Why don’t these executives have long terms like top managers in Romanian companies, as is the case of Alexandru Oprea – who has been running RCS&RDS since 1997?
These are normal changes, say the headhunters asked by ZF, because, as a rule, expats who come into local companies have three to five-year terms and come with well-defined missions and targets they are supposed to meet within this period. The same is not true for managers in Romanian companies, who more often than not are also shareholders in the company.
“In telecom, which is a breeding ground for managers, board managers, as well as lower-ranking employees, personnel retention is five times higher than in FMCG. Expats come with two types of mandates, either to increase the business, cut costs and boost profit, or as a stage in their career. If their term ends earlier than provided for, it means either that they did their job and are needed in another country, or that their results did not meet expectations, which is rather difficult to believe, considering that a CEO always works in a team,” believes Mona Neagoe, partner and country manager for Romania of executive search company Pedersen & Partners, who also oversees the company’s operations in the Republic of Moldova, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia.