Marchionne Moving Fast to Shuffle Chrysler's Management

John Horner
by John Horner
BusinessWeek has an interesting piece on Marchionne’s speed dating interview technique. “Chrysler executives say that Marchionne has taken what for them seemed an unorthodox approach to sorting out the talent pool he inherited. He did fast, 15- or 20-minute interviews with more than 100 executives, often asking what they thought of their superiors, what their strengths and weaknesses were, as well as what they thought of certain peers. ‘The questions were very blunt,’ said one staff executive. ‘It was a drill the likes of which I had never been through before.'” No signs of analysis paralysis here.Ex-Toyota man Jim Press is not only in, but has been named Deputy CEO, a very unusual title in American business. On the other hand, “Frank Klegon, the company’s product development chief, and top marketing executive Steve Landry both left the company.” Considering Chrysler’s most recent products and marketing campaigns, neither guy will be missed. The big problem, of course, is that it will take at least two more model years before Chrysler has anything new to sell. A tough hand being played aggressively. Great theater.
John Horner
John Horner

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  • John Horner John Horner on Jun 11, 2009

    This isn't the place to argue congressional election politics, but the problem comes down to the fact that people say one thing, then do another. Also, people routinely tell pollsters that they hate Congress, but like their particular congressperson just fine. " Ronnie Schreiber : Klegon’s not entirely responsible for Chrysler’s bad product decisions." Thank you for setting me straight. I took a cheap shot without studying the back story carefully enough. My apologies.

  • Stevelovescars Stevelovescars on Jun 11, 2009

    I would buy the argument about Ford's inability to sell the European Focus in the U.S. at a price people are willing to pay if Mazda didn't already do it with the Mazda3. Granted, a Mazda3 is slightly more money than a Focus but by all accounts it seems to be a car that receives excellent reviews and represents a huge portion of Mazda's sales in the U.S. Lesson, people are willing to pay more for a better product. OTOH, I think all of Mazda's U.S. sales don't add up to the volume of just the Focus if rental fleets are included. However, couldn't they sell the Euro Focus RS or the cool hatchback version here in smaller (but still profitable) volumes? Also, even if they made a smaller profit on the cars in the U.S. than they do selling 10 year old designs now (actually, they probably sell the Foci at a loss anyway), wouldn't the increased economies of scale increase their overall profit by reducing cost on the units manufactured and sold in other parts of the world? Oh yeah, domestic and overseas market managers are probably measured on totally uncomparable scales with no regard for overall corporate profits. At least that's how it was when I worked at GM years ago.

  • Jkumpire Jkumpire on Jun 12, 2009
    “Chicago politics in control in Washington (Real Americans lament)” Yeah, because Texas politics, especially Karl Rove’s style, are so clean and honest. What is with the bit of claiming anyone who disagrees with you isn’t a Real American? To equate what the current President is doing and the former President did is a level of insanity which is beyond belief. TTAC seems to be filled with people who seriously see Bush as Scum and Obama as the Messiah. It is truly discouraging to see. Maybe the moderators can just start removing posts that attack both or either President from the comments section. Then we can take about cars, or even bailouts, without the vile drivel that some posters have. And my .02, Bush/Rove were clean, Obama is not. Agree or disagree with the politics and legalities of the bailout stuff, the only thing that matters is: Will it work and make us a better country as a result of doing it? That is the question that needs answered, not some more smears of either Obama or Bush.
  • Quasimondo Quasimondo on Jun 12, 2009

    What? We need more smears. Less cars, more Drudge Report/Huffington Post. To be honest, I'm disappointed that more people aren't applauding this management shakeup.

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