28 top executives, on CEO, general manager or chairman positions, have left the companies they ran since the start of this year.
Cumulated turnover of organisations that have changed their heads stands at 10.5bn euros, that is 8% of Romania's GDP, put at 125bn euros this year by the National Prognosis Commission.
Four of the executives that left controlled businesses worth 1bn euros or above and of above 4.5bn euros overall.
One of the most spectacular changes at a management level was the departure of Anca Ioan from the helm of the biggest domestic group, Tiriac Holding. To replace her, Ion Tiriac appointed an executive with experience in international markets hurt by the crisis, Petru Vaduva, 48.
Richard Moat, 54, CEO of Orange, the biggest mobile telephony player on the market, left Romania to take a position with T-Mobile in the UK, after a domestic term of almost four years.
Germany's Metro has recently announced the appointment of Dusan Wilms at the helm of Metro Cash & Carry, the biggest player in the domestic modern trade, after having announced, in March, Francois Olivier's term was extended by one year.
Changing the head of a company most often also means a change in the business strategy. There are, however, cases where management changes are not necessarily induced by the company, and a strategy change may not coincide with the CEO's vision.
Views diverge when it comes to the right timing of management changes during economic downturn periods, such as the current one, since management changes can destabilise companies, considering it takes between three to six months for an executive to become operational.
Most CEO changes of recent months have been registered in FMCG companies, where six top managers have left their companies. Salaries of top executives running businesses of above 50m euros easily go beyond 10,000-15,000 euros net, but bonuses and benefits often double compensation packages.
Sixteen of the departing executives were expats, but most of them were also replaced by expats.
"During the growth period of the past two years, shareholders have started giving more credit to Romanian managers, but during crisis periods they tend to go back to foreigners (...)," specifies Stelian Marian, managing director with Human Capital Solutions, a HR consultancy.
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