Just on the PM programme financial section - David Smith has left JLR and been replaced by one of the Tata family, Ravi tata. No reason given but he did not resign ....................
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Interesting.... nothing on t'interweb yet. 

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I'm sure Dave Smith was good at what he does, but my reservation I had about him was that he is an accountant. IMHO an accountant is a tail wagging the company dog. Far too many companies are being run by bean counters, including my own, which tend to ruin the final product with penny pinching. A Good CEO, should be able to turn a profit through it's product or service, anyone can make a profit by cutting costs out of a business.

Dave Smiths replacement is tempoary according to The Times, talk is of the Opel Europe GM coming on board. 2010MY Land Rover Freelander 2 HSE
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I think you'll find that the situation was likely to have occured as the chiefs at TATA central were stepping on his feet (not literally though) with regards to decision making. No point being a CEO if someone else is calling the shots.

Even on the office level now, some of the work done on site at Gaydon is now being moved to India. That's only going to happen more and more as it is the typical way for an Indian company to reduce its costs.

First class comment Gazzer, I have worked for companies run by Accountants and they are so far from commercial reality (from a business and product development view) it's unreal.

Accountants should be viewed and treated like typewriters - i.e having a typewriter doesn't make you a top selling author - the typewriter is just a black and white binary function which needs a ceative operator - enter the CEO. CEO's need to use all the tools in their business and Accountants are just one tool. Once Accountants get given the reins of a company, they cut out the value and quality and soul of the business - I am yet to be proved wrong over the long term. As you say, anyone can make savings and improve the short position, but at what REAL cost?!

JFI, I am a CEO of a medim sized company so I speak from the heart

Smiths replacement seems like a great choice. Plenty of experince with LR while both were with BMW and also experience with the PAG Group under Ford.

I'd be interested to know what bits of JLR are going over to India? Probably the IT bits? Bit of a hammer blow to Macclesfield y'day, with Corus closing their steel mill, only for TATA to be building 2 new mills in India. 2010MY Land Rover Freelander 2 HSE
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