Corporate Strategy is a central global function at Schneider Electric and has 4 broad activities:
• Group strategy cycle: animate the strategy cycle for Divisions & Regions, the Executive Committee and the Board of the group with deliveries organised in Q1, Q2 and Q3; create links with the group finance cycles for resource allocation
• Strategic Intelligence: bring an outside-in view to the group by analyzing competition and performing benchmark analysis
• Portfolio optimisation: identify acquisitions & divestments, assess strategic rationale for deals and their adequacy to Group strategy, deliver synergy studies
• Ad-hoc projects: deliver strategy projects on transversal topics not naturally owned by any Division nor Region
B. Description of the role & responsibilities of the Corporate Strategy Director
The Corporate Strategy Director is a high-profile role with a global remit, not tied to the role location in Hong Kong. As such, the Corporate Strategy Director is a key member of the Corporate Strategy team, actively contributes to building the global strategy of Schneider Electric, and is exposed to multiple stakeholders across the organization and various parts of the business. Main responsibilities include:
• Act as a key content lead and project lead for strategy studies
• Driving content, questions, analysis, story-telling, organization, cadence & pace
• Working hand-in-hand with internal and external stakeholders
• Writing projects scoping for internal or external work, guides for interviews and conducting interviews
• Managing various stakeholders to deliver findings within agreed timelines
• Formulating key conclusions
• Perform research activities to obtain relevant data and define needs or problems, either with (i) other corporate strategy team members, (ii) other individuals within Divisions / Regions of Schneider Electric or (iii) external consultants or research institutes
• Oversee the formulation of hypotheses for investigation and analysis of Schneider Electric, competitors, and market data
• Apply business judgement and knowledge of Schneider Electric solutions and organization to devise feasible and actionable recommendations for profitable growth for Schneider Electric
• Prepare and present written and oral reports of findings to key stakeholders inside Schneider Electric
• Develop, manage and maintain excellent relationships within Schneider Electric – at all levels of the organization
C. Requirements for the role
• Good business acumen and judgment
• Strong analytical skills: ability to screen and quickly absorb information on various topics from multiple sources and synthesize it to make meaningful recommendations
• Fast learning capacity and curiosity for Schneider Electric’s businesses and those of competitors, new business models and disruptors
• Resourceful, tenacious and self-starter attitude
• Good interpersonal skills
o Open-mindedness, actively listens to others, understands and values others' views
o Ability to connect with people easily, to win buy-in for proposed recommendations
o High level of maturity: ability to liaise with counterparts from different parts of the organization, including senior executives
• Strong organization and project planning skills; structured way of working; ability to work under time pressure; Good attention to detail
• Collaborative and a team player: driven but balanced, thoughtful and passionate about success of the collective team
• Good finance literacy: understanding of a P&L and Balance Sheet
• Comfortable operating with a very strict level of confidentiality, given the types of topics covered, and the access to information provided by the role
