Strategy of SUEZ : case study

Résumé du document

Through the case study of Suez Group, we are willing to develop diverse concepts composing the definition of the strategy. Firstly, this company has mainly caught our attention by the unconditional reputation that it has built up over the years. Knowing that the Suez Group offers sustainable and innovative solutions in the energy and environment domains in order to manage public facilities in partnership with heterogeneous types of customers, we were wondering about the major attributes that are actually driving its activity. Curious to discover the adopted market approach, we have decided to investigate about its main features. We are well aware that in order to cope with the actual market-based reforms that the energy sector undergoes, the company has to adapt its tactic. All around the globe, Suez is enjoying its mission to deliver to anyone "the essential of life?. However, the customers' needs, competitive structures and the environment are undoubtedly varying following no welldefined pattern. Therefore, as a global economic player, Suez has to observe, anticipate and rely on an evolutional and adapted strategy which should bring the business to turn into what we may qualify as being "a success story?.

Extraits

[...] Thanks to the flexibility of the distribution, every nation may choose a particular combination of technologies in order to respond to the citizen's needs. Along with their skills TRENDS CASH, Une fusion Suez-Total. Impossible ? mai 2007, p Cfr Appendix STRATEGY CLASS of April 23rd and experience, the diversity of Suez's services helps the nations responding to the citizens' needs. They also provide high available and reliable services. The Group wants to develop profitable operations of technology that are efficient. Therefore, Suez invests in Research and Development. [...]

[...] Let's take the example of Tractebel Energia26 to illustrate this last statement. A satisfaction survey conducted in April 2005 by an external consultant revealed that out of 91% of the company's current customers were "very satisfied" and were "satisfied" with their relationship with their 24 SUEZ, The value chain, http://www.suezenergyna.com/whoweare/valuechain.shtml, (Cfr. Appendix 6 for a more detailed value chain) 25 Strategy class of May 21st SUEZ, 20th toffees initiatives, www.suez.com/document/?f=groupe/en/SUEZ_brochure_TII_062006.pdf 24 supplier. The real success, though, was that of customers intended to renew their contract or even to increase their electricity demand. [...]

[...] Consequently, water supply cannot respond to the demand. According to the World Bank, worldwide demand for water doubles every 21 years and even more in some regions 41. The world population has recently reached six billion people and the United Nation's projections indicate it will reach nine billion by 2050. How will the water companies will respond to this major demographic modification? We are witnessing the same phenomenon with the waste that has been accumulated. The question is: will the company‘s facilities be sufficient in order to cope with a massive quantity of waste that has been produced by people? [...]

[...] SUEZ, Assemblée Générale slides. Websites a n SUEZ, Delivering the essentials of life, www.suez.com Vlerick, Senior executive remuneration : a search for international coherence, http://www.vlerick.be/hrday/Presentaties_06/Microsoft%20PowerPoint%20%20suezVlerick%20HRDay%2007-06-2006.pdf a n n n n n n n n SUEZ, Our values, http://www.suez.com/en/groupe/ethics-value/values/our-values/ SUEZ, Our 5 priorities, http://www.suez.fr/en/developpement-durable/5-priorities/our-5priorities/ SUEZ, The value chain, http://www.suezenergyna.com/whoweare/valuechain.shtml FAST FACTS, Revenue by region,, http://www.suezenergyresources.com/Prodserv/documents/FastFactsDec06.pdf SUEZ, Indicateurs économiques, http://www.suez.fr/fr/developpementdurable/indicateurs/economiques/indicateurs-economiques/ FAST FACTS, Value chain, http://www.suezenergyresources.com/Prodserv/documents/FastFactsDec06.pdf SUEZ, 20th toffees initiatives, www.suez.com/document/? f=groupe/en/SUEZ_brochure_TII_062006.pdf SUEZ, An international player in the gas sector, www.suez.com/document/? f=presse/en/SUEZ_DP_GNL_060206_en.pdf PRICE WATERHOUSE COOPERS, Mergers and acquisitions activity within the global electricity and gas market, http://www.pwc.com/extweb/pwcpublications.nsf/ docid/26FA66FD2F53DE03852572660059B541/$file/power-deals2007-final.pdf n n L'EXPRESS.FR, De l'eau dans le gaz, http://www.lexpress.fr/info/quotidien/images/suez.jpg CALS ARIZONA, Global water shortage looms in new century, http://cals.arizona.edu/AZWATER/awr/dec99/Feature2.htm 47 SUEZ ENERGY INTERNATIONAL, The high growth potential markets /document/?f=finance/fr/3_DEF_SEI_Beeuwsart_FR.pdf n n n TERRE BLEUE, The proposed Suez-Gas de France merger, http://www.secinfo.com/d14D5a.v3Y13.htm PINSENT MASONS, EU & competition, http://www.pinsentmasons.com/media/833937389.pdf EDF, Annnnual report 2006, http://actionnaires.edf.com/fichiers/fckeditor/File/ inance/actionnaires/g240507/AG2007_V0525_va.pdf Articles a n TRENDS CASH, Une fusion Suez-Total. [...]

[...] Too much diversification n n n n n Opportunities a A competitive energy mix: our n environment is asking for a balance between natural gas, nuclear and n renewable energy n The need to satisfy the growing demand n for sustainable development leads to the creation of innovative services = Strong global economic expansion n driving energy demand n Emerging countries have numerous needs that still have not been satisfied n Millennium Declaration: giving more people the access to drinking water) n A possible merger with Total16 Threats The run-out of the global resources' reserves Changes in regulations at the European, national and local levels New laws and regulations concerning the environment, health protection and safety standards New entrants: door are open to new competitors which means a volatility of the prices Changes in raw material prices (oil products) may have a significant impact on the costs of production of supplies for some of the Group's activities ( profitability affected) 3.2 Company's strategy Introduction Before talking about the strategy of the company, we are first going to introduce you to the internal structure of Suez in order to understand better the company as a whole. The way the company structures itself already gives us in-depth information about their major concerns. A few years ago, Suez was a holding company that began to invest in other energy businesses. They had small and large companies in their portfolio. For example, the SES (Suez Energy Services) are organized by country in a structure comprised of several Business Units17. [...]