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A Change at the Top?
By Mark Evans | October 3, 2008
Mike Zafirovski has now been Nortel’s CEO for three years.
Since his heralded hiring, Nortel has dealt with its accounting scandal, resolved multi-billion class-action lawsuits, slashed operating expenses by eliminating thousands of employees and moving operations to low-cost markets such as Mexico, China and Turkey, sold the UMTS business to Alcatel, and overhauled its senior management team.
At the same time, Nortel shares have dropped by 95%, sales have stalled, profits have proven elusive, and there’s been a lack of bold, strategic acquisitions.
And now, Nortel seems to be in strategic flux as it plans to sell its fast-growing, but barely profitable, metro Ethernet network business, and focus on becoming an enterprise player with a service and software bent.
In a nutshell, Nortel continues to struggle to find its way.
At some point, the question has to be asked is whether it’s time for the board to consider whether a new CEO is needed to give Nortel a chance of thriving/surviving?
It’s not to suggest that Zafirovski hasn’t done yeoman’s work over the past three years given he came into a dysfunctional company doing business in a ultra-competitive market.
But is Mike Z. the right man for the job right now? If Nortel needs a dynamic new direction - or, at least, a new direction - would it be better/make a difference if a new CEO was hired to make it happen?
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Topics: Executive Suite |