Кто-то тут на Home Depot жаловался

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/business/08home.htmll?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin February 8, 2007 Home Depot Gets a Fresh Coat of Less-Glossy Paint By MICHAEL BARBARO For six years, it was a perk that Home Depot’s chief executive, Robert L. Nardelli, could not do without: a catered lunch for his top deputies, served daily on the 22nd floor of the company’s headquarters in Atlanta. But several days into his tenure as Mr. Nardelli’s successor, Frank Blake quietly abolished the free meal, telling senior executives to take the elevator down to the first floor and, on their own dime, eat with the company’s rank and file in the cafeteria, according to an employee. It is the kind of symbolic gesture that has come to define Mr. Blake’s short time as head of the nation’s largest home improvement retailer, as he tries to distance himself from the tumultuous reign of Mr. Nardelli, who was ousted several weeks ago over his sky-high pay package and authoritarian style. Mr. Blake’s message, however, could not be any less subtle: the era of the imperial chief executive at Home Depot is over. To underscore the point, Mr. Blake has distributed an old company icon, called the Inverted Pyramid, that lays out the retailer’s hierarchy, with customers and employees above the chief executive on the bottom. The image, which fell out of favor under Mr. Nardelli, has begun popping up in store break rooms and office cubicles across the company. “It’s not about me,” Mr. Blake has told investors and analysts in introductory meetings, according to people who have attended the sessions. But for all his humility, Mr. Blake, 57, is making his presence known in a hurry. In under 40 days, he has sharply cut his own pay, put an activist investor on the board, nudged out four former General Electric executives recruited by Mr. Nardelli and has left hints that he could eventually sell off the $12 billion wholesale supply business that he helped build, according to people briefed on the matter. The common theme? Returning Home Depot to its humble retail roots and erasing the widespread perception that it has lost its focus on selling hammers, light bulbs and paint brushes. These are unexpected developments from a chief executive many analysts saw as Nardelli Lite. After all, Mr. Blake followed Mr. Nardelli from General Electric to Home Depot. But the similarities end there. Mr. Nardelli, a bullish, impeccably dressed former football player, spent nearly his entire career climbing the corporate ladder at G.E. Mr. Blake, by contrast, has the skill of a diplomat, having served as deputy secretary for the United States Department of Energy and general counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency. A soft-spoken, slight man who carries a beat-up leather briefcase, he appears to be emerging from Mr. Nardelli’s shadow, as a disciple who rejects the style of his former boss. There is a lot riding on Mr. Blake’s ability to correct Home Depot’s course. The company booked revenue of $90 billion last year, but sales at stores open at least a year have fallen well behind that of its rival, Lowe’s, as Mr. Nardelli cut employee hours and alienated the older, experienced workers who gave the chain its reputation for helpful, expert staff members. And analysts worry that its fast-growing supply business, focused on professional builders, rather than do-it-yourself shoppers, has siphoned resources and attention from its far bigger retail division. Both issues have weighed on the stock price, which has remained stagnant for the last four years. Mr. Blake has discussed with his colleagues whether he should consider selling off the wholesale supply business, Mr. Nardelli’s pet project, according to a person outside the company briefed on the matter. And he subtly hinted at that prospect in meetings with some investors when he asked them their opinion of the supply business and its value, according to people familiar with the sessions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk publicly. Mr. Blake declined to be interviewed. But people who have met with him since he became chief executive, or have been briefed on these meetings, said he planned to improve the retail business by single-mindedly focusing on employee morale and customer service in the chain’s 2,000 stores. No wonder, perhaps, that Mr. Blake called both of Home Depot’s founders, Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus, during his first day on the job, and has asked each to be available as informal advisers, according to people briefed on the matter. Both Mr. Blank and Mr. Marcus, revered within the company, were obsessed with the store experience. To cheer up store employees, who watched their hours become squeezed under Mr. Nardelli, Mr. Blake has distributed $3,000 to each store, called the “fun fund,” and ordered employees to spend it within a year at their own discretion, on, for example, a holiday party or spontaneous outing. He has also worked to change the tone of communications from Home Depot’s headquarters. Under Mr. Nardelli, the Store Support Center, as it is called, often served as the bearer of bad news — of sales goals missed and complicated new programs to put in place. Mr. Blake has told analysts he wants to return the office to its supporting role in the business, rather than a main office relentlessly barking orders to stores. Mr. Blake’s starkest break with Mr. Nardelli appears to have emerged over Home Depot’s wholesale supply business. Mr. Nardelli, arguing that the consumer home improvement market was becoming saturated, spent $7 billion to buy dozens of companies that catered to professional contractors. He even broke out the new division’s sales each quarter, granting it a stand-alone status within the company. But profit margins in the wholesale business are much lower than those in retail and the cost savings promised by the new business, which was supposed to fit hand in glove with the stores, have not materialized as quickly as investors had hoped. So Mr. Blake has started to de-emphasize the business, describing it as one component of the bigger retail mission of the company. He has told analysts that the supply business “exists to support retail,” according to people who have participated in the talks. “We are one company,” he has said. This simpler approach, whether it involves keeping or eventually selling the supply business, has won plaudits on Wall Street, where analysts said that the company’s stock price would rise or fall based on the performance of Home Depot’s stores. “If they don’t fix the retail business, the supply side is too small to make a difference in the turnaround of Home Depot,” said Mark J. Rowen, an analyst at the Prudential Equity Group. Another crowd pleaser has been Mr. Blake’s decision to take a pay cut, at least compared with Mr. Nardelli’s compensation. In 2007, he is expected to be paid $8.9 million, far less than the $39.7 million Home Depot paid his predecessor. According to people briefed on the matter, Mr. Blake sought the lower pay, which is in line with the compensation of Lowe’s chief executive. Changes to the board’s bylaws, also sought by Mr. Blake, will make it harder than ever for his pay to rise, since it requires more votes. It was yet another early symbolic gesture, one that analysts said revealed Mr. Blake’s ability to take the temperature of Wall Street and his employees. “Our first impression of Mr. Blake,” Mr. Rowen said, “is that he is politically astute, which is something the Home Depot board desired after Mr. Nardelli.” Andrew Ross Sorkin contributed reporting.