Turning contract crises into challenges

Purpose – To describe the use of a learning and development (L&D) program to achieve business transformation through increasing awareness of the company's business model. Design/methodology/approach – Presents a case study setting out the way that this approach was implemented at ERDF, focusing on the way the L&D program helped managers to analyze a complex strategic issue from different perspectives and develop the operational capabilities needed to address the underlying problem. Findings – When Michelle Bellon was appointed as CEO of ERDF in early 2010, she knew it was essential to act quickly to deal with plummeting satisfaction levels among suppliers and customers and declining morale within the company. Up until 2008, ERDF was an integral part of EDF, the main player in the French electricity market and a world leader in the energy sector. But with state-owned utilities giving way to deregulated power generation and supply, the industry was progressively opened up from 1990 onwards. After retail competition for residential customers started in France in 2007, ERDF was separated off from its parent company to operate the electricity distribution networks – it became an interface between the municipalities who owned them and the final customers. As a freestanding organization, ERDF suffered a collapse of business performance and by 2010 it faced institutional, operational and financial crises: municipalities were challenging ERDF's quasi-monopoly of network operation; there were delays in connecting renewable energy producers; and financial problems because local concession contracts were not always consistent with the nationwide tariff fixed by the energy regulator. Practical implications – Outlines the way that ERDF tackled the need to work more effectively with contract partners. Originality/value – Explains how developing and implementing a L&D program can support business transformation.