Natalia Fernández, Grupo Flick: “In corporate venturing there is a perfect fit between knowledge in management and innovation”.

Natalia Fernández Flick has been the general director of the Flick Group since 2011, “a few years that -like many of the businessmen of Gran Canaria- we have unfortunately had to focus more on managing our businesses firstly during the crisis of 2008 and now pandemic, with a somewhat extreme situation, which has also come in parallel with the transformation of automobile distribution”.

The pandemic “has brought with it the need to digitize to a large extent, also hand in hand with brands, but because there has been a revolution or an acceleration of the entire part of digital sales or customer service that until 2019 in our sector has been very present due to the type of business. I do believe that our entire organization has had to -in customer service departments- implement digital systems, remote service through different channels and the preparation or formation of customer service teams specialized in providing multi-channel service and not just face-to-face”.

“In these years we have had an internal experience where a service such as customer service, which was previously completely internal, and which we have brought to the market. We took out our customer service capacity and sold this service to third-party companies that had the same need and that made more sense, synergies were created in some way. Because the processes are the same or similar, and scalable”.

“It was done with a separate company and all that experience has generated in our company the internal vision that there are things that you had incorporated as an internal business, as a business as usual activity and now to be able to take that experience out or even I also think that the fear of always doing things alone, always 100% you, and starting to collaborate with other companies or collaborating with other sectors or collaborating with people who are more specialized in that, in those fields in those that you were not present”.

The mobility sector in full transformation

Natalia Fernández confirms: “it is a revolution in terms of consumption habits, above all. And I also believe that the pandemic has greatly accelerated the customer's understanding of mobility, that many things can often be done remotely, or you can go to places without necessarily being physically fit. And then also, yes, consumption habits have changed, I think in all sectors in general”.

“There are many more people who consume from restaurants at home because businesses that take food to your home have proliferated and there is another habit there, making an online purchase, which affects mobility. Then there is the payment for the use of the vehicle, the shared uses, I do not necessarily have to have a vehicle that is 100% my own, but it is worth sharing it, having it temporarily. I am much more flexible and there are a thousand ways to finance it. The person has an expense in mind of what they want to invest in mobility per month, just like what they spend on education or housing”, describes the director of the Flick Group.

Corporate venturing, innovation hand in hand with management experience

We are talking about corporate venturing experiences, a new form of corporate entrepreneurship that many companies are beginning to apply to boost innovation processes through direct connection with entrepreneurs and start-ups, which allows them to attract talent, technology, and new business models.

We are talking about companies that feel the need to be able to address digital transformation or directly transform business models, hand in hand with professional training, local development agencies, public institutions, the start-up ecosystem, a vision of corporate venturing with different actors. Natalia Fernández ratifies that vision: “I think that many people who are in the usual company must be valued, this entire pandemic process, this crisis process that we have had to manage, can also contribute to these emerging companies and entrepreneurs, a knowledge of management that perhaps someone who starts does not have. There you can find the perfect fit between management knowledge and innovation”.

The agreement with the Louzao Group

According to the CEO of the Flick Group, “the sales model as an agent in which the brand as such will sell directly or will have a more direct relationship with the consumer has also been driven by online sales. It changes a lot the way of distributing, the traditional distribution model implemented worldwide. We understood that we had a very limited market due to our idiosyncrasies and that the trend in the automobile market was to make very large groups, which have a lot of volume so that they can face this change in the form of distribution, which necessarily happens because they are large groups. with a very considerable volume.

Natalia Fernández recalls that “we already had a very good professional relationship with Louzao Group, and we reached an agreement in which they have taken over the management and distribution of the concessionaire.” The Louzao Group was born in 1962 and the Canary Islands is the first foray outside Galician territory, for which it has had the full support of the Flick Group in the transfer of the concession, taking advantage of the existing facilities in Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, and Fuerteventura. “But in the end, we are businessmen, so you adapt to a situation, you adapt to a market, and you have to see what is coming in the future and where it is played: that innovative desire, as an entrepreneur, does not die,” Fernández emphasizes.