Daimler In Management Recast

Chairman Juergen Schrempp, speaking on CNN television, said the company is now studying several management models that will make it more nimble and that the first step toward a group-wide reorganisation may be made in the next few months.

We will be talking for a number of weeks. Toward the end of the year we will announce which way we are going.

Analysts said the move was being driven by worries within the company that it was taking too long for management decisions to be implemented and to make individual business operations closely accountable for their results.

Schrempp, an outspoken champion of shareholder value who has laid down clear unit-by-unit profit targets, said Daimler needs to be able to make decisions faster and improve overall quality.

The management shake-up would be the second prong of Schrempp's attempts to remake Daimler. Last year, Daimler abandoned dreams of becoming an integrated technology company and refocused corporate strategy on its transportation roots.

We have changed the culture of the company, Schrempp said. We are seeing the right trend but a lot has to be done.

The motoring industry has been rife with talk of a shake-up at Daimler for nearly a year with much of the speculation on a power struggle between the chairman of Daimler unit Mercedes-Benz, Helmut Werner, and Schrempp.

But the group chairman said any management shake-up would be aimed at making the company better able to compete in the international market place.

Schrempp was speaking on CNN's Moneyline programme, a recorded version of which was aired on Friday morning in Europe.

Schrempp stopped short, however, of confirming details of plans under study already being widely discussed in Germany.

Der Spiegel reported in this week's editions that Schrempp had put forwardt said.