Question no.

1
Analyse the evolution of the MLCFL in terms of strategy, implementation, and performance
from 2004 to 2014.
The journey of MLCFL has indeed been an evolution of the company as well as its leadership through
the period of 2004 to 2014. When Mr. Sayeed Tariq Saigol started as the CEO of the Company in
2004, the Company seemed to not have any strategy for itself going forward. A bad market condition
and unsolved operating inefficiency meant the Company was not able to achieve the growth
represented by the cement industry in Pakistan. Even at that, from what can be deduced, the Company
did not have a clear strategy. The Company only eyed at boosting their sales albeit without a clear
roadmap as to how this would be possible. While Mr. Saigol was engrossed in understanding the
nuances of the cement industry, the Company was noted to have taken resort to merely imitate their
competitors; be it an attempt to establish control over the distribution network or set up a captive power
plant.
However, as Mr. Saigol gained his understanding of the business, he gained the ability to better
express his vision of what he hoped the Company would be. For the first time in 2008, Mr. Saigol had
a vision for the Company; a vision to differentiate the Company from other players in the market. Mr.
Saigol, in association with his friend, Mr. Arif Ijaz, adopted a Differentiation strategy for MLCFL in 2008;
a major focus on retention of its customer base. Of what we can deduce, the Company had matured
from the stage it was in 2004 and had evolved in the next years by when it now had a strategy and
was working to devise processes and plans to achieve the strategy.
In the subsequent years, it could also be noted that the team of Mr. Saigol and Mr. Ijaz executed their
strategy to the optimum. The team realized the importance of improving the way the Company
produced and sold its cement. The team changed the way the Company operated by forming various
cross-functional teams as follows:
a. Team Energy to study the energy side of the business
b. Team Reliability Centre Mechanism to maintain standards of operations
c. Team Improvement to monitor the processes of the Company for improvement
d. Team Culture to initiate employee recreation and motivational activities to maintain morale and
motivation of the employees
While the renewed cross-functioning teams helped the Company improve their production processes
and enhance the motivation of their employees, introduction of new members like marketing manager,
Mr. Yahya Hamid and IT manager, Mobin Ahmed worked a great deal in the selling process of the
Company. Mr. Yahya rejuvenated the connections of the Company with their entire supply chain which
ultimately enabled the company build a relationship with every end of their supply chain by increasing
personalized interaction and engagement with them. Further, the team of Mr. Yahya and Mr. Mobin
enabled the set up of an in-house call centre which allowed the Company to maintain direct contact
with their supply chain partners and more importantly, their customers.
The Company was successful in reviving the energy of their workforce which felt more involved with
the set up of the new teams and at the same time overthrow big monopolistic distributors to own the
supply chain for themselves for the first time in their history. The production efficiency may have
improved their cost structures in the year to come, but with the motivation of their workforce and the
innovative direct distribution and call centre facilities, they were able to have a better grip of their
market and achieve their strategy of a happy and returning customer.
Therefore, the above events show a ground-breaking evolution of MLCFL from a lost puppy in 2004
to a mature institution which had a direction and the thought process and the plan to achieve the
objective through to 2014. The above-mentioned processes designed by the Company and the re-
engineering it achieved is a testament to the enhanced capacity of the Company to build a strategy
and take the steps necessary to execute the strategy. This became evident when the Company started
reaping the results of its hardwork after 2014 when the Company drastically improved its EBITDA
positions and achieve a leadership position in the Cement industry in Pakistan.

Question no. 2
What key challenges do you, as Sayeed Tariq Saigol, face in early 2015 and what would you do
to address those challenges?
The strategy defined by Mr. Saigol in 2008 helped establish MLCFL as a Company and a brand in the
Cement market of Pakistan. However, the Company needed a new fire to define its days forward.
Foremost, the imminent challenge for the Company was to build on the brand it had established with so
much hardwork and dedication. The Company did not have the luxury to sit back and bask in its recent
success but needed to be fast in action to cash in on its achievements and build on its brand in the market.
Heavier investment would be needed in their marketing engagements to strengthen their relationship
and build newer relationships in the market; such relationships which have been a cornerstone of their
success in the past years.

However, what would be even more challenging for Mr. Saigol in 2015 to establish a Company that is
capable of assessing its position and defining a strategy of its own with the involvement of, but without
being dependent upon its CEO. The Company needed to identify and hone its employees and workforce
to build a senior management team which could help the Company to eliminate its dependency on Mr.
Saigol to always define its future and function as an organization than an individual’s baby. This was also
necessary to maintain the motivation of its employees and show them a future that they can look upto
over and above their existing mid-management and execution roles.

The above are what I feel the major challenges for Mr. Saigol in 2015.