Lenovo astonished the market with a major executive personnel change on Thursday. But Lenovo isn't the only company undergoing a reshuffle. Under the current global financial crisis, company executives are facing a crisis of their own.
According to a report carried by National Business Daily, more than 100 company executives and board directors have resigned in January alone this year.
A number of listed firms, including the Bank of China, Air China, Chongqing Beer, Beijing Hualian Department Store Co., Pacific Securities and Baida Group, have already announced the resignation of directors or independent directors. Even renowned enterprises such as Marks & Spencer, Electrolux, China Eastern Airlines, Toyota, Samsung and Hilton Hotels, have reshuffled their senior management teams both in China and in the wider Asia-Pacific region. Haier may have conducted the most drastic personnel change by demoting six vice-presidents to department heads.
At the end of 2008, Sohu.com announced that its chief operating officer Gong Yu will resign from the company. Alongside its vice presidents, Sohu's senior management team now has only three members left: board chairman Zhang Chaoyang, co-president and chief marketing officer Wang Xin, and co-president and chief finance officer Yu Chuyuan.
Leading video website 56.com also adjusted its executive team - former chief executive officer Zhou Juan became President and chief operating officer, former president Zhang Fuxing resigned from the company, and former Sohu.com vice president Wang Jianjun will be the new CEO.
Although most companies' statements indicate that executive resignations were for personal reasons, industry insiders said that the real reasons are linked to poor performance.
For more details, please read the full news coverage at:
http://www.nbd.com.cn/_NewShow.aspx?D_ID=145326
(China.org.cn by Yan Pei, February 6, 2009)
