...Chairman of the Executive Board Thony Ruys
Strategy
NEXT
LEVEL
"It was on 11 September 2001 that the Chairman of the
Supervisory Board congratulated me warmly on my forthcoming
appointment as Chairman of the Executive Board. All of a sudden
my secretary came in to say that the Twin Towers had collapsed.
At that point I knew that the world would never be the same again.
Nor was there anything left for us to celebrate."
Thony Ruys has been the Chairman of the Executive Board for over
a year now. He does not want to be the authoritarian strongman,
taking the company in tow. "That just makes for a lazy organisation.
People look to see which way you're heading and then just follow
submissively. What I want is for genuine leadership to penetrate
much more deeply into the organisation and, as a kind of conductor,
to try with my colleagues in the Executive Board to allow the
strength of the whole to come into its own."
The events of 11 September 2001 proved indeed to be just the
beginning of a period of major change. Much has also changed
within Heineken in a short period of time. The death of Alfred
Heineken, the change in composition of the Supervisory Board,
the retirement of CEO Karei Vuursteen and an Executive Board
that had totally changed its complexion in the space of two years.
"These changed circumstances provided a unique opportunity for
us to look at our strategy, with the continued commitment of the
Heineken family. After highly intensive internal discussions we
came to the conclusion that the company's strategy was sound
and did not require adjustment. Remember the words of Mrs de
Carvalho-Heineken: 'I see Heineken not as an inheritance, but as
a heritage. As a family, we share the ambitions and aspirations of
this business. We are part of its past, present and future.'"
The continuing existence of the independent brewing group was
therefore assured. The next question was whether the strategy
was adequate. Ruys: "We have been following our present strategy
for over ten years now and this was the time to hold it up to the
light. We concluded that our strategy still measured up and was
likely to continue to do so in the coming years. The implementation
of the strategy, however, needed an update. Heineken has more
than doubled in size over the past ten years. The internal manage
ment model had however remained the same and we concluded
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