On September 16 AmCham and Riga Business School held the next seminar in the Competitiveness Dialogue Series to discuss competitiveness and business transformation. The seminar explored how the businesses have undergone change and key challenges tackled along the way.

Experts particularly focused on change management. The framework used to tackle it was based on the Adizes methodology.

Joining the seminar were the following experts:

- Greg Mathers, Lecturer of the Riga Business School and Management Consultant

- Ilga Bērzkalna, Head of Development, Latvijas Valsts Meži

- Kārlis Danēvičs, CFO, Member of the Management Board, SEB Latvia

Greg Mathers outlined the success formula of well-managed organizations: they are both effective and efficient, and they love change. Change creates new challenges and opportunities. It never stops and it is constantly speeding up. Change management or business transformation is what management is all about. Dealing with challenges and opportunities caused by change is never easy, but that’s exactly how competitive advantage manifests itself.

Ilga Berzkalne and Karlis Danevics shared key takeaways from the large-scale transformation projects of Latvijas Valsts Mezi and SEB Bank.

Competitiveness Dialogue Series include lectures, seminars and workshops providing participants with global insights, ideas and approaches to advance organizational and individual competitiveness.

About speakers:
Greg Mathers has lived in the Baltic region since 1993. In that time he has established and run 4 different companies. He also has more than 12 years experience in consulting and management development with companies such as SEB, Accenture, Roche, Radisson, Telia, Oracle and others. Since 2001 he has taught leadership and management in the Riga Business School MBA program.

Ilga Bērzkalne is responsible for the innovation cycle from idea to implementation, including applied R&D, organizational development and process improvement, forest technology transfer, project, programme and portfolio management (PPM), IS and IT development and maintenance. Has led the implementation of a process oriented organizational culture, developed PPM processes, and managed various restructuring and improvement initiatives at LVM. Management consultant with over 20 years of international experience in areas such as PPM, process improvement, organizational development, IT implementation, change management. Author of over 100 training courses. Past clients have included McDonald’s Corporation, Pfizer, Abbott Laboratories, Nielsen, and other Fortune 500 companies, as well as various private, public and NGO sector organizations in Latvia, the Baltics, Poland, and Romania.  

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