Skala

Solid as a rock

?The company nameplate at our head office is so small and discrete, because we work in an historical building that is under preservation order,? grinned Stanislav Skala. The fa?ade of the building has to remain as authentic as possible, so there is a ruling on the size of the nameplates.? The Czech distributor Skala CZ s.r.o. has been located in the renovated building in the former industrial area since 2003, not far from the city centre of Prague. ?The millennium flooding in 2002 completely drenched our old building including the warehouse. The water was almost standing at desk height. But every bad thing brings something good with it: We found a new, very functional and yet atmospheric domicile here in this historical building.? ?We have undergone strong growth in the past years and now our premises here have almost become too small again. Our office surface comprises of 150 m?, the warehouse that is situated in the same building complex has a floor space of 200 m? and thanks to two pad-printing machines we can also customise the products, which makes us much more flexible.? Nowadays, known as Skala CZ s.r.o., the company was founded in 1994 by Stanislav Skala?s parents. ?Today the shareholders are my mother ? whereby she is no longer involved in running the day-to-day business ? my brother Petr and myself,? explained Stanislav Skala. Petr Skala already joined the company in 1996, as the Sales Manager he manages the office and is responsible for the sales department. Stanislav Skala started working for the family company in 2002, when Skala was going through a tough patch due to the catastrophic flooding and the immense damages. He is in charge of the international business, purchasing, the financial affairs and for the memberships in the international alliances, Eurimage and IGC, which the company joined in 2006 and 2004 respectively. ?Of course I have a few key accounts,? explained Stanislav Skala, ?which I attend to intensively. Because the direct contact with our customers is of immense importance. Only companies that maintain close relations to their customers can know exactly what they want, and thus advise them individually. Companies that don?t implement such individual consulting methods, have very little chance of survival on the Czech market.? The two brothers jointly run the company, in the meantime they have ten employees.

Flexible family company

?Nevertheless, we are still a family company and will always stay one: Manageably sized, competent and flexible. Our company philosophy is already reflected in our name: The Czech word ?Skala? means ?rock? and that is how we define ourselves. As solid as a rock, as a constant fixed point and a secure footing particularly in times of economic turbulence,? declared Stanislav Skala. Skala serves between 600 and 700 customers all over the Czech Republic, the majority and the best of which are based in Prague. One has made sure that the client base comprises of a healthy branch mix, although the focus does lie quite strongly on the pharmaceutical industry, the IT branch and service providers such as logistics and transport companies. Stanislav Skala estimates the number of their competitors as being around 50 middle-sized promotional products companies as well as a host of smaller distributors, some of which only work on a seasonal basis, serving two or three customers, and who only work on the promotional products market occasionally. ?In the case of professional clients, i.e. from the pharmaceutical industry, we often compete with the big advertising agencies. This is why we have our own graphic designers, who can be creative and design entire concepts, because many of our customers predominantly want concepts, not just products,? explained Stanislav Skala.