CDI Holdings · Case Study
Empowerment Across Cultures · Honduras · Philippines · Taiwan · Laos — Presented by Kheilydis Acevedo
Imperial Tobacco Global Sites
Breaking Paradigms Across Cultures — Why the Most Constrained Sites Produce the Most Engaged Teams
Imperial Tobacco Group · Multi-site Global Programme · 300+ Ideas in 3 Months (Honduras) · 75% Cost Savings from Lean (Taiwan) · 4 Countries · 1 Empowerment Framework
Background
The Central Question That Reframes Everything
Imperial Tobacco operates across diverse geographies, each presenting unique cultural, social, and operational constraints. Kheilydis Acevedo’s multi-site study confronts a question most improvement programmes never ask: why do the most constrained sites often produce the most engaged teams? Across four countries — Honduras, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Laos — the answer is consistent: constraint does not prevent ownership. It catalyses it, when leadership chooses empowerment over control.
The Challenge
Engagement Where Conventional Wisdom Says It Shouldn’t Exist
A high-security region in Honduras. Repetitive manual assembly in the Philippines. A hierarchical Confucian society in Taiwan. A frontier industrial context in Laos. Each site presents constraints that would typically suppress frontline engagement — and at each one, the MBU model produced the opposite result. The challenge was demonstrating that the right empowerment strategy, tailored to cultural context, unlocks performance that standardised approaches cannot reach.
“Empowerment can only come from people managers. If you empower, you must develop. And then, you must hold your teams accountable.”
Four Sites — Four Proof Points
Honduras — 300+ Ideas in 3 Months
Highest engagement in a high-security region — fastest ideation ramp in the Imperial global network
Philippines — Most Creative Leaders
Repetitive manual roles produced the most passionate frontline leaders through “fun with accountability”
Taiwan — 75% Cost Savings
Most advanced MBUs in Imperial — Lean savings now being replicated across Asia-Pacific
Laos — Best Practice Gemba Walks
Full 5S, Skill Matrix, and contractor integration in a frontier context — network best practice recognition
300+
Ideas in 3 months
Honduras launch
Honduras launch
75%
Cost savings
Taiwan Lean
Taiwan Lean
4
Countries · 1
framework
framework
Asia-Pac
Taiwan MBU model
replication underway
replication underway
The Approach
Tailored Empowerment — Same Framework, Four Cultural Expressions
1
Honduras — Highest Engagement in a High-Security Region
300+ improvement ideas within 3 months of MBU setup — the fastest ideation ramp in the Imperial global network. Clear leadership support and genuine empowerment in a high-security region produced the highest engagement scores across the multi-site programme. The constraint did not suppress the workforce. The quality of the leadership response unlocked it. Engagement is a leadership output, not an environmental condition.
2
Philippines — Creativity from Repetitive Work
Repetitive manual roles produced the most creative and passionate frontline leaders in the Imperial network. The mechanism: a deliberate culture of recognition, team identity, and “fun with accountability” — reframing routine roles as contributions that mattered. Employees developed and shared their own improvement ideas, moving from process monitors to genuine contributors. The Philippines proves that the job description does not determine the level of ownership.
3
Taiwan — Most Advanced MBUs, 75% Cost Savings
Highly educated, hierarchical Confucian context — where contributing improvement ideas can feel presumptuous. The MBU model used the framing: “a new capability equals a new responsibility.” Rather than challenging the hierarchy, teams were invited to grow within it. Result: the most advanced MBUs in Imperial, 75% cost savings from Lean initiatives, and a model now being replicated across Asia-Pacific as the regional standard.
4
Laos — Shattering Norms, Best Practice Gemba Walks
Full-integration transformation: 5S visual standards, a comprehensive Skill Matrix, contractor operations integrated into the MBU framework, and daily performance routines embedded across the full workforce. Recognised for best practice in Gemba Walks across the Imperial network. Laos shattered the assumption that frontier markets require simpler programmes — given genuine structure and leadership commitment, frontier teams deliver world-class practice.
5
The Empowerment Cycle — Why Constrained Sites Become the Most Engaged
The most counterintuitive finding: constrained sites produce the most engaged teams. The explanation is structural. In constrained environments, the conventional management response is tighter control. When a leader chooses genuine empowerment instead, the contrast amplifies the ownership response. The cycle: capability → responsibility → accountability → pride → capability. Honduras generated 300+ ideas not because the environment was easy but because the leadership was different from what the workforce expected. Taiwan achieved 75% savings not because hierarchy disappeared but because capability gave people a legitimate path to contribute within it. The Philippines produced the most creative leaders not despite repetitive work but because recognition gave that work meaning. Laos delivered best-practice Gemba Walks because no one told the teams it was supposed to be harder. The CDI lesson: do not lower the standard for a constrained context. Raise the quality of the leadership response to it.
Outcomes
Rapid Ideation, Cost Savings, and Global Replication Across Four Countries
300+
Ideas — 3 Months
Honduras generated 300+ improvement ideas within 3 months of MBU setup — the fastest ideation ramp in the Imperial global network, from the most security-constrained site.
75%
Cost Savings
Taiwan Lean project savings of 75% — the most advanced MBU implementation in Imperial, being replicated across Asia-Pacific as the regional standard.
Asia-Pac
Replication
Taiwan’s MBU model designated for replication across Asia-Pacific — local excellence becoming the network standard within the same programme cycle.
Creative
Frontline Leaders
Philippines produced the most creative and passionate frontline leaders in the network — from the most repetitive manual roles, through recognition and “fun with accountability.”
Best
Gemba Practice
Laos recognised for best practice Gemba Walks across Imperial — full 5S, Skill Matrix, and contractor integration in a frontier industrial context.
Global
Cycle Proven
Capability → responsibility → accountability → pride → capability: the empowerment cycle proven across four cultural contexts simultaneously in one programme.
“Empowerment can only come from people managers. If you empower, you must develop. And then, you must hold your teams accountable.”
Kheilydis Acevedo · Imperial Tobacco Global Sites · MBU Empowerment Programme
Key Insight
The most constrained sites produce the most engaged teams — because constraint, when met with genuine empowerment instead of control, amplifies ownership. Four countries, four constraints, one result. The standard is not lowered for a difficult context. The quality of the leadership response to it is raised.
