The North Atlantic Champion v.4
With its brand-new strategy, Royal Greenland is ready to continue to progress in the coming years. Four specific focus points make up the strategy.
New strategy to secure future growth
Since 2013, Royal Greenland’s beacon has been the North Atlantic Champion strategy.
Last year, the Board of Directors adopted the latest version of the strategy - North Atlantic Champion v4. This is reported by CEO of Royal Greenland, Mikael Thinghuus.
- The North Atlantic Champion v4 strategy focuses on four equally important disciplines in which Royal Greenland must excel in order to really maximise value. These are commercial value creation, markets and channels, expansion and responsibility, he says.
Strategy is the company's foundation
The basic idea behind the North Atlantic Champion strategy has been to increase the value of the raw fish to which Royal Greenland has access. This also applies to the latest version.
- Our ambition is to maximise the value of every kilo of fish and seafood we catch or have access to. This is the only sustainable way to manage a resource that is naturally finite, Mikael Thinghuus explains.
Four key points will help to ensure that the door to the goals is opened.
Focus on key goals
The four points will set the framework for Royal Greenland’s initiatives up to and including 2024.
- Value maximisation. Royal Greenland must increase the value of the individual product.
- Growth. This applies to growth in the product range, in the markets and economically.
- New markets and sales channels. Royal Greenland must improve the understanding of where the best prices can be obtained in different countries and sales channels.
- All measures must support sustainable development, ranging from fisheries to the economy and, not least, employees and local communities.
Value Maximisation
Every effort must be made to make every kilo of raw material more valuable to Royal Greenland. This is a key element of the North Atlantic Champion v4 strategy.
Royal Greenland is blessed with access to world-class raw materials in the form of the fish and shellfish we land from the sea every day.
However, a natural resource faces the inherent challenge of being finite. This is addressed by the North Atlantic Champion v4 strategy.
- A key element of the strategy is commercial value creation and maximisation. We're working to maximise value in the longer term, which means that we collect and process fish and shellfish in a sustainable way, explains CEO of Royal Greenland, Mikael Thinghuus.
This also makes it necessary to come up with some new ideas besides increased fishing.
- As our resources are limited by mother nature, there's only one way to ensure long-term success for Royal Greenland. This is to maximise the market value of every kilo of raw material we have access to, explains Mikael Thinghuus.
Concepts can be rethought
A good example of how this can be achieved is the relaunch of one of the company’s largest sales items, namely cooked and peeled prawns.
Thanks to many years' efforts by the entire global organisation Royal Greenland is among the world’s leading suppliers of this product.
- For example, if our customers enjoy the prawns in salads or in convenience foods, we need to develop innovative product and packaging solutions to support this, says Mikael Thinghuus.
Sales must be spread across the right markets
The focus must also be on the markets and countries where there is potentially greater demand for the fish and shellfish offered by Royal Greenland.
- For example, how can we increase sales of cooked and peeled prawns outside Europe, or how do we get Chinese consumers to love snow crab just as much as they love our shell-on prawns, says Mikael Thinghuus.
The commercial risks for Royal Greenland can be reduced by spreading sales more widely.
Growth
Royal Greenland must continue to grow in the coming years. This concerns everything from product ranges to sales and market opportunities. This is a vital element of the North Atlantic Champion v4 strategy.
This strategy has many different aspects, but the fundamental objective is to create growth for Royal Greenland.
This concerns growing the product range and sales, and also expansion into new areas. This is reported by CEO Mikael Thinghuus of Royal Greenland.
- We need to widen our offering by defending our strong positions, while seeking to expand within the prized species that support our market ambitions, says Mikael Thinghuus.
Agility in the face of new opportunities
We need to be aware of the opportunities continuously arising in the market, the CEO explains.
- We have to enter the world of opportuinities that lies outside our normal territory.
For example, organic growth in North America needs to be accelerated, and Royal Greenland must also be ready to benefit from new market opportunities. We also need to look to the southern hemisphere.
- In South America, we are currently identifying and assessing opportunities to expand our business, says Mikael Thinghuus.
Today, Royal Greenland is co-owner of two companies in Chile. This gives access to for example two prized species: King Crab and Chilean Seabass.
Investments must boost the business
An obvious basic requirement is that every new measure must strengthen Royal Greenland, but we must also be able to add value to any value chain in which we invest.
- Defending our strong position while looking out for new opportunities to support and promote our ambitions is a vital element of North Atlantic Champion v4, says CEO Mikael Thinghuus.
Today, Royal Greenland has activities in 13 countries.
Markets and sales channels
Royal Greenland needs to learn even more about customers' needs, as well as sales channels and market trends. This will pave the way for new growth.
Knowledge is necessary to be able to use the new opportunities continuously arising in the market.
A better understanding of customers' needs and the sales channels in the markets is therefore part of North Atlantic Champion v4.
- The products we fish, produce and sell are only available in limited quantities. This makes it vital to market our range on markets and through selected channels to customers who really value our products, says Royal Greenland's CEO, Mikael Thinghuus.
Great potential in Asia
Royal Greenland has continuously strengthened sales in Asia. North Atlantic Champion v4 will help to strengthen this trend.
- In Asia, we will achieve growth with a broader range and add value from deeper market penetration via the retail sector and by setting up local e-commerce solutions, says Mikael Thinghuus.
More specifically, Royal Greenland must become a premium brand in the Chinese retail sector, but also on that country's major e-commerce platforms, e.g. via cooperation with Beiyang Jiamei in China.
New growth in Europe and North America
In Europe, processed products must be strengthened, with focus on boosting sales to the food service sector.
- We must compete actively in the convenience product markets, besides building up digital expertise to support expansion of our range on our current retail customers' e-commerce platforms, says Mikael Thinghuus.
In North America, Royal Greenland commands a strong position for snow crab via our subsidiary, Quin Sea Fisheries. This position must be further strengthened.
- We will leverage this very strong snow crab position to discover new market opportunities for our overall range.
To get closer to customers, among other reasons, Royal Greenland has established a sales office in the USA.
Responsibility
Royal Greenland must take responsibility for sustainable development. Not because we have to, but because we want to, as part of our North Atlantic Champion v4 strategy.
With North Atlantic Champion v4, Royal Greenland is once again taking a clear stand. The Group must be operated on a sustainable basis in every respect.
This is reported by CEO of Royal Greenland Mikael Thinghuus.
- That's why we aim to be a leader in our industry in terms of ensuring that our fisheries and activities are developed sustainably. To achieve this ambition, we've defined our CSR and ESG programmes after that ambition, says Mikael Thinghuus.
Those programs are based on the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals. For North Atlantic Champion v4 we focus on four goals in particular:
- Quality Education, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Responsible Consumption and Production, and Life Below Water, says Mikael Thinghuus.
Longstanding sustainability
Royal Greenland's sustainability history goes back a long way. For example we've been supporting local education institutions and sport for many years.
During the last ten years alone, we've managed to double the land-based workforce in Greenland.
- We create value for our customers and for the local community of which we're part by training our workforce and local fishermen, and thereby raising competence levels, says Mikael Thinghuus.
A specific example of Royal Greenland's measures to increase its sustainability is a number of new, more energy-efficient trawlers, of which four have already been delivered.
Sustainability to safeguard success
Royal Greenland must also continue to invest in sustainability.
- We seek to use 100 percent of the fish and shellfish that we catch. This is a great challenge, particularly in view of our complex, unique infrastructure, says Mikael Thinghuus.
Climate change risks destroying our planet, and its consequences are already apparent in Greenland. This makes it so vital that Royal Greenland supports sustainable development.
- Acting responsibly in this way will ensure Royal Greenland's long-term success. We take responsibility for sustainable development because this is the only way forward, asserts Mikael Thinghuus.
