GM May Restructure to End “Fiefdoms”

CEO Dan Akerson is preparing a plan to replace General Motors Co.'s regional leadership with global chiefs in an attempt to break down the company's entrenched fiefdoms, Bloomberg News reports.

The massive reorganization would install worldwide czars for such operations as marketing, purchasing and finance, according to the news service, which cites unidentified sources. They say GM also is upgrading its accounting system to support the centralized structure.

Bloomberg points out that some parts of the company, such as product development, have already been restructured into a global operation.

Akerson has complained about GM's sluggish decision-making and lack of accountability since taking over as chief executive two years ago. He is tackling a committee-driven bureaucracy that has defied the efforts of decade of GM CEOs, including Roger Smith, who referred in the 1980s to the company's "frozen middle."

Since emerging from bankruptcy just over three years ago, GM has a string of new approaches, each prompting major changes in the management ranks. In July 2009, CEO Fritz Henderson abolished the company's regional structures to give greater clout to leaders of global functions. When Ed Whitacre took the CEO job five months later, he immediately reversed that strategy by naming powerful chiefs for each region.