Restructuring plans at Roche Holding AG (ROG.EB) could affect dozens of employees world-wide as the company seeks to decentralize its operations in a bid to become more competitive, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The company confirmed those plans separately Thursday.
Roche told around 350 managers about the restructuring in its pharmaceutics division at the beginning of this month, when it laid out plans for regional offices to shut down in an effort to decentralize, removing regional intermediaries.
The big push will now be on affiliates present in each country.
Roche’s research-and-development division shouldn’t be affected, and new job postings have already been advertised, the person said.
The restructuring will be effective from Jan. 1, the person said.
Mood at the company has been mixed, the person said, with those employed at regional offices most worried, mainly because of concerns about job security.
But there is also increased optimism that the restructuring could yield greater participation in global initiatives, despite Roche losing the assist from regional offices that until now served as interfaces between headquarters and elsewhere.
The person said there is some tension among employees about the restructuring as it is still unclear how workflow will be organized once the changes take place.
Roche told Dow Jones Newswires that it “will always look for ways to improve overall productivity”, and that in the future, its pharmaceuticals division will consist of two organizations: U.S. and international.
The company stressed how the change was still in its so-called “design phase,” and that its aim was to enable “agility” within the company. It declined to comment on how many people would be affected, which region or business area would be most changed, and which segment of the company initiated the move.
Roche raised its outlook Thursday for the second time in a row this year as it posted numbers that beat expectations.
The market might have not been expecting the news. It’s “very surprising,” said analyst Bruno Bulic of Baader Helvea.
Shares gained as much as 3.6% in early morning trading but enthusiasm tapered off on news of the restructuring plans, trading 0.5% higher at CHF239.50 at 1300 GMT, after edging into negative territory at about -0.5% around midday.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.