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Günter Müller-Stewens
Title
Prof. em. Dr.
Last Name
Müller-Stewens
First name
Günter
Email
guenter.mueller-stewens@unisg.ch
Phone
+41 71 224 2761
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1 - 4 of 4
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PublicationAre CEOs Getting the Best from Corporate Functions?At too many large companies, corporate functions like HR and IT don't get enough strategic direction from the CEO. Four basic steps can help. Few CEOs give enough direction to the heads of their corporate-level functions. That's the conclusion of a survey we conducted of more than 50 function heads at some of Europe's leading companies. We are referring here to larger companies in which corporate-level functions such as finance, human resources, information technology, strategy, purchasing and legal provide policies, controls and services to decentralized operating divisions. Fortunately, some CEOs have found ways to address the problem. In our survey, fewer than one in 10 function heads felt they had received sufficient guidance on how their function should contribute to the company's overall strategy. Instead, they were expected to develop their own ideas and functional strategies.Type: journal articleJournal: MIT Sloan Management ReviewVolume: 53Issue: 3
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PublicationTo centralize or not to centralize?The CEO's dilemma-were the gains of centralization worth the pain it could cause?-is a perennial one. Business leaders dating back at least to Alfred Sloan, who laid out GM's influential philosophy of decentralization in a series of memos during the 1920s, have recognized that badly judged centralization can stifle initiative, constrain the ability to tailor products and services locally, and burden business divisions with high costs and poor service.1 Insufficient centralization can deny business units the economies of scale or coordinated strategies needed to win global customers or outperform rivals. Timeless as the tug-of-war between centralization and decentralization is, it remains a dilemma for most companies.Type: journal articleJournal: McKinsey QuarterlyIssue: 3
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PublicationThe Value Traps Facing Corporate Functions(SMS Strategic Management Society, 2013-10-01)
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PublicationFunctional Strategies in Decentralized Corporations: Richemont's Group HR FunctionCompagnie Financière Richemont S.A. (Richemont) is the second largest luxury goods company in the world after LVMH (Louis Vuitton - Moët Hennessy S.A.). Offering a wide selection of brands, Richemont faces typical group company challenges. On the one hand, the autonomy of its individual brands called "Maisons" is crucial for the brands' and, thus, the group's success. On the other hand, despite its diversified brand portfolio, each of the Maisons carries out several more or less similar tasks which offer centralization and standardization potential at the group level. In 2000, Richemont's corporate management launched an initiative focused on this potential to create additional value. This led to a new group structure with several centralized group functions. Previously, the group had been completely decentralized. The new corporate functions were supposed to add value to the Maisons, which they could not achieve as stand-alone business divisions. This case study spotlights the development of Richemont as a group company, covering the timeline from 2000, when a new corporate structure was implemented, to 2012. The focus is on the group HR function as one of the corporate functions that was established during the introduction of the new corporate structure. The group HR's functional strategy, as well as the development of its value-adding efforts is provided. In addition, the case study describes the group HR's interfaces and the division of the responsibilities between corporate level and non-corporate level units. Finally, it describes two major initiatives that the group HR carried out in order to strengthen its position as a value source and its acceptance within the group. Using this specific function, the case study explores the role of corporate functions as a specific feature of Richemont's new corporate structure and an important means to create or destroy corporate value. The case can be used as teaching material for strategy classes on corporate strategy, corporate advantage, corporate parenting, and corporate functions. It provides insights into the success factors of corporate-level functional strategies and the levers of a corporate function's value creation. It can be used to discuss the following questions which touch on the fundamental issues of corporate strategy: What can be centralized and what cannot? What is the corporate function's role in setting policy, guiding decentralized activities, and supporting business divisions? How can heads of corporate functions link their functional strategy to the overall corporate strategy? How can they avoid bureaucracy, empire-building, and interference? How can they measure added value? How can they decide which skills are needed at the corporate level? By covering these questions, the case deals with how heads of corporate functions can develop strategies for their functions.Type: case study