#Interview
WE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY AVAILABLE TO US
AS A COMPANY TO ACHIEVE PROFITABLE MARKET SHARE GROWTH
Brice Barberon, Head of Insights & Intelligence, about his international career, warm feelings for Moscow, and I & I goals and priorities aimed at ensuring the growth
of the market share of Imperial Tobacco.
In spring you moved to Moscow from sunny Brazil. Have you ever How did your international career unfold and why did you decide
been to Russia before? How do you like Moscow?
to join Imperial? planes to provide service to clients in other countries like Argentina,
Colombia and Uruguay. It was a very enriching experience.
The first time I set foot in Russia was in March when I came to
Moscow to meet with the leadership team. Prior to that and in
order to get familiar with the country I started reading different
materials and even took some Russian language lessons… Since
then I have become passionate about Russian literature, which
allowed me to better understand the great Russian culture, but
my ability to speak the language is still close to zero… Being a consultant is all about giving advice but not really
about implementing, and I started to really miss the concrete
aspects of the business… Talking is good, but doing is definitely
more fulfilling. When I received an offer from Imperial, with an
opportunity to contribute to the business of such a challenging
market as Russia, making a decision was a no brainer for me.
Moscow is a great city. The more I discover it, the more I like
it. As hard as it may be to believe, I find some similarities
with Sao Paulo where I used to live before. Both cities are big
megalopolises; life never seems to stop in neither of them…
The great plus about Moscow is its architecture and cultural
heritage. I find both aspects very impressive.
Developing an international career has always been one of my
key personal and professional objectives. Despite being French,
I have never worked in France. At an early age I decided to finish
my studies in Spain, where I had been living for almost 10 years.
After a short period of time spent in marketing departments of
international consumer goods companies in Barcelona, I decided
to join the consulting industry. This was a great choice for me
because it allowed me to travel the world pursuing different
projects, in Western Europe and Asia (Japan and China).
At some point the consulting firm I was working for proposed to
send me to Brazil to support the development of its consumer
goods center of competence there. It was at that point that my
Latin American adventures began… From Sao Paulo I took many
THE COMPLEX TIMES THAT WE ARE CURRENTLY FACING IN THE
RUSSIAN MARKET MAKE IT INCUMBENT UPON US TO BE VERY
DISCIPLINED WHEN IT COMES TO PRICING AND FORECASTING
Are you planning to introduce any changes to the way I&I operates?
Are you planning to implement any practices that are different
from those that Imperial is used to adhere to?
The complex times that we are currently facing in the Russian
market make it incumbent upon us to be very disciplined
when it comes to pricing and forecasting (two core I&I
accountabilities). My goal is not to implement anything
radically different than what we currently use as a company,
but to make sure that we do it well.
Volume forecasting, which is underpinned by Production
planning and Target setting, is probably an area where we
have the most room for improvement. My objective is to act
according to three underlying principles: 1) upgrading our
process – adopting a more bottom-up approach; 2) upgrading
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