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CEOs struggle with what-to-bug, what-to-sell, and where-to-invest decisions.
IN THE GAME OF MONOPOLY, PLAYERS WHEEL and deal in an effort to accumulate the most lucrative properties and put their competitors out of business. So one might suspect that acquisitions, divestitures, investment decisions, and restructurings would be just a better researched roll-of-the-dice for CEOs.
Guess again.
Instead, those challenges-the focal points of much CEO activity today-caused many of them great anguish in the last year, but not only because those decisions impact shareholder value and their companies' long-term viability. Indeed, in its 26th annual survey of CEOs, executives told INDUSTRYWEEK that what makes those decisions so agonizing is the impact they have on employees and their families and the communities where they operate.
"The toughest issues I face clearly come in the area of human resources," says Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, CEO of Nestle SA, Vevey, Switzerland. "One sometimes has to close down factories. This is particularly hard in countries where we often have been present for over 100 years and where the Nestle factory is often the only industry."
Paul W. Chellgren, chairman and CEO, Ashland Inc., Ashland, Ky., agrees. "The toughest decision I had to make in the last year was the decision to pursue a joint venture with USX/Marathon" for refining and marketing. It was tough, he says, because of the "potential impact of the venture on the employees of our refining and marketing divisions and on the community where we live.
"Ashland was founded nearly 75 years ago . . . and our headquarters has always been located in the Ashland area,"...