HOW WINNING A EUROPEAN BUSINESS AWARD HELPS COMPANIES

AUSA – winners of the Import/Export Award in the European Business Awards 2014/15 sponsored by RSM. Interview with AUSA Commercial Director Paco Perez Salinas:

What does it mean to you to win the European Business Award?

Firstly, it is an honor to receive this award as we understand the importance of it and the strong competition we had to get it.

It is also recognition for having turned around the very difficult situation that AUSA experienced when the Spanish market collapsed. When in 2008 the "Real State Bubble" blew up, we had to transform AUSA very quickly from a construction machinery company focused on the domestic market into an international company diversifying in Municipalities and Agriculture. This was only possible thanks to the vision of our Board who foresaw the upcoming crisis.

The EBA Award is a great recognition of all the work done by the whole team.

Has it changed anything for your business - will it change anything in the future?

It has reinforced the decisions we took some years ago. We were convinced that all the changes made in the past and the international orientation of the company would pay off sooner or later.

It has also been very good for our team building and motivation. This award has helped us to work better as a team and reflect on who we are now, where we have come from and where we want to go to be stronger and more sustainable. Time goes fast nowadays and we need to be quick.

The other very important change is that being in the Awards helped us win new business. We won a contract in Australia recently and the client specifically mentioned that our recent win in the European Business Awards had cemented his decision to use us. This shows that the publicity and exposure from the Awards can make a huge impact on future commercial success.

What did you gain from going through the Awards process?

We reviewed our strategy. We worked on it as a team, and it helped us to perform better. It also helped us realize and understand everything we had done in the last few years. Sometimes due to the frantic business life we live, we do not have time to consider the accomplishments we have made. Accomplishments that have helped us to get where we are now.

It also gave us an important PR opportunity, which provided some interesting networking opportunities. We received congratulations from many countries like Australia, India, USA, etc. A very nice awareness boost. It also have us a great opportunity to celebrate with all our staff, as it was everybody´s success.

Would you recommend other businesses in Europe to take part?

Yes, it is a very good opportunity to work with different departments as a team, analyze what has been done in the past few years, look for successes, recognize efforts and rethink where you need to go to be more efficient. We decided to participate because we are proud of our company and wanted to share that. We had to remain competitive in a crisis environment. For sure we wanted to win, but the main objective was sharing our experience.

Why do you think the European Business Awards are important?

We think they are important because it gives small or medium sized companies the opportunity to participate against best in class companies selected from 24,000 candidates. Such opportunities are difficult to find in the market, and it shows that it is not about size, but about business intelligence. As we said at the beginning, it is a great honour to say “WE ARE THE BEST EXPORTING COMPANY OF 2015”! THANKS FOR LETTING US SHARE OUR EXPERIENCE. THANKS EBA!

AUSA Chairman Manel Perramon accepted the award for AUSA at the Gala Ceremony in London and thanked the EBA and the whole AUSA team.

If you are a National Champion, Ruban D’honneur recipient or a final winner of the European Business Awards and have a story to tell about your success and how winning the Award has made a difference to your business then we would like to hear from you and share your story. So please contact Vanessa Wood at vanessa.wood@businessawardseurope.com or 0044 (0) 7966 666 657.