Case Studies

ABI, Africa's largest Coca-Cola bottler, facing recession and the aggressive entry of Pepsi into its market, prepared for radical downsizing and plant closures. Employee relations were at an all time low, and strikes had deteriorated into bloody violence. Lapin International (formerly SBE) crafted ABI's Purpose, incorporating both strategic and inspirational foci. Lapin International built a Values-based culture to support the Purpose and by incorporating it into every aspect of the company's management procedures and business strategies, Lapin International helped reverse the anticipated trend. Sales outgrew the competition ... Read More

The VP of Human Resources of a large healthcare organization was energetically imparting the value of caring in the organization.  The entire team espoused this value, and the CEO supported it.  However, the VP of Operations was driving a relentless, cost-reduction strategy to ensure the survival of the organization in a very tumultuous phase of their industry.  Both leaders were exceptional individuals with impressive intellectual and moral stature, and both drove their campaigns hard.  Both initiatives were seen as vital for the organization, and each department enjoyed an excellent relationship.  Yet the value of caring for patients undermined the strategy to limit costs and pursue efficiencies.  The team could not reconcile the need to reduce ... Read More

Truworths, an international fashion retailer, inexplicably began to lose its dominant market position.  Its attempts to replicate its competitors' successes drove it further into its spiral of declining market share.  In quick but intensive workshops, Lapin International (formerly SBE) took Truworths’ leaders right out of the space that was occupied by its competitors.  We taught them how to think about their industry in ways no one else had.  We had them question the very soul of their purpose – both as individuals and as a business enterprise.  We delved into the soul of why people buy fashion.  Read More

A national supplier of electric power was experiencing an unexplained increase in plant failures and maintenance lapses.  It engaged Lapin International (formerly SBE) to conduct research to discover the underlying reasons for these problems.  Lapin International explored the possible link between station failures and the human dynamics occurring at each station. Read More

First National Bank, a leading retail bank, and Rand Merchant Bank, a successful investment bank, merged.  The CEO, knowing that large mergers seldom create true shareholder value, called in Lapin International (formerly SBE) to assist.  The cultures of the two organizations were opposite.  One was bureaucratic and strategic in its thinking; the other had a stellar reputation for quick-moving opportunism and entrepreneurship.  Whichever culture the new entity adopted ran the risk of alienating executives committed to the other culture.  The new entity could not afford to risk losing any of its human capital. Read More

In his inimitable way, Jack Welch would often shoot directives to his executives designed to innovatively drive down the costs of doing business. One such directive was so dichotomous that it kept senior GE executives awake at night: In an effort to reduce the costs of raw materials, Welch instructed his global sourcing to substantially increase its purchasing of raw materials from developing countries. The challenge to the executives was to do this without compromising GE’s relentless focus on quality and speed. With difficulties regarding communication and standards of quality and efficiency, Global Sourcing found that the price-saving was not justifying the indirect costs of doing business with developing countries. They called in Lapin International (formerly SBE). Read More

The CEO of Standard Bank Ltd, a large multi-national retail and investment bank employing over 35,000 people, invested large resources, executive time, and personal credibility in building and communicating a corporate set of values for his entire organization. He knew that an organization of that size only gets one chance to successfully implement a values exercise of that scale. Failure would, at best, infuse cynicism into the organization and, at worst, erode trust in leadership. His challenge to Lapin International (formerly SBE) was to help him excite his operational managers about the Bank's new values and to generate sustainable commitment to their implementation. Read More

Governor Froilan Tenorio is a man of action.  He knew that the privileges in the areas of labor and immigration and minimum wage granted to the CNMI by the Covenant were key to the region’s competitive advantage and the growth of its economy.  Retaining those privileges required eliminating any practices that could undermine federal confidence in the CNMI’s capacity to manage it’s own labor and immigration.  Thus, when certain practices in the Department of Labor and Immigration (DLI) threatened to undermine this confidence, he recognized the need for drastic action. Read More

A Lapin International (formerly SBE) study of a large city department revealed how low levels of internal trust and morale coupled with staff shortages could erupt into ethical lapses among management and employees.  The city recognized the loss of money and, importantly, reputation that such lapses would cause and engaged Lapin International to intervene. Read More

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Lapin Consulting International, Inc.

11601 Wilshire Boulevard
Suite 500
Los Angeles, California  90025

Phone +1 310 444 9602
Fax +1 310 444 9652
E-mail: info@lapininternational.com

“I unconditionally recommend Lapin International [formerly SBE]. David’s work helped us change the standard on which we ran our business. We would not be where we are today without David. He gives you the confidence to walk in a complicated world.”

Michael Mark, CEO
Truworths International

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