Warring Quarries
The business is on the verge of being a commodity, so margins are tight; and rivalries between companies are strong and deep.
Quarrymasters Ltd had applied to the local licensing authority to extend its quarry for another five years. However, this was not in accord with the five-year plan whereby the licensing authority saw no further development. Quarrymasters’ existing quarry adjoined another operating quarry run by Top Aggregates. The company was at an impasse.
After a segmentation exercise, Quarrymasters’ staff put Top Aggregates firmly in the intractables box: ‘They want us out of business’ was the opinion. After a number of meetings with local politicians and the licensing authority, it became obvious that the latter’s main concern was not the extension to the quarry, but a joint restoration plan for both quarries so that they would integrate together when both companies were finished.
Now, licensing authorities are powerful and Quarrymasters agreed that it would consider a joint restoration proposal with Top Aggregates. This would improve relations with the licensing authority for both companies and would facilitate the extension for Quarrymasters.
Analysis:
After meetings between the two companies a joint way forward was quickly found. This involved not only a joint restoration plan but also an agreement to work jointly the new extension to the quarry. So, from a point where Top Aggregates was an intractable opponent, it had moved to being a key dependent stakeholder. It turned out that the company’s arch-rival, which it had hardly spoken to in years, was now a key supporter of its project. Quarrying for minerals and aggregates is always a contentious business. Unless the quarrying company does its community relations well, local people and their representatives can work against the interests of the operator. Licensing authorities too take a keen interest, particularly in how the quarry will look after the company has finished. Large holes gouged out of the ground are no longer acceptable. The company’s plans for restoration are as important as its plans for operating the quarry in the first place.
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