Detroit, Sept 25: DaimlerChrysler AG cut its management board on Friday in a shake-up tilting the balance of power in favour of Chairman Juergen Schrempp's German team with the departure of key U.S. Executive Thomas Stallkamp.The automaker cut its management board to 14 members from17 by dropping three executives -- two North Americans and one German -- in a bid to accelerate growth 10 months after the $40 billion merger of Germany's Daimler-Benz AG and U.S. Automaker Chrysler Corp.DaimlerChrysler officials went to great lengths to insist that the departure of Stallkamp, the firm's North American president and to many its spiritual leader, had neither provoked nor been the result of a boardroom rift."There's simply nothing to that," Co-Chairman Robert Eaton told reporters in a telephone conference call. "The dynamics in the board of management are absolutely fantastic. This isn't a German or an American thing."Stallkamp, in an E-mail to U.S. Employees, echoed his boss."In any merger, issues may arise as aresult of different styles or corporate cultures. But, these issues have been worked out and will be worked out in the future because they are not the result of personalities or National differences."But analysts still regard Stallkamp's exit, officially at year-end, as a bad sign because he was seen as a key player in the future growth of the world's No. 5 automaker.
"There isn't any way of putting a decent spin on it,"Warburg Dillon Read analyst Saul Rubin said. "It's a loss for the company and it consolidates Schrempp's control."In the widely anticipated reshuffle, Latin American operations head Theodor Cunningham and Commercial Vehicles Division manager Kurt Lauk also will leave the board.
Starting Oct. 1, the leaner board will be made up of joint Chairmen Schrempp and Eaton and 12 members responsible for the company's auto, aerospace and services divisions.Eaton said the restructuring will allow DaimlerChrysler to focus on its auto business, accelerate decision making and deliver greater shareholdervalue. The automaker has split into three brand-focused divisions, as well as the financial services and aerospace units.
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