Henkel GmbH
BASICS in International Brand Management
The organisation
Henkel is a truly global fmcg company with sales in excess of €9.4 bn, affiliates in more
than 70 countries and over 45,000 employees. They have been building brands for more
than 125 years and today have three active and highly successful divisions: Home Care,
Personal Care and Adhesives, Sealants & Surface Treatments. Their brands include market
leaders such as Fa, Persil, Pritt, Loctite and Schwartzkopf.
The business issues
The challenge
A huge, global organisation such as Henkel, competing
with equally sophisticated and successful players in
virtually every market where they are active, must
always be looking to the future. Talent Management is
a central part of Henkel’s forward planning.
Henkel is a leader with brands and technologies that
make peoples’ lives easier, better and more beautiful.
Their high potential people, wherever they are in the
world, need to understand the way in which Henkel
measures itself and the strategic way in which it
operates as a global, brand-led organisation. The
objective for the event, agreed with Henkel, is that we
help attendees develop the strategic and marketing
skills appropriate for a global, marketing-led
organisation. The outcomes were identified as:
A planned programme of management development
exists throughout the organisation, starting with an
International Junior Managers’ Programme and
culminating in a Business Strategy Programme for
those with 15+ years’ experience with the organisation.
Within this structure, the BASICS programme, aimed at
those with 5-7 years’ experience and perceived high
potential, has a central role. These people, the senior
managers of tomorrow, on whom the company depends
for continued success, have developmental needs
which Henkel take very seriously.
• Understand Henkel’s competitive position
• Be able to make informed strategic decisions
appropriate to their position and role in the
organisation
• Be able to understand, evaluate and express
decisions in a financially appropriate and astute way
• Be able to understand and implement appropriate
management behaviours.
+44 (0)1234 754426 | jane.wharmby@cranfield .ac.uk | www.cranfield.ac.uk/som/cced
Customised Executive Development
Cranfield was tasked with designing and delivering a
process that would enable a high-potential, diverse and
multi-cultural group to attend a stimulating, rewarding
and informative seven-day event off shore. The
attendees would be from across the Henkel world, and
the event would be delivered in Henkel’s business
language, which is English. The event would facilitate
the exploration of the following:
Measuring success
• Henkel’s global R&D strategies
The approach
• Henkel’s approach to HR management
• Experiential, high energy and involving
• Henkel’s global strategy
• Providing a networking opportunity
• Henkel’s financial reporting methodologies and
business measurement metrics.
• A mix of Cranfield and Henkel expertise, with
presentation from very senior Henkel management
figures.
Henkel measure the responses of attendees to this
programme very carefully. There are eight metrics
relating to course content and delivery, each scored out
of a maximum four. The target score is three. Our
courses to date have all scored 3+ across every one of
the eight dimensions, with an average score of 3.4.
The programme
Culminating in a sophisticated Merger and Acquisitions
exercise, the week is very full. Days are long, with a
number of input sessions intermixed with periods of
interactivity and of reflection and discussion. The
evenings are also structured, with a mix of social events
and classroom work. The evening work is invariably
experiential and high impact. Input from Henkel senior
figures is scattered throughout the week, and is much
welcomed by delegates, especially those whose
opportunities to meet such senior figures are limited by
their geographic location.
The event takes place four times a year, with thirty
attendees at each iteration. The majority of the events
are staged in Germany, in order to facilitate attendance
by the senior figures who are providing input. However,
a recent event was successfully run at Cranfield, an
experiment that will be repeated.
Why Cranfield?
The School of Management won a competitive pitch by
showing the clearest understanding of the needs of
Henkel, and responding to those needs in the most
imaginative and sustainable way.
Cranfield’s expertise in the fields of strategic thinking,
finance and marketing was central to the decision, but
their experience in managing key relationships with
clients and project managing complex, global events
was also vital.
The relationship, and as a result the programme, has
developed over the last two years to the point where an
invitation onto the BASICS programme is seen within
Henkel as both a compliment about current progress
and an indication of future potential.
+44 (0)1234 754426 | jane.wharmby@cranfield .ac.uk | www.cranfield.ac.uk/som/cced