International. AkzoNobel revealed that it intends to introduce an efficient management structure and a new operating model into its decorative paints business, in order to accelerate profitability in Europe and in high-growth markets.
According to the company, the planned changes represent the next critical phase in simplifying the organization and seek to make it more agile and competitive after the recent sale of the North American Decorative Paints business.
"We sold our activities in North America to focus on the key markets of Europe and the world's high-growth regions and this planned reorganization of our configuration management and operating model is an important step towards reducing complexity and making us stronger," explained Ruud Joosten, member of the Executive Committee of the company responsible for decorative paints.
The planned changes - which will take effect on 1 January 2014 - involve reducing the number of senior management teams and introducing a new top-level structure for decorative, divided into five regions instead of eight: Northern and Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Africa, India and Southeast Asia, Latin America, China and North Asia.
