Thursday, December 16, 2010

Johnson & Johnson: Recalls and Succession


I previously wrote Johnson and Johnson recent recall in “Johnson and Johnson: Recalls Do Not Help”. In that article, I expressed the belief that J.&J., as a whole, just didn’t get the impact of the recalls on their brand. It seems J.&J. finally got the point. Yesterday, NY times Natasha Singer reported in “J.&J. Puts 2 in Line to Succeed Chief Executive” that J.&J. had made moves to promote two executives, one of whom will succeed the current CEO William C. Weldon. While “a company spokeswoman said in an email that Mr. Weldon ‘has no plans to retire'”, according to the article, Weldon had taken criticism for his handling of the recalls that plagued the company.

The two promote executives are:

Ms. Sheri S. McCoy. She will be vice chairwoman of the executive committee. New responsibilities are “to supervise the pharmaceuticals group; the consumer group, which includes the McNeil unit; and corporate affairs.”  Thus, McCoy will be handling the source of the recalls, the McNeil Unit.

Mr. Alex Gorsky. He will be vice chairman of the executive committee. New responsibilities will be “to oversee the medical device group, the global supply chain and government affairs.”

Big congratulations to the new junior partners. The article gives a brief history of the two’s history in the company and they should be proud of themselves. As for Weldon, who doesn’t plan to retire, he doesn’t have to retire to be replaced. With these two promotions, the company has rewarded good work and made it publicly clear that they have handled the recall by strategically placing people in positions to take over if Weldon becomes useless

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