Case Study
Al Qaryan Group
Services provided: Operating Model, Purpose Engineering, Corporate and Business Strategy, Corporate Governance, Institutional Diagnosis and Industry Analysis, Process Re-engineering, Delegation of Authority, PMO Setup and Execution Support, Restructuring and Organizational Development, Change Enablement, Knowledge Transfer
How Al Qaryan built a scalable corporate center to support diversified growth
The Challenge
To remain fit for the future, Al Qaryan Group needed to move beyond the informal coordination models that had supported its earlier growth. As environmental regulations tightened across the GCC and operations expanded across multiple business lines and geographies, complexity began to outpace the Group’s ability to coordinate strategy, governance, and execution. Volatility in commodity prices and logistics costs further heightened the risks of fragmented decision-making. Sustaining future growth required a more structured, group-level operating model, without compromising business agility.
The Transformation
Al Qaryan worked with CDS to institutionalize its corporate center and translate group-level ambition into aligned execution across business units.
The transformation focused on:
Defining direction: A renewed corporate identity, vision, mission, and corporate objectives, supported by a rapid purpose-implementation initiative.
Cascading strategy: A group-level corporate strategy translated into distinct business-unit strategies, including revenue and volume growth projections for AQ Recycling and Trading.
Redesigning the Group role: A phased operating model, evolving from active support to differentiated oversight with full P&L accountability for selected business units.
Board governance strengthening: Enhancement of Board composition and governance mechanisms to reinforce oversight, performance monitoring, and leadership, positioning the Board to more effectively steer the Group at scale and optimize its interaction with executive management.
Clarifying the portfolio: Consolidation of activities into four distinct business units to strengthen accountability and strategic focus.
Building the Foundations
To make the new model executable and sustainable, CDS also supported Al Qaryan in building the organizational and operational foundations required to scale.
This included:
Human capital systems: An enterprise-wide job architecture, clear career paths, and aligned fixed and variable compensation and benefits frameworks.
Operating discipline: Standardization of 285 workflows across core and support functions, supported by authority matrices, SLAs, and performance KPIs.
Execution governance: A phased execution roadmap and PMO structure to manage rollout and reinforce accountability.
The Outcome
By institutionalizing its corporate center and aligning strategy, governance, and operating models, Al Qaryan strengthened coordination and control across the Group while preserving business-level agility. The transformation codified Group knowledge into durable institutional assets and established scalable foundations to support diversified growth in a more demanding market environment. These changes translated into strong revenue and profitability growth across the Group.