Thursday 26 July 2007

More on Didier and the dodgy bacon butties

The "sacking" of Didier Herrmann from the board of LogicaCMG has developed a few twists and turns. It now transpires that he was not fired from LogicaCMG – just demoted from the board.

So who does he report to? Can't say. Who do his (ex-)reports report to? Can't say. What is his precise role now? Can't say. Why didn't LogicaCMG sack him outright? Can't say (but it is understood that shareholders were not consulted prior to the decision). I also understand that LogicaCMG says that the article in yesterday's FT Click here was wrong to suggest that Didier is still running France, Germany and Switzerland.

This is looking like a bigger mess by the day. Herrmann has a strong following in Unilog. So where do their allegiances now lie? Is the board's thinking that they'll just wait till a new CEO is appointed – someone who Herrmann is happy to report to – and that makes everything work again? What situation does that leave COO and interim-CEO-elect Jim McKenna in, the man that Didier refuses to report to? The FT article seems to be right in saying that the board was bitterly divided over what to do with Didier and came up with this very unsatisfactory compromise.

What ever one might think of Martin Read, this kind of situation would never have developed on his watch. Only problem is that his watch still hasn't finished quite yet....

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