The recent executive shuffle at Motorola (MOT) - Ed Zander out, Gregory Brown in - prompted a visit to their press release archives, and what I learnt: there is a constant exodus of senior management. Some leave because they don’t get the top job (CEO) and others are asked to leave because they can’t do the job. Whichever way you look at it - this constant shuffling is a sign of a deeply troubled company, that needs to make some tough strategic decisions about its future.
Here is a short list of those who have come and gone in past five years.
- July 27, 2002: President Ed Breen leaves to join Tyco.
- September 22, 2003: Christopher Galvin, CEO and Chairman is nudged out by the board.
- January 2004: Ed Zander is named CEO.
- January 13, 2005: Mike S. Zafirovski, Motorola’s president and chief operating officer, tipped to get the CEO job resigns and is soon named CEO of Nortel.
- February 19, 2007: Ron Garriques, a key executive incharge of mobile phone division leaves for Dell.
- December 1, 2007: Gregory Brown, COO of Motorola to replace Ed Zander as CEO.
- December 3, 2007: CTO Padmasree Warrior resigns from the company.
Photo by Katie Fehrenbacher/GigaOm via Flickr.
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1 comment so far
7:29 AM PT
Hola Om,
Like the new site. iHave a post that could explain som of the troubles Motorola is having, it’s not just management. They were saved by the razr, and then that was it, they lucked out, literally. Motorola has ben lucky to go this far, sure they invented the brick, but like the razer, there is no clear path as to what they will do next. Why don’t they become the texting company? iT seems like a good position to me. Anyway, read the first part of the post to get a feel for how much some people detests their products, lets hope for this employer they get their act together before to bell tolls.
Motorola post:
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