For the First Time in the Baltics: Latvian Company Latakko Receives the International “Pursuit of Prime” Award

On 13 January, Latakko became the first company in the Baltics to receive the Adizes Institute’s “2019 Pursuit of Prime” award. “Pursuit of Prime” is a prestigious award in the field of change management. It has been presented for 20 years and is highly regarded in the global business community. The award was presented to the company’s CEO, owner and founder, Yevgeny Kopilkov, at the Adizes Institute’s annual conference in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Latakko has been applying Dr. Ichak Adizes’s methodology for two and a half years. During this time, the company—which had suffered from frequent staff turnover, losses of €2.5 million and weak management involvement—grew into a successful, efficient company with a profit of more than €1 million (in 2018), a strong management team and a new approach to employees’ professional development, also ranking among the TOP 50 most desirable employers in Latvia.

Latakko earned the “2019 Pursuit of Prime” award for outstanding results in improving company management by using the Adizes methodology to balance internal control and flexible change, results and efficiency, and short-term and long-term focus.

“Democracy in decision-making and dictatorship in implementation are at the core of the Adizes approach. In my family, I always felt this balance between human love and the strength to achieve success, but for years I had been unable to put it into practice in my company. Thanks to the implementation of the Adizes methodology, not only Latakko changed, but, first and foremost, I changed myself. As long as the company is successful, I can devote more time to myself and my family,” Latakko CEO Yevgeny Kopilkov said in his speech in Bangkok.

For 25 years, Latakko has been one of the leading companies in the automotive industry in the Baltic states. Its main lines of business are the wholesale and retail distribution of tyres, rims, batteries and oils for passenger cars, trucks, agricultural and industrial machinery, and motorcycles. In 2018, the Latakko Group, with turnover of €67 million, was included in Latvia’s TOP 100 companies and TOP 50 employers.

In the 20-year history of the “Pursuit of Prime” award, this is the first time it has been presented to a company from the Baltic states. Previously, this honour had been earned by companies only from Scandinavia and the CIS countries, Europe, Africa and the Americas. This year, the Adizes Institute presented just one other organisation with an award in the “Company of the Year 2019” category — Maxim Healthcare Services (USA), which received the award for overall business achievements.

The Adizes Institute is a change-management organisation specialising in developing teams of senior executives, investors and owners, building relationships with its clients like those that future champions build with an Olympic Training Centre. Since 1971, the Adizes Institute has provided tools, resources and support for accelerating strategic change in more than 70 countries and industries.