A Argentine Business magazine included R. Biasca in a short list of local management gurus. He has had an intensive professional life as an entrepreneur, manager, international business consultant, professor and author. He has a Superlative track record of turning around failing business performance of American, European, and Latin American organizations.

Currently, he is:

• R.Biasca & Asociados, President (Argentine affiliate of the Valuation Research Group)
  1stWEST, Managing Director in Argentina

International Management Consultant and Manager

M&As, Performance Improvement / Business Transformation (1993-2009)

R. Biasca & Associates, Bs. Aires, Argentina.
Founded reputable finance management consulting company that specialized in mergers and acquisitions, financing-related services, services for corporate restructurings, capital stock valuation services, appraisals and valuations for customers in diverse industries, including building materials, energy, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology

• Positioned struggling $ 70M Argentine tile manufacturing firm for future success. In nine months deployed brand new, innovative business strategies for marketing, sales, operations and manufacturing processes. Boosted revenues, corporate profit margin, and customer satisfaction in a saturated market.
• Established new management sales incentive plan and boosted sales 30% for biotech organization. Implemented significant changes to the selling process and designed a goal sharing system for top and middle managers. Dramatically improved bottom line revenues without changes existing to resources or products.
• Seamlessly transitioned oil company to deregulated environment, improved sales and profits 20% . Gained approval to restructure management responsibilities, product lines, and operations across several manufacturing and service plants. Greatly improved sales and secured competitive industry position.
• Assisted in restructuring, strategic planning, performance measurement and reward management to the government owned electrical company of Uruguay . In the period 1992-2000, helped the company to streamline operations, reduce personnel and increase productivity.
• Provided business valuations, appraisals and M&A (mergers and acquisitions) counseling for numerous companies. Examples: Kraft, Corn Products, Seagram, Cargill, Dana, OCA, Citibank, Alfa/Teksid and Mabe (Mexico-Argentina).
• Developed foreign markets for e- books and e-services , for an American e-publisher that provides services and products in Spanish to Latin America, Spain and the US.
• Recent Turnaround/ Performance Improvement Projects. Some 2007-9 clients: Baseline Engineering (Golden, Co; International Operations); Coexito (Colombia, Performance Improvement); Viñas Argentinas (Argentina).

Local Expert, Strategic Management and Re-engineering 1994

UNIDO (United Nations, Vienna)
This was a special assistance project to a selected group of nine Argentine metallurgical companies with the purpose of studying which general policies would be effective to help this sector to do the transition to an open economy. R.Biasca was contracted by UNIDO as a local expert to assist CEOs in the strategic planning and turnaround process.

Consultant, Total Quality Management (TQM) 1992-1993

Sherwin Williams, Argentina & Paylana, Uruguay
Subcontracted by Coopers & Lybrand to produce and deploy Total Quality Management (TQM):

• Customized a TQM program , leading to increased productivity and quality in Sherwin Williams, the #2 U.S. paint manufacturer in Argentina
• Developed outstanding TQM program, leading to prestigious Presidential award . Quickly assessed corporate needs for 800 employees in Paylana, a leader in the Uruguayan textile industry, and facilitated a practical TQM program to establish quality benchmarks, productivity improvements and to speed the export process. Two years later the President of Uruguay awarded Paylana the country’s first National Quality Award.

Consultant, Business Strategy and Restructuring 1990-1991

Baker Hughes, Argentina

• Assessed marketing, manufacturing and financial areas for the Argentine operations of this Fortune 500 provider of petroleum products and services.
• Successfully restructured 2 plants, including management, operations processes, staffing and facility reengineering.

Early Career

New Product Development & Marketing,
Via Valrossa, Argentina
Recruited to aggressively innovate and market new products for this leading cosmetics manufacturer and direct seller.

• Managed team for market research, R&D, new product development, packaging, and marketing. Launched 200 products, including seven of the top ten best sellers. Cut product development cycle from 12 months to four months. Produced sought-after products.
• Drove strategic planning, new business development and market penetration, including exporting to Russia.
• Introduced significant corporate change, including quality audits, career development and cross training.
• Dramatically improved business performance, leading to promotion to Chief Financial Officer. Managed 110 employees for all financial planning, accounting, product export and IT areas.

Intermetra Corporation, New York, USA
Hired to turnaround the flagging performance of this $20M import/export company based in New York City

• Restructured operations. Returned company to profitability.
• Established significant business relationships with government offices, banks, embassies and suppliers.

Government Officer and Economic Public Policy Consultant
Central Argentine Government and different non-profit organizations
As Assistant to the Minister of Industry, coordinated the formulation of a proposal for an Argentine Industrial Public Policy, with these subsequent results:

• A complete book (R.Biasca is co-author) was published.
• Some industry studies (example: automobile industry) and special public policy studies were made (examples: incentives to promote manufacturing firms in certain provinces, productivity improvement in Argentina, etc.).

Worked for Gillette and Siemens (Germany)

Education, Languages, Awards, Memberships and Publications

• Education.

Economics + Public Policy / International Affairs + Management + Finance + IT + Education Background

University of California, Berkeley: MBA courses at the Graduate School of Business and Economic Public Policy courses at the School of Public Policy.
Stanford University: Industrial organization courses at the School of Economics.
H.H.Humphrey Fellowship Certificate. Certificate signed by President Carter.

Executive Programs in:

• INSEAD (France, 1997), Information Technology
• University of Pennsylvania, Wharton (1998), Negotiation
• Northwestern University, Kellogg (1999), Mergers and Acquisitions
• Columbia University(1994), Turnaround
• AOTS (Japan, 1989), International Entrepreneurship
• University of Minnesota (1980), International Affairs.
  
  

Buenos Aires National University (Argentina): Industrial Engineering and Computer Science.

Degrees equivalent to US Bachelor and Master in Industrial Engineering.

Capella University, MS Education; Specialization: Instructional Design for Online Learning; 2007 .

Certifications: Examiner, Colorado Performance Excellence Award (2007), Professional Consultant, Professional Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer.

• International and multi-lingual. Worked and studied in 25 countries. Fluent in English and Spanish, with some knowledge of German and Italian.

• Professor. Visiting Professor in several Latin American universities. Taught dozens of business, operations, marketing and strategic planning seminars at 66 universities in 21 countries. Presented over 500 management seminars in several countries and delivered over 70 in-company seminars

• Author. There is no other Spanish speaking author that has published so extensively in the competitiveness improvement / business innovation / business transformation/ change management field. First Argentine author to publish a management e-book. Author of 15 books, 42 booklets, 140 papers. Main books: “Are we competitive?” (2001, 2004); “Results. The Formula” (2000, 2004); “Results. Action” (2000, 2004). Most recent books: “Organizational Change and Improvement” (2005), “More Competitive Small Business” (2005); “El Nuevo Sistema de Gestión para las PYMEs” (co-author, Norma, Mexico, March 2003; Colombia, June 2003; second edition, 2004). Previous books were: ”Change Management” (1998, with an Internet Appendix: http://www.biasca.com/change; 2000 as e-book in www.e-libro.net), “Intentional Renewals ” (1997), “Competitiveness” (1982), ”Resizing” (1991,1995,1997,1998), ”Downsizing” (1989), ”Efficiency” (1988,1994), ”Productivity” (1984), “An Industrial Public Policy for Argentina” (co-author, 1983).

• Recognition. Recipient of 12 scholarships, fellowships and grants from the US, Japanese, and Argentine Governments.

• Officer in professional societies . Past President, American Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE), Argentina Chapter; Past President, H.H.Humphrey Alumni Association in Argentina. In October 2000, elected as a full member of the Argentine Engineering Academy. In July 2002, he was designated full member of the Pan American Academy of Engineering.