fw: Germans round on BMW's 'incompetence'

[M A Jones]

  [this seems relevant to discussions about the fate of Euroland. Mark
Jones]

May 1 The Times

BY ROGER BOYES



GERMANY yesterday turned on BMW, once the jewel in the crown of the nation's
car industry, and accused it of gross incompetence in handling the disposal
of Rover.
Rarely has so much contempt been directed at business managers who were once
regarded as warrior heroes, a legitimate source of national pride. Welt am
Sonntag described BMW managers yesterday as the nation's Amokfahrer - a
wild, out-of-control, drunken driver.

"The damage to BMW's image is substantial," said Christine Berg of DG Bank.
A motor industry specialist from a leading consultancy, quoted in the press,
said: "The botched deal is typical of BMW's arrogant management culture
which is incapable of putting itself in the shoes of the people with whom it
is negotiating." Jürgen Pieper, of Bankhaus Metzler, echoing the sentiment
of the German media, said simply: "BMW has a management problem."

The press is baying for the blood of the BMW chief executive, Joachim
Milberg, and that in itself is a token of radical change in Germany. Herr
Milberg is a modest engineering professor, a former head of production. But
he seems hopelessly out of his depth, as do dozens of other bosses who have
soldiered their way into German boardrooms.

Popular confidence in the management class has collapsed. Annual general
meetings have become rowdy events as shareholders start to question salary
increases, stock options and dividend cuts. One of the most unpopular
businessmen, with his own shareholders at least, is the Mannesmann chief,
Klaus Esser, who launched a costly and stubborn defence against a hostile
takeover by Vodafone. Having lost the battle, Herr Esser left with a £20
million payoff, the highest in German commercial history.

Different factors are in play. Traditional German working habits are
crumbling under the pressure of the globalised economy. In 1989, 6 per cent
of Germans worked on Sunday; now 16 per cent do, and the number is growing.
In the past four years the number of shift and night workers has risen from
5 to 18 per cent. Work has become harder, less comfortable and more poorly
ordered. Trade unions are weakening, they have lost 3.5 million members
since 1991.

Germans feel unprotected and are starting to speak up for themselves. The
result is a vocal sense of injustice about managers who enrich themselves.
In the 1950s and the 1960s the captains of industry were the acceptable face
not only of capitalism but also of a Germany still smarting from the
disgrace of a lost war. Hard work, efficiently organised, brought
self-respect and international standing.

Nowadays the German popular press prefers to dwell on the bribery rather
than the glowing achievements of erstwhile boardroom heroes. More than 60
per cent of 1,000 German companies in a survey were victims of economic
crime and more than half of those crimes were committed by senior employees.
There is scarcely a bank or a big company which does not have a former
employee behind bars or under investigation.

The revolt against business managers signifies more than the rise of a new
shareholder culture, people demanding more accountability and better
performance from high-earning directors. The e-economy also seems to be
contributing to the mood. Since it operates without fixed hierarchies,
bright young people no longer need to serve in the ranks before progressing.

That undermines the traditional pattern of a German business career, and
encourages younger Germans to look askance at their complacent elders in the
boardrooms.


Copyright 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided on Times
Newspapers' standard terms and conditions. To inquire about a licence to
reproduce material from The Times, visit the Syndication website.

Mark Jones
http://www.egroups.com/group/CrashList