Crisis takes toll on CEOs

Chief executives and other top officers of listed and unlisted companies in the region are under tremendous pressure for the first time in many years as shareholders, owners and other stakeholders make their discontent evident over declining financial performance. As companies across the world and the region witness dismal financial results, analysts believe that more CEOs might lose their jobs – voluntarily or involuntarily – before things stabilise at the top. "The current market provides a very good test for CEOs in terms of their ability to adapt to new challenges and difficult market conditions," Siobhan O'Reilly, Recruitment Manager, BAC Middle East, told Emirates Business . "A number of CEOs and general managers have been made redundant [for lack of organisational performance] recently and we are witnessing some top executive vacancies," said Panos Manolopoulos, Managing Partner Middle East at Stanton Chase. "The CEO is an integral part of any organisation and has to be immediately replaced if the need arises," he added. "The CEO is responsible for any company's performance," said Ian Guilianotti, Associate Director, HRM Consulting, at Nadia Recruitment. "They [shareholders and owners] are going to do something about it if they are not happy about the company's performance," he said. Looking at the number of high-profile departures recently, it would seem that an increasing number of shareholders/owners in the UAE are unhappy. Stakeholder aspiration is now top of the agenda for high-ranking executives and anyone who is not able to match this in these trying times is a potential candidate for the pink slip. The role of the CEO, at the same time, is undergoing transformation as companies seek to stay above water as opposed to achieving breakneck growth that was the order of the day until recently. "This is what we call a shift from managers of upper line to managers of the bottom line," said Manolopoulos. "Until last year, in some cases, you just had to be a good salesperson to qualify for the CEO's position [of a non-government organisation]. Now, you also have to be a good administrator, with a good control on costs, and someone who can follow a guided approach," he said. "It has been said before – 2009 is not the year of the CEO; it is the year of the CFO," Manolopoulos said. Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the daily Emirates Business 24|7 newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here .