Competitiveness of French plants - Manufacturing ... - Roland Berger

ROLAND BERGER STRATEGY CONSULTANTS
3. Key Competitiveness Levers
all plants are affected by expensive labor costs - but more competitive
plants also have r&d and product innovation issues
Number of respondents considering themselves competitive
on a criteria considered critical 1) [selected items]
Labor costs
Raw material costs
Non competitive plants
Very competitive plants
8% 50%
43% 64%
Sales force 42% 75%
Labor qualification 62% 100%
Supply chain 56% 100%
Product innovation 60% 50%
Research &
Development
69% 37%
Energy costs 86% 83%
RATIONALE
Only an extremely limited fraction of non
competitive plants consider that they have
a good position regarding labor costs:
8%, vs. 50% for the most competitive plants.
This is mainly explained by the fact that the
most labor intensive industries are usually
also the ones producing lower added values
and facing the strongest global competition.
Most competitive plants are also focusing
themselves on improving product innovation
and R&D capacity, both marginal issues
for the less competitive players who, again,
are likely to be focused on more commodity
products.
1) Number of respondents considering themselves competitive over number of respondents considering the criteria as critical
Source: Roland Berger Manufacturing Competitiveness Radar 2012 Survey
17