Before starting organizational change management, let’s look closer at the company on which the case study is based. Here’s an overview of BriscoBikes Holding (BBH) and its associated companies.
BriscoBikes
BriscoBikes is a well-established bicycle brand. The company was founded in 1998 by Jane Brisco, a successful professional triathlete. Products range from road, gravel to mountain bikes, including e-mountain bikes. BriscoBikes addresses the market for keen cyclists. The company has developed well since its foundation. Currently, BriscoBikes employs 2100 employees. To accelerate its growth and to expand its product portfolio, BriscoBikes acquired two bicycle companies: THE URBAN CYCLIST in 2011 and veloREBELZ! in 2023.
THE URBAN CYCLIST
THE URBAN CYCLIST is a traditional Dutch bicycle manufacturer with headquarters in Amsterdam. The products range from comfortable urban bikes, high quality e-bikes to cargo bikes, foldable bikes, and bicycles for children. The main target segments for the company are single people, families, and elderly people who live in cities and use their bicycle for everyday journeys and leisure activities. The bicycles aren’t suited for keen cyclists and the range doesn't include mountain bikes. The company has 1500 employees. Overall, THE URBAN CYCLIST products are a good addition to BriscoBikes’ portfolio.
veloREBELZ!
veloREBELZ! is a small German bicycle manufacturer based in Berlin. The company is well known for the stylish design of its bicycles and the innovative use of digitalization. veloREBELZ! offers a modular bicycle that can be customized according to the clients’ wishes. Overall, the bicycles range from the mid to upper price segment. The company has 450 employees. veloREBELZ! faced significant financial issues due to high investment in product design, marketing, and digitalization. An impending insolvency was only avoided by BriscoBikes taking the company over. With the acquisition of veloREBELZ!, BriscoBikes has considerably strengthened its digital competence.
BriscoBikes Holding (BBH)
The different companies operate with a high degree of autonomy, for example, keeping their own brands, market appearance, sales channels, and IT system landscape. BBH manages them. It’s located in San Diego and currently has 25 employees.
The organizational structure of BBH is depicted in the following chart.
BriscoBikes is still family-owned. However, to finance the portfolio expansion, digitalization, and growth strategy, the company took on board an investor. The Cheetah Sports Investment Group now owns 30% of BBH.
To streamline the product portfolio, business processes, and realize economies of scale, especially regarding market appearance and supply chain, the investor pushes for standardization across the three companies.
It's Your Turn: Time to Practice!
The introduction of the companies included some facts and figures. Do you remember this information?
Take five minutes to complete exercise 2 in your workbook.
.png "This image shows an e-Mail that was wirtten by Jane Brisco and that is addressed at the management team. In this e-Mail she talks about how the 4S project will change Brisco Bikes Holding and announces that they will partner with SAP to provide the software solution and act as the system integrator. Jane Bricso is the project sponsor. She also introduces the project leads, Lucy Sheng, Manager Finance Operations at BriscoBikes, who will take over the project lead business. The project lead for IT will be staffed with an external expert: Ron Williams from Williams & Partners Cloud Consulting. She also encourages the managers to promote the change.")
