08 November 2016
Bilbao Campus
We do not have the privilege of meeting a CEO every day, and today has been one of those special days. Ernesto Lauzirika, CEO of INAUXA, has begun a series of meetings with managers within the framework of “Design of Organizations” of the Master’s degree in European and International Business Management at Deusto Business School.
For more than an hour and a half, students on the Master's degree had the opportunity to hear a first-hand account of the organizational structure of INAUXA, an automotive company founded in 1976. In 2009 the firm went international and in July 2016 joined the German giant Mubea Group. The students became increasingly interested in the story as he spoke. What criteria are used to select the location for new production sites in foreign countries? What role do expatriates play in internationalization? What were the main difficulties in expanding to China? Why are purchases made from headquarters rather than the production sites? Ernesto patiently answered all the questions that were raised.
With the integration into the matrix structure of the German group Mubea we also had the opportunity to analyse how the decision-making and power centres have changed, and what a difficult integration process INAUXA is facing. “Designing the organizational structure on paper is easy” -Ernesto stated- “we had it finished in four weeks, however, implementing it will be a much longer and more difficult process, which will require at least one to two years.” Taking care of people will undoubtedly be a key success factor. From the Master’s degree programme we wish INAUXA every success in this new stage of its development.
