By far the most surprising move was the departure of Mihai Georgescu (46) from the helm of Wrigley Romania after more than twenty years. He was one of the longest-standing Romanian managers of multinationals in the country. The average tenure of a manager, Romanian or foreign, is 4-5 years, and the crisis cut this period short by 1-2 years. The exception to this rule are managers who were or still are shareholders in the company, with longer tenures. According to ZF information, Wrigley has yet to appoint another CEO.
Mihut Craciun was removed from his position as head of Kandia Dulce, one of the largest players on the Romanian chocolate market, after only around two years. Kandia Dulce, the chocolate producer controlled by the Meinl family, appointed an expat, Gerald Neumair, who is also chairman of the board of directors, to replace the Romanian manager.
Up to now moves were of the type “Romanian-Romanian,” “expat-expat”. Indeed, Nestle, one of the world’s largest food groups, appointed Herve de Froment to run Romanian operations starting on January 1 2013 and replacing Swiss Jacques Reber. Reber, 47, had been appointed manager of Nestle Romania four years ago, when the financial crisis was in its early stages.
The leader of the pharmaceutical market, Sanofi, also chose an expat to replace another expat. The company appointed Christophe Gourlet as country manager of Sanofi Romania and chairman of the board of directors of Zentiva SA. The change is surprising and comes after only a year and a few months in office for the former manager, Jacques Nathan.
In the IT industry on the other hand, CEO jobs are handed over from one Romanian to another. US IBM, the world’s largest provider of IT services, has recruited Valeriu Nistor, 44, former general manager of Xerox Romania and Austria, to run the Romanian subsidiary of IBM, an over EUR70 million business per year. He replaces Bogdan Balaci, who left his position as CEO and the company abruptly in October 2012. The local subsidiary of Austrian provider of IT services S&T also went from one Romanian manager to another.
Most companies that have made management changes in the past month have already appointed their “permanent” replacements. However, a few companies will have interim general managers. It is the case of Microsoft, which appointed Sorin Eftene, a manager with experience within the company, to run Microsoft temporarily.
What the CEO changes mean from the perspective of HR specialists
Human resource specialists believe a CEO change in a company can bring both benefits and confusion to a company, and can even be a stress factor for some employees.
“A new boss means more than just a new person in charge, it changes the whole company and the way in which some employees, perhaps less prepared for such a situation, look at the environment they are working in,” says Florin Godean, country manager of HR company Adecco. He explains that in the case of a multinational, departments are very well organized, so the impact of a new boss may not be as obvious, while in the case of a local company a new manager can even bring improvements, especially if they have experience in a similar position.
Vlad Bog, HR manager of Microsoft Romania, the local subsidiary of the world’s largest software maker, says in the case of a decentralized branch of a multinational, the principles behind the multinational’s policies will remain the same, but changes may occur in their implementation. On the other hand, in the case of a well integrated and centralized multinational, a new management will bring minor changes, if any.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)