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A boardroom-level conflict at Sweden-based luxury auto firm Volvo Car Corp is infecting some day-to-day decisions and threatens to hamper its Chinese owner's efforts to turn the business around, sources close to the company said.
Chief Executive Stefan Jacoby and Vice Chairman Hans-Olov Olsson are locked in an often personal in-fight that began to develop after China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co bought the Swedish brand from Ford Motor Co two years ago, the sources said.
Jacoby, on medical leave after suffering a minor stroke last month, and Olsson, who effectively heads the Volvo board, have clashed over a key executive appointment and have also made conflicting statements on group strategy, added the sources, who didn't want to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
"It's just been a mess," an ex-Volvo executive said. "Jacoby has not been able to run Volvo the way he wants to."
Jacoby made no mention of any job pressures when announcing his stroke, saying he was keen to return to work, but Volvo insiders suspect friction with Olsson may have added to an unhealthy level of stress for the CEO.
The two men are meant to challenge each other under an arrangement put in place by Geely to help create internal checks and balances, but sources said tensions between the pair have grown to become a management problem that Volvo can ill afford. It has also thrown another spotlight on China's mixed success so far in taking over and managing major overseas consumer brands.
Geely's billionaire chairman, Li Shufu, who is also Volvo chairman, brought back Olsson, a former Volvo CEO and four-decade veteran of the firm, to help keep Jacoby, a German, on his toes. Olsson, 70, chairs Volvo's board on behalf of Li, who doesn't speak English, Volvo's main working language.
But some Volvo insiders worry about the impact of the men's soured relationship on Volvo's business turnaround plan, which aims to revive flagging sales in Europe and restore Volvo's stalled momentum as a luxury brand, the sources said.
SALES PITCH
The conflict came to a head last year when Olsson tried to persuade Jacoby to promote Olsson's son-in-law, Thomas Andersson, a vice president, to global head of sales, marketing and customer service, the sources said. Instead, Jacoby promoted a North America Volvo executive to that role.
The pair also appeared to disagree last year over whether Volvo would remain based in Sweden.
However, Volvo says Jacoby and Olsson have a constructive relationship and, according to one of the Volvo chairman's key lieutenants, Li believes his system of checks and balances is working properly and he has no immediate plans to intervene.
"Chairman Li still wants somebody to closely watch Volvo's management, and that's Olsson's task," that person said.
Volvo denied the pair's relationship had broken down.
"There is no conflict between Stefan Jacoby and Hans-Olov Olsson," spokesman Per-?ke Fr?berg said in response to questions about the relationship. "In a company undergoing such a rapid transformation it is natural - and positive - that the board has constructive discussions. The opposite would be devastating."
Volvo also said Olsson and Andersson declined invitations to comment on the story. Efforts to contact both men independently were not successful. Jacoby also declined to comment through a company spokesman. A Geely spokesman did not respond to requests for comment from Li.
HIGH STRESS
Jacoby, 54, said in a statement on September 23 that he would be off work for a month to recover from a recent stroke that left him with some limited movement in his right arm and leg. He said then that his condition was improving.
"Looked at from Jacoby's point of view, Chairman Li is the most important person on the board, and he doesn't want Olsson to act as his middleman," said a key Volvo executive. "Jacoby also thinks Olsson is old. He is getting ready to retire, and Jacoby thinks he should deal directly with Chairman Li."
The issue is also partly due to a disagreement over the roles of the board and executive management, the sources said.
Jacoby, who has spent most of his career at Volkswagen AG before he was recruited to Volvo in 2010, sees the executive management team as the core decision-making body, with the board providing oversight, the sources added. By contrast, Olsson takes a more interventionist board approach to executive decisions.
AT CROSSROADS
Since it was taken over by Geely, Volvo has been trying to nearly double its annual global sales to 800,000 cars by 2020, from 450,000 last year, and become a more viable global luxury auto brand. But Volvo last month reported a first-half net loss as the euro zone crisis dented sales in Europe.
Jacoby told a Swedish newspaper before his stroke that Volvo was unlikely to meet its goal to sell 200,000 cars a year in China by 2015. Volvo sold about 47,000 cars in China last year and is likely to sell 45,000-46,000 this year, he said.
Finance chief Jan Gurander said at last month's Paris auto show that global sales this year would likely be below last year's levels, but sales in China would increase next year. Volvo competes in China, the world's biggest auto market, against global luxury brands such as BMW, Jaguar and Volkswagen's Audi.
SON-IN-LAW
Two sources said Jacoby's relationship with Olsson hit a worrying low over the career of Andersson, who is married to Olsson's younger daughter.
In early 2011, roughly six months after Geely bought Volvo, the newly appointed CEO Jacoby met Andersson in the CEO's office at Volvo headquarters in Gothenburg to discuss Andersson's new assignment, two sources said. At the time, Andersson wanted to lead Volvo's global sales, marketing and service, which Olsson endorsed, said the two sources citing a first-hand account of the talks.
But Jacoby and Volvo's Chinese owner wanted Andersson to move to China to lead Volvo's sales activities there before promoting him, and the CEO told Andersson so in the meeting, according to this account.
Andersson replied that he would move to China if he could return to Sweden a year later and become head of Volvo's global sales and marketing. Jacoby then abruptly ended the meeting, making it clear the job talks were over.
A few days after that meeting, Olsson visited Jacoby in his office and advised him to give Andersson the top global sales and marketing job, the sources said. Shortly afterwards, Jacoby named ex-Ford executive Doug Speck as global sales and marketing chief.
Also, about a year ago, Jacoby and Olsson contradicted each other in public statements over whether Volvo would always be based in Sweden under Geely's ownership.
Jacoby told employees that Volvo would remain in Sweden. But Olsson, a couple of weeks later, told a newspaper there was a chance the firm could move out of Sweden if Volvo did not shape up. He did not say where Volvo could relocate under those circumstances.
相關(guān)中文資料
據(jù)接近公司的消息人士透露,瑞典豪華車廠商沃爾沃內(nèi)部出現(xiàn)高層矛盾,影響到公司的一些日常決策,并可能妨礙中國東家改善業(yè)務(wù)的努力.
消息人士稱,中國浙江吉利控股集團GEELY.UL兩年前從福特汽車手中買下沃爾沃品牌之後,沃爾沃首席執(zhí)行官(CEO)Stefan Jacoby和副董事長Hans-Olov Olsson就開始時常進行私人爭斗.
Jacoby上月發(fā)生輕度中風,目前在休病假,現(xiàn)在實際領(lǐng)導沃爾沃董事會的人是Olsson.消息人士稱,這兩人曾在一個重要高層職位的任命上意見不一,而且就集團戰(zhàn)略發(fā)表過相互矛盾的聲明.該消息人士因為此事太敏感不愿具名.
"簡直是一團糟,"一位前沃爾沃高層表示."Jacoby一直沒法按他的意愿經(jīng)營沃爾沃."
Jacoby公開中風病情時沒有提到任何與工作有關(guān)的壓力,只表示希望能盡快返崗.但沃爾沃內(nèi)部人士懷疑,與Olsson的摩擦加重了他的病情.
根據(jù)吉利提出的旨在營造內(nèi)部制衡環(huán)境的安排,這兩人是可以相互質(zhì)疑的,但消息人士稱,他們兩人之間的摩擦已經(jīng)升級為沃爾沃無法承受的管理問題.
亦擔任沃爾沃董事長的吉利董事長李書福當初返聘Olsson,是為了幫他制衡Jacoby.老將Olsson是前沃爾沃CEO,為公司效力長達40年.今年70歲高齡的Olsson是李書福在沃爾沃董事會的代表,因為李書福不會說英文,而英文是沃爾沃的主要工作語言.
消息人士稱,沃爾沃的一些內(nèi)部人士很擔心這兩位高層的關(guān)系惡化會影響公司的業(yè)務(wù)改善計劃,沃爾沃正計劃重振歐洲銷售和沃爾沃作為豪華車品牌的聲望.
高層職位之爭
消息人士稱,去年Olsson試圖說服Jacoby提拔他的女婿,時任副總裁Thomas Andersson擔任銷售、市場策劃和客服全球主管時,兩人的矛盾激化到頂點.結(jié)果,Jacoby卻提拔了一位北美沃爾沃高層擔任那一職位.
去年,這兩人在沃爾沃總部是否留在瑞典的問題上似乎也意見不一.
不過沃爾沃表示,Jacoby和Olsson之間保持著積極關(guān)系.而據(jù)李書福身邊的重要助理之一稱.李書福也相信自己一手打造的制衡體系運轉(zhuǎn)得當,他目前不打算馬上干預此事.
"李董事長仍需要有人密切監(jiān)督沃爾沃的管理工作,而那正是Olsson的任務(wù),"這位助理表示.
沃爾沃對Jacoby和Olsson兩人關(guān)系破裂予以否認.
"Stefan Jacoby和Hans-Olov Olsson之間沒有矛盾,"公司發(fā)言人Per-Ake Froberg在回覆記者有關(guān)兩人關(guān)系的問題時說道."在一家經(jīng)歷如此快速變革的公司,董事會出現(xiàn)積極討論是很自然的事情,這也是積極的.相反不這樣就糟了."
沃爾沃還表示,Olsson和Andersson均拒絕了要求對相關(guān)報導置評的邀請.記者曾試圖單獨聯(lián)系他們,但未果.Jacoby亦拒絕通過公司發(fā)言人置評.吉利公司發(fā)言人尚未回覆要求李書福對此置評的徵詢.
壓力山大
今年54歲的Jacoby在9月23日聲明中稱,他將休病假一個月.因為中風,他的右手和右腳目前有些行動不便.後來他表示自己的身體狀況有所好轉(zhuǎn).
"從Jacoby的角度來看,李書福才是董事會最重要的人,他不希望Olsson充當他的中間人,"一位關(guān)鍵的沃爾沃高層表示."Jacoby還認為Olsson年紀太大,得要準備退休了.Jacoby覺得自己應(yīng)該直接與李書福進行溝通."
據(jù)消息人士稱,兩人在董事會角色和高層管理問題上的分歧亦是造成矛盾的原因.
Jacoby在2010年加盟沃爾沃之前,大部分職業(yè)生涯是在德國大眾汽車(VOWG_p.DE: 行情)度過的.消息人士稱,Jacoby認為高層管理團隊才是核心決策機構(gòu),而董事會的職責是監(jiān)督.相反,Olsson對高層管理團隊的決策采取一種更具干預性的方式.
處在十字路口
自從沃爾沃被吉利收購後,一直朝著在2020之前將年度全球汽車銷量較去年的45萬輛增加近一倍,至80萬輛的目標努力,并致力於鞏固沃爾沃作為全球豪華車品牌的知名度.但沃爾沃上月公布上半年出現(xiàn)凈虧損,因為歐債危機打擊了歐洲銷售.
Jacoby在出現(xiàn)中風病情前,曾對一家瑞典報紙表示,沃爾沃不大可能在2015年之前實現(xiàn)每年在中國出售20萬輛汽車的目標.去年沃爾沃在中國售出4.7萬輛汽車,今年銷量可能為4.5-4.6萬輛.
沃爾沃財務(wù)總監(jiān)Jan Gurander在上月巴黎舉行的汽車展中表示,公司今年的全球汽車銷量很可能低於去年,但明年在中國的銷量有望增加.沃爾沃在中國的競爭對手包括寶馬 (BMWG.DE: 行情)、捷豹(Jaguar)(TAMO.NS: 行情)和大眾旗下的奧迪.
A boardroom-level conflict at Sweden-based luxury auto firm Volvo Car Corp is infecting some day-to-day decisions and threatens to hamper its Chinese owner's efforts to turn the business around, sources close to the company said.
Chief Executive Stefan Jacoby and Vice Chairman Hans-Olov Olsson are locked in an often personal in-fight that began to develop after China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co bought the Swedish brand from Ford Motor Co two years ago, the sources said.
Jacoby, on medical leave after suffering a minor stroke last month, and Olsson, who effectively heads the Volvo board, have clashed over a key executive appointment and have also made conflicting statements on group strategy, added the sources, who didn't want to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
"It's just been a mess," an ex-Volvo executive said. "Jacoby has not been able to run Volvo the way he wants to."
Jacoby made no mention of any job pressures when announcing his stroke, saying he was keen to return to work, but Volvo insiders suspect friction with Olsson may have added to an unhealthy level of stress for the CEO.
The two men are meant to challenge each other under an arrangement put in place by Geely to help create internal checks and balances, but sources said tensions between the pair have grown to become a management problem that Volvo can ill afford. It has also thrown another spotlight on China's mixed success so far in taking over and managing major overseas consumer brands.
Geely's billionaire chairman, Li Shufu, who is also Volvo chairman, brought back Olsson, a former Volvo CEO and four-decade veteran of the firm, to help keep Jacoby, a German, on his toes. Olsson, 70, chairs Volvo's board on behalf of Li, who doesn't speak English, Volvo's main working language.
But some Volvo insiders worry about the impact of the men's soured relationship on Volvo's business turnaround plan, which aims to revive flagging sales in Europe and restore Volvo's stalled momentum as a luxury brand, the sources said.
SALES PITCH
The conflict came to a head last year when Olsson tried to persuade Jacoby to promote Olsson's son-in-law, Thomas Andersson, a vice president, to global head of sales, marketing and customer service, the sources said. Instead, Jacoby promoted a North America Volvo executive to that role.
The pair also appeared to disagree last year over whether Volvo would remain based in Sweden.
However, Volvo says Jacoby and Olsson have a constructive relationship and, according to one of the Volvo chairman's key lieutenants, Li believes his system of checks and balances is working properly and he has no immediate plans to intervene.
"Chairman Li still wants somebody to closely watch Volvo's management, and that's Olsson's task," that person said.
Volvo denied the pair's relationship had broken down.
"There is no conflict between Stefan Jacoby and Hans-Olov Olsson," spokesman Per-?ke Fr?berg said in response to questions about the relationship. "In a company undergoing such a rapid transformation it is natural - and positive - that the board has constructive discussions. The opposite would be devastating."
Volvo also said Olsson and Andersson declined invitations to comment on the story. Efforts to contact both men independently were not successful. Jacoby also declined to comment through a company spokesman. A Geely spokesman did not respond to requests for comment from Li.
HIGH STRESS
Jacoby, 54, said in a statement on September 23 that he would be off work for a month to recover from a recent stroke that left him with some limited movement in his right arm and leg. He said then that his condition was improving.
"Looked at from Jacoby's point of view, Chairman Li is the most important person on the board, and he doesn't want Olsson to act as his middleman," said a key Volvo executive. "Jacoby also thinks Olsson is old. He is getting ready to retire, and Jacoby thinks he should deal directly with Chairman Li."
The issue is also partly due to a disagreement over the roles of the board and executive management, the sources said.
Jacoby, who has spent most of his career at Volkswagen AG before he was recruited to Volvo in 2010, sees the executive management team as the core decision-making body, with the board providing oversight, the sources added. By contrast, Olsson takes a more interventionist board approach to executive decisions.
AT CROSSROADS
Since it was taken over by Geely, Volvo has been trying to nearly double its annual global sales to 800,000 cars by 2020, from 450,000 last year, and become a more viable global luxury auto brand. But Volvo last month reported a first-half net loss as the euro zone crisis dented sales in Europe.
Jacoby told a Swedish newspaper before his stroke that Volvo was unlikely to meet its goal to sell 200,000 cars a year in China by 2015. Volvo sold about 47,000 cars in China last year and is likely to sell 45,000-46,000 this year, he said.
Finance chief Jan Gurander said at last month's Paris auto show that global sales this year would likely be below last year's levels, but sales in China would increase next year. Volvo competes in China, the world's biggest auto market, against global luxury brands such as BMW, Jaguar and Volkswagen's Audi.
SON-IN-LAW
Two sources said Jacoby's relationship with Olsson hit a worrying low over the career of Andersson, who is married to Olsson's younger daughter.
In early 2011, roughly six months after Geely bought Volvo, the newly appointed CEO Jacoby met Andersson in the CEO's office at Volvo headquarters in Gothenburg to discuss Andersson's new assignment, two sources said. At the time, Andersson wanted to lead Volvo's global sales, marketing and service, which Olsson endorsed, said the two sources citing a first-hand account of the talks.
But Jacoby and Volvo's Chinese owner wanted Andersson to move to China to lead Volvo's sales activities there before promoting him, and the CEO told Andersson so in the meeting, according to this account.
Andersson replied that he would move to China if he could return to Sweden a year later and become head of Volvo's global sales and marketing. Jacoby then abruptly ended the meeting, making it clear the job talks were over.
A few days after that meeting, Olsson visited Jacoby in his office and advised him to give Andersson the top global sales and marketing job, the sources said. Shortly afterwards, Jacoby named ex-Ford executive Doug Speck as global sales and marketing chief.
Also, about a year ago, Jacoby and Olsson contradicted each other in public statements over whether Volvo would always be based in Sweden under Geely's ownership.
Jacoby told employees that Volvo would remain in Sweden. But Olsson, a couple of weeks later, told a newspaper there was a chance the firm could move out of Sweden if Volvo did not shape up. He did not say where Volvo could relocate under those circumstances.
相關(guān)中文資料
據(jù)接近公司的消息人士透露,瑞典豪華車廠商沃爾沃內(nèi)部出現(xiàn)高層矛盾,影響到公司的一些日常決策,并可能妨礙中國東家改善業(yè)務(wù)的努力.
消息人士稱,中國浙江吉利控股集團GEELY.UL兩年前從福特汽車手中買下沃爾沃品牌之後,沃爾沃首席執(zhí)行官(CEO)Stefan Jacoby和副董事長Hans-Olov Olsson就開始時常進行私人爭斗.
Jacoby上月發(fā)生輕度中風,目前在休病假,現(xiàn)在實際領(lǐng)導沃爾沃董事會的人是Olsson.消息人士稱,這兩人曾在一個重要高層職位的任命上意見不一,而且就集團戰(zhàn)略發(fā)表過相互矛盾的聲明.該消息人士因為此事太敏感不愿具名.
"簡直是一團糟,"一位前沃爾沃高層表示."Jacoby一直沒法按他的意愿經(jīng)營沃爾沃."
Jacoby公開中風病情時沒有提到任何與工作有關(guān)的壓力,只表示希望能盡快返崗.但沃爾沃內(nèi)部人士懷疑,與Olsson的摩擦加重了他的病情.
根據(jù)吉利提出的旨在營造內(nèi)部制衡環(huán)境的安排,這兩人是可以相互質(zhì)疑的,但消息人士稱,他們兩人之間的摩擦已經(jīng)升級為沃爾沃無法承受的管理問題.
亦擔任沃爾沃董事長的吉利董事長李書福當初返聘Olsson,是為了幫他制衡Jacoby.老將Olsson是前沃爾沃CEO,為公司效力長達40年.今年70歲高齡的Olsson是李書福在沃爾沃董事會的代表,因為李書福不會說英文,而英文是沃爾沃的主要工作語言.
消息人士稱,沃爾沃的一些內(nèi)部人士很擔心這兩位高層的關(guān)系惡化會影響公司的業(yè)務(wù)改善計劃,沃爾沃正計劃重振歐洲銷售和沃爾沃作為豪華車品牌的聲望.
高層職位之爭
消息人士稱,去年Olsson試圖說服Jacoby提拔他的女婿,時任副總裁Thomas Andersson擔任銷售、市場策劃和客服全球主管時,兩人的矛盾激化到頂點.結(jié)果,Jacoby卻提拔了一位北美沃爾沃高層擔任那一職位.
去年,這兩人在沃爾沃總部是否留在瑞典的問題上似乎也意見不一.
不過沃爾沃表示,Jacoby和Olsson之間保持著積極關(guān)系.而據(jù)李書福身邊的重要助理之一稱.李書福也相信自己一手打造的制衡體系運轉(zhuǎn)得當,他目前不打算馬上干預此事.
"李董事長仍需要有人密切監(jiān)督沃爾沃的管理工作,而那正是Olsson的任務(wù),"這位助理表示.
沃爾沃對Jacoby和Olsson兩人關(guān)系破裂予以否認.
"Stefan Jacoby和Hans-Olov Olsson之間沒有矛盾,"公司發(fā)言人Per-Ake Froberg在回覆記者有關(guān)兩人關(guān)系的問題時說道."在一家經(jīng)歷如此快速變革的公司,董事會出現(xiàn)積極討論是很自然的事情,這也是積極的.相反不這樣就糟了."
沃爾沃還表示,Olsson和Andersson均拒絕了要求對相關(guān)報導置評的邀請.記者曾試圖單獨聯(lián)系他們,但未果.Jacoby亦拒絕通過公司發(fā)言人置評.吉利公司發(fā)言人尚未回覆要求李書福對此置評的徵詢.
壓力山大
今年54歲的Jacoby在9月23日聲明中稱,他將休病假一個月.因為中風,他的右手和右腳目前有些行動不便.後來他表示自己的身體狀況有所好轉(zhuǎn).
"從Jacoby的角度來看,李書福才是董事會最重要的人,他不希望Olsson充當他的中間人,"一位關(guān)鍵的沃爾沃高層表示."Jacoby還認為Olsson年紀太大,得要準備退休了.Jacoby覺得自己應(yīng)該直接與李書福進行溝通."
據(jù)消息人士稱,兩人在董事會角色和高層管理問題上的分歧亦是造成矛盾的原因.
Jacoby在2010年加盟沃爾沃之前,大部分職業(yè)生涯是在德國大眾汽車(VOWG_p.DE: 行情)度過的.消息人士稱,Jacoby認為高層管理團隊才是核心決策機構(gòu),而董事會的職責是監(jiān)督.相反,Olsson對高層管理團隊的決策采取一種更具干預性的方式.
處在十字路口
自從沃爾沃被吉利收購後,一直朝著在2020之前將年度全球汽車銷量較去年的45萬輛增加近一倍,至80萬輛的目標努力,并致力於鞏固沃爾沃作為全球豪華車品牌的知名度.但沃爾沃上月公布上半年出現(xiàn)凈虧損,因為歐債危機打擊了歐洲銷售.
Jacoby在出現(xiàn)中風病情前,曾對一家瑞典報紙表示,沃爾沃不大可能在2015年之前實現(xiàn)每年在中國出售20萬輛汽車的目標.去年沃爾沃在中國售出4.7萬輛汽車,今年銷量可能為4.5-4.6萬輛.
沃爾沃財務(wù)總監(jiān)Jan Gurander在上月巴黎舉行的汽車展中表示,公司今年的全球汽車銷量很可能低於去年,但明年在中國的銷量有望增加.沃爾沃在中國的競爭對手包括寶馬 (BMWG.DE: 行情)、捷豹(Jaguar)(TAMO.NS: 行情)和大眾旗下的奧迪.