“Hamashbir Lazarchan must link up with an international chain and bring in foreign know-how,” Rami Shavit told “Globes” in his first interview since the court approved his consortium’s acquisition of the department store chain last week.
Shavit added that he planned to deal with each store individually, to decide its future and its employees’ pay. He said he would award employees “a premium for overtime, odd hours, and success. It is a mistake to measure success as the success of the chain as a whole.
“The entire chain cannot play the same tune. Each worker must be individually checked at the department and sales level. That is the great change I’m making. The chain might be losing money, but if a particular branch is making a profit, its employees will earn more. If a branch is losing money, it will be closed.”
Shavit continued, “It’s superfluous to mention that there are branches that we already know have no chance of contributing. They are hemorrhaging, bleeding the entire chain, and we will close them.”
As for the lay-offs already carried out at Hamashbir, Shavit said a study had found they were marginal and had not lead to the necessary streamlining.
At the recommendation of Judge Uri Goren, Shavit and Solly Sakal, who bid against Shavit for Hamashbir, negotiated a possible joint bid. However, Shavit said a partnership was illogical, since Sakal was basically a competitor of Hamashbir.
Shavit reiterated that he had offered the post of Hamashbir CEO to an outsider, but had not yet received an answer. He said Hamashbir’s current CEO Amikam Ben-Zvi, one of the chain’s trustees during the stay of proceedings, had asked to continue at his post.
“I told him: ‘Frankly, you’re identified with Hamashbir’s failure. I must bring in a new man. You can be a director or consultant for up to a year.’ That hindered negotiations a little, because he naturally preferred a buyer who would keep him on, but he understood,” said Shavit.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on February 23, 2003