
directors, store-operation managers, the financial manager, the purchasing
manager, the head of the distribution center, and heads of stores, among
others. The report will also include the methodology and the tools used, the
length of training by area, the topics to be addressed and the mode to be used
(in person, virtual or a combination of both).
IV. ACTIVITIES
Following are suggestions for a series of
indicative activities for the consultant. The professional, when submitting the
Work Plan, should propose adjustments to these activities for approval by the
SME and the Project, if he/she considers it relevant.
a) Preparatory and
Coordination Actions
It is important to underscore that the services
should focus on implementing and executing actions that allow modernizing and
streamlining the processes, more than on the study and the diagnostic phases.
It is expected that the consultant, jointly with company directors and the
USAID/CEO Project Business Advisor, will fully define the path, phases, and
strategic actions to execute the task.
Developing and submitting the work plan and work schedule to achieve foreseen objectives. The plan and schedule should be submitted for approval both to the Component 2 Business Advisor at the regional office in Quetzaltenango and the SME Manager and/or to other individuals established by the businessperson or the Project.
Holding a work coordination and planning meeting or meetings, jointly with the SME Manager and the Component 2 Business Advisor at the Quetzaltenango regional office. The consultant should consider the official constraints pertaining to the COVID-19 crisis when establishing the work methodology.
Primary Responsibilities:
b) Field Work Actions
To gather and analyze the studies, diagnoses, and other documents pertaining to previous consultancies in order to become acquainted with them and to obtain information on the general operations of El Gran Gallo. The idea is to take advantage of available information that can streamline the consulting processes.
To review and analyze the current procedures and operations being executed in the stores and the distribution center, with the aim of determining the aspects or areas to be improved and other elements hindering high efficiency.
To integrate, analyze and present the most important findings in each one of the areas to the company’s directors for their approval, underscoring the areas to be improved and the key ideas and the short- and medium-term actions that should be implemented.
To develop a modernization plan for store operations and the administrative and financial processes of El Gran Gallo, which should be presented to the company’s directors and USAID/CEO’s Business Advisor for their endorsement.
To provide advisory services on the execution of actions to improve store operation and management, distribution of shelves and aisles, level of assortment, inventory and turnover, equipment, and furniture, as well as lighting, in the stores, among other elements. In parallel, to review and make improvements to the operations of the distribution center, considering supply and warehouse inventory, inventory turnover, reception and dispatch, its alignment with the stores, etc.
To implement procedures and internal operational-administrative tools that improve the operation in order to achieve greater efficiency. The Consultant should analyze and improve the planning procedures, the logistical structure in the stores, and the management and control processes being implemented.
To undertake an accounting and financial analysis of the business and the effects in the operations in stores and the distribution center. In this area, it is important to learn about and analyze the indicators and metrics that the company applies and uses to make decisions and plan its operations.
To plan and execute actions to train and coach key staff (25 people) such as the company’s directors, the stores’ operation managers, the financial manager, the heads of stores, the head of the distribution center, among others. To that end, the consultant should coordinate the dates and length of the trainings with the company and should define the proper methodology and tools for each position, so that they are adequate for the participants’ proficiency level.
To accompany and advice the company in its implementation of the Modernization Plan, which entails training its directors, heads of the various areas and staff working in key positions, in addition to implementing the actions and incorporating new support tools.
To submit periodic progress reports to the SME’s management and directors and the C2 Component Business Advisor at the USAID/CEO Project Quetzaltenango regional office for their analysis and approval.
To submit the final report to the SME’s management and directors and the C2 Component Business Advisor at the USAID/CEO Project Quetzaltenango regional office for their analysis and review.
c) Research Work
Designing tools and other work instruments
Developing the Consultant’s progress reports
Submitting reports to SME’s management, the C2 Business Advisor in Quetzaltenango, and any other component staff that the Component 2 Leader may define.
To make the changes requested by the SME’s management and the CEO Project.
To formally submit and deliver the final report. The Consultant should present it to the businessperson and to the Director, Sub-Director, and management / technical staff of the Project, using the Project’s administrative norms.
V. DELIVERABLES
DELIVERABLES DESCRIPTION OF DELIVERABLES
1. Work Plan
This document should contain two
sections:
Work methodology, with the detailed steps to be implemented in order to obtain the final output or outputs contracted and described in these Terms of Reference. This section should include the instruments and tools to be used for this work. A detailed schedule for the various activities to be undertaken in order to achieve the objectives of the work contracted: major milestones with their most important activities. The document should be written in the
official format that the Project provides to that end. The company should use
the structure and size (10 pages maximum), as defined by the Project.
2. First Progress
Report A
document with the general analysis and diagnosis of the company (operations
in the stores and the distribution center). This report should contain the
following:
a. An Analysis and a diagnosis of the
company’s operations at the store and distribution-center level, and the
current administrative procedures and tools.
b. A proposal for an Operations Modernization
Plan for El Gran Gallo and for the advisory services with defined scope,
strategies, tools, and execution schedule.
Metrics or key strategic indicators proven and endorsed by the company. The progress report
should be submitted in the Project’s official format, which requires that it
be no more than 10 pages in length, with annexes that could include all the important
and key documents for the consultancy: the analysis and diagnosis, the proposal
for an Operations Modernization Plan and the key metrics/indicators, among
others.
3. Second Progress
Report A document containing the progress
achieved in executing the Modernization Plan. It should address at least the
following:
a. The progress achieved in implementing
actions, advisory services, and training to at least 25 of the company’s key
individuals.
b. The progress achieved in innovating
internal administrative procedures and tools as support to the company’s
management. The document should be written in the
official format that the Project provides to that end. The company should use
the structure and size (10 pages maximum), as defined by the Project.
4. Final Consultancy
Report The final report should integrate and
consolidate all the outputs achieved, highlighting the progress in
implementing actions and adopting processes / tools to support:
• Improvements
in the operations of the stores and the distribution center. The changes and
improvements in the operations of the stores, the distribution of shelves and
aisles, the assortment level, inventory and turnover, equipment and
furniture, and lighting in all the stores, etc. should be emphasized, as well
as the changes, and improvements in the operations at the distribution
center.
• The company’s strategic performance
indicators (the business’ key metrics) implemented by El Gran Gallo.
• The company’s new administrative and
management procedures focusing on operational excellence that have been
implemented by the company.
• The
results of training at least 25 of the company’s staff members, among them,
directors, managers, heads of areas / stores, on the new operations
strategy for stores and the distribution center, as well as the strategic
indicators (metrics) defined. To this end, the consultant should submit
supporting documents, such as lists, based on the Project’s official format.
The document should be written in the
official format provided by the Project for that purpose. The company should
be sure to use the structure and the size (10 pages maximum) as defined by
the Project.
In addition, all the documents
considered necessary, such as: the minutes of the meetings, photographs,
attendance records, tools used, among others, may be included in the Annexes.
The final presentation of the report, in
which the Consultant will summarize the assistance provided to the company,
highlighting the main findings, proposals and recommendations. This
presentation will be made both to the businessperson and to the Project’s Director,
Sub-Director, and management and technical staff, using the Project’s
administrative norms.
Required Qualifications:
Professional Experience
• Proven
experience in providing administrative, business, and operational coaching
services to small and medium-sized family businesses.
• Proven
experience of no less than five years in business advisory services in general,
and specifically, in business advisory services to companies whose line of
business focuses on retail markets and retail sales of mass consumer goods.
• Proven
experience in the operations of mass consumer goods stores or supermarkets,
designing operation registration and control tools, such as metrics or
performance indicators by area or business unit.
• Proven experience in providing administrative
coaching services and in implementing innovative processes-tools to achieve
better management of these kinds of businesses.
Additional Knowledge
• Accurate
knowledge of the dynamics of the national and regional mass consumer-goods
markets in Guatemala’s southwestern region and the supermarket chains operating
in the country.
• Up
to date on consumer trends and patterns within the mass-consumer segment in
times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Mastery of tools to support the management
and operations of mass consumer-goods supermarket chains.
Required Skills /
Capabilities
• Capability to analyze and summarize
information on SME operations
• Availability to undertake technical field
work to gather information
• Ability to analyze, integrate, and write
technical reports
• Results oriented
• Effective time management
• Ability to use Office and social networks
