FL jubilæumsbog EN 101123 web - Flipbook - Side 68
FRODE LAURSEN SEES
NORTHERN EUROPE AS
ONE SINGLE MARKET
When Frode Laursen established a logistics
centre in Sweden, a choice was made: The Nordic region and Northern Europe would be one
market. A Swedish customer is not a customer
of Frode Laursen Sweden, but of Frode Laursen.
“We had competitors who established themselves in Sweden with an entire organisation with
a director at the top, and then it starts raining
expenses. I thought: That can’t be right. We need
a warehouse manager, and then we can take care
of the administration down here from the office
in Vien,” says Thorkil Andersen and adds: “Of
course, this approach also has its disadvantages.
For example, it makes it harder to get close to
local customers, employees, and market insights.
But based on the costs and type of customers we
were looking for, I felt it was the right model.”
“One of the advantages of being organised
this way is that we are easy for customers to
do business with. When they have to solve a
complex logistics task across the entire Nordic
region, they can go to a ‘one stop shop’ and – in
principle – talk to a maximum of two people,”
says Thomas Corneliussen, CEO, who continues:
“With a single contract, one IT interface and
two contact persons, we solve both transport
and logistics tasks throughout the Nordic
region, across national borders, different laws,
languages, cultures etc.”
He acknowledges that there are also challenges with the high degree of centralisation.
“Those of us at the head office must be mobile and travel a lot. We must be present where
the employees and customers are.”
A ONE STOP SHOP FOR CUSTOMERS
INTERFACES AND STANDARDS
The chosen structure naturally entails centralisation, where functions such as finance, customer service, purchasing, IT, technology, HR
and more are located in Vien. Conversely, this
places greater demands on the local warehouse
managers around the various countries, as they
are more isolated.
Frode Laursen’s organisation is divided into
three business areas: Road Danmark, Road
International and Logistics; all backed up by
support functions such as IT, engineering, sales,
finance and administration.
“The directors of the individual business
areas can concentrate on taking care of their
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FRoDe LAURsen sees noRtHeRn eURoPe As one sInGLe MARKet
