Rainer Hertrich, with Philippe Camus, is the joint CEO of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), which is the largest aerospace company in Europe and the second largest worldwide.
EADS owns Airbus and is the largest shareholder in Eurocopter and the space launcher Arianespace. EADS is active in the fields of civil and military aircraft, space, defence systems and services.
The company was formed in 2000, merging DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG, Aerospatiale Matra of France and CASA of Spain. In 2001, EADS achieved revenues of euro 30.8 billion.
The company is quoted on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt, Madrid and Paris. Hertrich spoke to Subhomoy Bhattacharya in Paris on the advantage of the dual CEO system as well as the opportunities in India.
Excerpts:
You have talked about a cost savings plan for the company. How is it structured?
The euro 1.5 billion plan covers everything, including capacity creation, obtaining better purchase price and optimising processes in our companies across the world. In several areas there were overlap of processes and that is what we would like to cut down.
In terms of manpower, what would the effect be?
We have targeted a manpower reduction of about 3,500 people
by 2005.
How does the system of dual CEO work out, especially when you want a fast decision on some issues?
It has proved successful. The track record of EADS shows that there has been no problem because of that. In the last three years, we have developed an integrated company, gone in for public listing and have achieved levels of profitability close to what we had expected. So overall there has been no reason to rue that decision.
The only disappointment we have faced is in the stock market quotation of EADS, which we feel could have been better than what it has been. But here too it has been improving.
You also need to factor in the advantage of nationality. Take defence purchases, for instance.
It is a sensitive subject and a lot of complex issues come into play here. The role of the two CEOs become strategic in those context. So the model that has been developed has been a successful one.
Is the sluggishness in the stock prices a reaction to the spate of mergers and acquisitions that you have gone through?
Well, the stock market has had a negative feeling, but that
