News |
By
V&D Bureau
,
19 July, 2013
News |
By
V&D Bureau
,
19 July, 2013
http://www.voicendata.com/voice-data/news/191942/maxis-appoints-morten-lundal-ceohttp://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2013/07/20/Maxis-cleanup-a-tough-job-for-Lundal-Telco-needs-to-refocus-but-it-is-easier-said-than-done.aspx
Morten Lundal, the newly minted CEO of Maxis Bhd, is going to face a huge challenge.
His brief would have included ripping up the old culture of Maxis and turning it into a fashionable telco, one that’s in tune with the changing palette of customers.
He did that at DiGi.Com Bhd a decade ago, but will he succeed with Maxis?
“Maxis is a tough cookie and it is going to be hard to break it as it is entrenched. The job will make him sweat,” says someone who claims to know the culture at Maxis.
Whether it is tough or easy, he task is daunting on the surface. Growth in the voice business is flattish but data is experiencing exponential growth.
For a company like Maxis, it needs to re-focus on that but it is easier said than done.
Lundal will take to his post on Oct 1. During his tenure as DiGi CEO, he transformed the company and saw its market share and earnings rise. He was with DiGi from 2004 to 2008 and then left to work at Vodafone where he is now the group chief commercial officer.
The question is can he replicate that magic at Maxis?
Maxis is already undertaking a massive restructuring to shed redundancies and inefficiencies that has been ingrained over the years.
Its workforce is large at 3,500 people (though its biggest rival Celcom Axiata Bhd has 4,000 people) and its services perceived to be pricey. Compounding matters are network quality issues and a market share that is slowing eroding in some segments.
An analyst writes that Maxis is aggressively trying to regain market share from DiGi, as has been seen in the past 15 months.
And last year Maxis saw a drop in net profit to RM1.86bil from RM2.53bil a year earlier. Maxis for years had enjoyed the highest EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) margins in the country, possibly the highest in the region too, of about 50%. But they are on a down trend and last year, it fell to 47.2%.
More importantly, and though Maxis has strong branding, it is lacking much presence in the youth segment and that is a cause of concern to some.
“They have to turn Maxis into a “hip” brand and entice the younger generation to be part of it. That must be his mandate,’’ says one industry expert.
Maxis of today is a very big organisation and simple decisions can take time to execute. Those in the know say their strategy on IPTV (Internet protocol television) took more than a year to decide, a luxury the telco cannot afford these days.
Lundal was selected after Johan Dennelind (Lundal’s successor at DiGi) turned down the job because he had personal matters to attend to. He was supposed to succeed Sandip Das who left in May.
The speed at which Lundal was appointed showed urgency in revamping Maxis. Technology is changing the landscape of the industry and if companies like Maxis do not get their act in right fast enough, they will lose out on opportunities, industry insiders says.
Maxis may have been first to switch on LTE (Long Term Evolution) to capture a bigger slice of the data market but players like Celcom Axiata Bhd are not far behind. Even Telekom Malaysia Bhd recently announced it wanted a bite of LTE, in the process heating up competition in the wireless/cellular segment and the data business.
The clean-up has begun
Over a month ago, the company saw the departure of very senior people as a result of a reorganisation.
From over a dozen units and departments, the organisation has been streamlined into four units and the people heading the units are young and said to be dynamic. They have to form their own teams and get into the market fast enough to stop the erosion of market share. In the interim prior to Lundal’s entry, Maxis is managed by two chief operating officers – Nasution Mohammed and Suren J. Amarasekera.
Lundal’s entry is a welcome sign for Maxis as he bring vast experience and has knowledge of the local telecoms scene, analysts feel.
Celcom Axiata Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Seri Mohammed Shazalli Ramly calls Lundal a “dear friend.”
“He was already the CEO at DiGi when I joined the industry, I was the newcomer then. Like any business, a CEO comes and go and with his capabilities, experience and knowledge, he should add back colour to the industry.”
DiGi CEO Henrik Clausen says: “For me, the key responsibility as a CEO is to bring the company to the next level and to make it a stronger company. That’s what I’ve tried to do here and it is what I’ve tried to do in my previous jobs. I think that’s how a CEO should think.
Should DiGi be worried since Lundal was with DiGi before?
“I think the CEOs of the other companies probably largely focus on what they need to do in their companies and drive them. So I’m not terribly worried about that. I think that our folks will do what’s right for DiGi,” Henrik says.
While at DiGi, one of the first things Lundal did was to tear down the walls that were keeping people disconnected from one another within the organisation. He dispensed with the silo culture that persisted.
He adopted the tagline “time to change” and aggressively implemented changes that affected the consumer, employees, the way DiGi distributes its products and services.
More importantly, he was responsible for changing market perception of DiGi from a “value” brand to a “hip” brand targeting the youth segment, writes AmResearch in its report.
The change involved aggressive pricing strategies, which included introducing cheap starter packs and bundling. At at the tail end of his tenure (he left in 2008), DiGi started adopting aggressive capital management policies, which included a few capital repayment exercises and raising dividends.
During his time at DiGi, market share increased from 16% in 2003 to 25% in 2007 despite not having the 3G capabilities of his peers, writes AmResearch.
DiGi saw tremendous growth during his leadership from 2004-2008. Group revenue and after-tax profit surged by a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 121.2% and 137.7% to RM4.81bil and RM1.14bil, respectively, writes another research house.
However, there are those who thought he did not pay enough attention to financial restructuring, which was something Dennelind handled.
Lundal, known for his more informal style of management while at DiGi, will utilise his experience in helping Maxis deal with margin pressures and the erosion in market share to its peers.
Lundal has had success in the past but the test at Maxis will arguably be his biggest career challenge yet.
His brief would have included ripping up the old culture of Maxis and turning it into a fashionable telco, one that’s in tune with the changing palette of customers.
He did that at DiGi.Com Bhd a decade ago, but will he succeed with Maxis?
“Maxis is a tough cookie and it is going to be hard to break it as it is entrenched. The job will make him sweat,” says someone who claims to know the culture at Maxis.
Whether it is tough or easy, he task is daunting on the surface. Growth in the voice business is flattish but data is experiencing exponential growth.
For a company like Maxis, it needs to re-focus on that but it is easier said than done.
Lundal will take to his post on Oct 1. During his tenure as DiGi CEO, he transformed the company and saw its market share and earnings rise. He was with DiGi from 2004 to 2008 and then left to work at Vodafone where he is now the group chief commercial officer.
The question is can he replicate that magic at Maxis?
Maxis is already undertaking a massive restructuring to shed redundancies and inefficiencies that has been ingrained over the years.
Its workforce is large at 3,500 people (though its biggest rival Celcom Axiata Bhd has 4,000 people) and its services perceived to be pricey. Compounding matters are network quality issues and a market share that is slowing eroding in some segments.
An analyst writes that Maxis is aggressively trying to regain market share from DiGi, as has been seen in the past 15 months.
And last year Maxis saw a drop in net profit to RM1.86bil from RM2.53bil a year earlier. Maxis for years had enjoyed the highest EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) margins in the country, possibly the highest in the region too, of about 50%. But they are on a down trend and last year, it fell to 47.2%.
More importantly, and though Maxis has strong branding, it is lacking much presence in the youth segment and that is a cause of concern to some.
“They have to turn Maxis into a “hip” brand and entice the younger generation to be part of it. That must be his mandate,’’ says one industry expert.
Maxis of today is a very big organisation and simple decisions can take time to execute. Those in the know say their strategy on IPTV (Internet protocol television) took more than a year to decide, a luxury the telco cannot afford these days.
Lundal was selected after Johan Dennelind (Lundal’s successor at DiGi) turned down the job because he had personal matters to attend to. He was supposed to succeed Sandip Das who left in May.
The speed at which Lundal was appointed showed urgency in revamping Maxis. Technology is changing the landscape of the industry and if companies like Maxis do not get their act in right fast enough, they will lose out on opportunities, industry insiders says.
Maxis may have been first to switch on LTE (Long Term Evolution) to capture a bigger slice of the data market but players like Celcom Axiata Bhd are not far behind. Even Telekom Malaysia Bhd recently announced it wanted a bite of LTE, in the process heating up competition in the wireless/cellular segment and the data business.
The clean-up has begun
Over a month ago, the company saw the departure of very senior people as a result of a reorganisation.
From over a dozen units and departments, the organisation has been streamlined into four units and the people heading the units are young and said to be dynamic. They have to form their own teams and get into the market fast enough to stop the erosion of market share. In the interim prior to Lundal’s entry, Maxis is managed by two chief operating officers – Nasution Mohammed and Suren J. Amarasekera.
Lundal’s entry is a welcome sign for Maxis as he bring vast experience and has knowledge of the local telecoms scene, analysts feel.
Celcom Axiata Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Seri Mohammed Shazalli Ramly calls Lundal a “dear friend.”
“He was already the CEO at DiGi when I joined the industry, I was the newcomer then. Like any business, a CEO comes and go and with his capabilities, experience and knowledge, he should add back colour to the industry.”
DiGi CEO Henrik Clausen says: “For me, the key responsibility as a CEO is to bring the company to the next level and to make it a stronger company. That’s what I’ve tried to do here and it is what I’ve tried to do in my previous jobs. I think that’s how a CEO should think.
Should DiGi be worried since Lundal was with DiGi before?
“I think the CEOs of the other companies probably largely focus on what they need to do in their companies and drive them. So I’m not terribly worried about that. I think that our folks will do what’s right for DiGi,” Henrik says.
While at DiGi, one of the first things Lundal did was to tear down the walls that were keeping people disconnected from one another within the organisation. He dispensed with the silo culture that persisted.
He adopted the tagline “time to change” and aggressively implemented changes that affected the consumer, employees, the way DiGi distributes its products and services.
More importantly, he was responsible for changing market perception of DiGi from a “value” brand to a “hip” brand targeting the youth segment, writes AmResearch in its report.
The change involved aggressive pricing strategies, which included introducing cheap starter packs and bundling. At at the tail end of his tenure (he left in 2008), DiGi started adopting aggressive capital management policies, which included a few capital repayment exercises and raising dividends.
During his time at DiGi, market share increased from 16% in 2003 to 25% in 2007 despite not having the 3G capabilities of his peers, writes AmResearch.
DiGi saw tremendous growth during his leadership from 2004-2008. Group revenue and after-tax profit surged by a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 121.2% and 137.7% to RM4.81bil and RM1.14bil, respectively, writes another research house.
However, there are those who thought he did not pay enough attention to financial restructuring, which was something Dennelind handled.
Lundal, known for his more informal style of management while at DiGi, will utilise his experience in helping Maxis deal with margin pressures and the erosion in market share to its peers.
Lundal has had success in the past but the test at Maxis will arguably be his biggest career challenge yet.
Maxis
Berhad has appointed Morten Lundal as its new chief executive officer
(CEO). - See more at:
http://www.voicendata.com/voice-data/news/191942/maxis-appoints-morten-lundal-ceo#sthash.7dZiaf0p.dpuf
He
will join the company on 1 October 2013 and will report to the chairman
of the Board and be appointed to the board as an executive director. -
See more at:
http://www.voicendata.com/voice-data/news/191942/maxis-appoints-morten-lundal-ceo#sthash.7dZiaf0p.dpuf
Maxis Berhad has appointed Morten Lundal as its new chief executive officer (CEO).
He will join the company on 1 October 2013 and will report to the chairman of the Board and be appointed to the board as an executive director.
Morten is presently group chief commercial officer of Vodafone group, a member of the executive committee responsible for commercial activities at the group level.
Prior to assuming this position in 2010, Morten was regional CEO responsible for 8 operating companies in Central Europe and Africa. He joined Vodafone from DiGi.Com Berhad Group, Malaysia (DiGi Malaysia) in 2008.
In 2004, Morten was appointed CEO of DiGi Malaysia where he was instrumental in instituting various changes crucial to DiGi Malaysia's transformation and growth. Under his leadership, DiGi Malaysia's mobile revenue market share, earnings and share price increased significantly.
Morten joined Nordic mobile operator Telenor in 1997 and held several Chief Executive Officer positions including for the Internet Division and Telenor Business Solutions as well as the position of executive vice president, Corporate Strategy.
He holds a Master of Business Administration from IMD Lausanne and a Master of Business and Economics from the Norwegian School of Management (BI).
"He has demonstrated the ability to take bold steps and make radical changes to align an organisation to anticipated changes in the industry and consumer demand. We particularly welcome his focus on innovation and management development," said Raja Tan Sri Dato' Seri Arshad bin Raja Tun Uda, chairman, Maxis.
"I am very happy to join Maxis and look forward to using my experience and energy to build on the inherent strengths of the company and its leadership of the telecommunications industry in Malaysia," said Morten Lunda
- See more at: http://www.voicendata.com/voice-data/news/191942/maxis-appoints-morten-lundal-ceo#sthash.7dZiaf0p.dpuf
He will join the company on 1 October 2013 and will report to the chairman of the Board and be appointed to the board as an executive director.
Morten is presently group chief commercial officer of Vodafone group, a member of the executive committee responsible for commercial activities at the group level.
Prior to assuming this position in 2010, Morten was regional CEO responsible for 8 operating companies in Central Europe and Africa. He joined Vodafone from DiGi.Com Berhad Group, Malaysia (DiGi Malaysia) in 2008.
In 2004, Morten was appointed CEO of DiGi Malaysia where he was instrumental in instituting various changes crucial to DiGi Malaysia's transformation and growth. Under his leadership, DiGi Malaysia's mobile revenue market share, earnings and share price increased significantly.
Morten joined Nordic mobile operator Telenor in 1997 and held several Chief Executive Officer positions including for the Internet Division and Telenor Business Solutions as well as the position of executive vice president, Corporate Strategy.
He holds a Master of Business Administration from IMD Lausanne and a Master of Business and Economics from the Norwegian School of Management (BI).
"He has demonstrated the ability to take bold steps and make radical changes to align an organisation to anticipated changes in the industry and consumer demand. We particularly welcome his focus on innovation and management development," said Raja Tan Sri Dato' Seri Arshad bin Raja Tun Uda, chairman, Maxis.
"I am very happy to join Maxis and look forward to using my experience and energy to build on the inherent strengths of the company and its leadership of the telecommunications industry in Malaysia," said Morten Lunda
- See more at: http://www.voicendata.com/voice-data/news/191942/maxis-appoints-morten-lundal-ceo#sthash.7dZiaf0p.dpuf
News |
By
V&D Bureau
,
19 July, 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment