Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Culture Clash costs jobs
Unable to bridge the French and American cultures, two top executives of Alcatel-Lucent are resigning at the end of the year.
Patricia Russo, chief executive in New Jersey, USA, and Serge Tchuruk, chairman of the French portion of the newly merged Alcatel have not been able to make the transition from two smaller companies to an international telecommunications equipment giant.
Unlike when the famous joint venture between IBM and Apple which derailed several years ago after the two organizations could not form a new corporate culture, this time it seems the problem was national cultures. Ms. Russo could not speak French, providing a huge handicap in top meetings.
Another problem was a series of job cuts designed to streamline te company. Job cuts are not acceptable in the French culture.
2=
Unable to bridge the French and American cultures, two top executives of Alcatel-Lucent are resigning at the end of the year.Patricia Russo, chief executive in New Jersey, USA, and Serge Tchuruk, chairman of the French portion of the newly merged Alcatel have not been able to make the transition from two smaller companies to an international telecommunications equipment giant.
Unlike when the famous joint venture between IBM and Apple which derailed several years ago after the two organizations could not form a new corporate culture, this time it seems the problem was national cultures. Ms. Russo could not speak French, providing a huge handicap in top meetings.
Another problem was a series of job cuts designed to streamline te company. Job cuts are not acceptable in the French culture.
2=
Labels: Corporate, Culture_Clash
¶ 8/12/2008
