Change of era at the head of the galaxy Auchan. At 65, Christophe Dubrulle, chief executive of Yankee distributor since 1996, announced Wednesday his retirement. The current chairman of the supervisory board, Vianney Mulliez, succeeds him. A "non-Mulliez" therefore gives way to a Mulliez, cousin of Gerard Mulliez, founder of the now eleventh worldwide distributor.
Family business
In addition, subject to the approval of the general meeting of shareholders scheduled on June 30, the group will move to review its organization.In legal terms, the transformation of Auchan SA, with executive and supervisory boards, in company with the board and executive committee, will benefit from 1 July to even Mulliez Vianney, which will combine the presidencies of the two new bodies decision.
"This appointment is not a surprise, says one expert group. Vianney Mulliez was already chairman of the supervisory board, as chairman of its executive committee merely prolongs its operational involvement, which has increased the past two years. "
True to its name, the new head of distribution said that "independence and autonomy that gives the status of an unlisted family business are a strategic advantage" to continue to be "a company of merchants entrepreneurs" now an empire of some 40 billion euros of turnover.Vianney Mulliez there is not yet his entire career, as is often the case with Auchan Christophe Dubrulle himself had started in store in 1965. The new boss has built Auchan in 1998 as financial director of Auchan France, he had previously worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers before founding his own audit firm. In 2006, Vianney Mulliez had been preferred to Arnaud, son of Gerard, the president of the supervisory board. By taking the operational direction of the group, he confirmed his status as heir.
Equally significant, the appointment of the current CEO of Auchan France, Philippe Baruch, head of the 526 hypermarkets in the group, instead of Christophe Dubrulle.At 52 years, this formidable commercial, which entered in 1986 with Auchan as department manager in Annecy, becomes the boss of 80% of group activity, with both hands on the French hypermarkets but also Spanish, Russian or Chinese cash loans Guaranteed approval ". Two years ago, some would rather bet on Patrick Coignard in charge of Spanish hypermarkets. But the crisis has severely hit the country has finally topped the climb, while tightening performed strongly in France by Philippe Baruch hit the mark.At only 38 years, Vincent Mignot, operational boss of the northern region (the largest of the Hexagon), was chosen to replace him at the helm of France.
Result of the promotion of Philippe Baruch, the roles will be reversed with Arnaud Mulliez, chairman of the supervisory board of Auchan France.
Synergies between formats
On a more operational, the new organization of Auchan is accompanied by a strengthened approach for jobs. Each of them, hypermarkets, supermarkets, banks and Immochan Agreement (real estate) – will now be represented on the executive committee.Philippe Baruch, for hypermarkets, and Sando Philip, for supermarkets (Atac and Simply Market), there are therefore their entry, and Patrick Bodin, director of planning and management control.
This operational approach is the desire of the Auchan group to stick more to changes in activity and improve synergies between the different store formats. A similar approach has been adopted by Carrefour in January when its new CEO, Lars Olofsson, has set up a double flight. On the one hand, the strategy, through its Executive Directorate is directly linked and overseeing the global operations of the distributor.On the other hand, its implementation, with an executive committee comprising employers expanded functional (marketing, legal, communications …) and operating with the presence of different business units (hypermarkets, supermarkets, hard discount and close).
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