Case Study - Request Analysis and Recruitment of a Freelance Consultant for Fact Finding

Problem

Small companies in particular can be faced with unanticipated challenges when needing to operate in foreign markets. Compared to large-sized firms, they rarely have at their disposal their own, professional structures abroad. This calls for hiring a local consultant on an interim basis, who knows the new marketplace well.

For an Italian drilling company looking to work in Germany, the marketplace may have been geographically close, but the legal provisions and language barriers made it remote.

In Italy, the procedures for drilling were already familiar and managed with proven checklists. But were these instruments also applicable to Germany?

Solution

The drilling company turned to us, and requested that we compile the right information. In analyzing and approaching the request systematically, it became clear that the previous checklists were only partly applicable to the new marketplace - the issues differed too greatly between Germany and Italy.

For this reason, Ergonos proposed to the client that they hire an independent German consultant for a short-term assignment. Ergonos recruited this consultant from their own network.

The outside expert had local contacts within the mining and drilling industries, and, due to his previous professional experience, a in-depth knowledge of highly sensitive engineering-safety issues. Furthermore, he had already worked for other Italian clients.

With his managerial and facilitation skills, he was able to negotiate the German marketplace quickly and assuredly. As a result of his fact-finding, he made a considerable contribution to clarifying within a short period of time the responsibilities between the Italian contractor, the German end client and local officials, so that the deep drilling could begin as soon as possible.