Whereas the management staff of multinationals in Romania used to be dominated by expats in the early '90s, their share of the total has gone down. Furthermore, a growing number of expats is being replaced by Romanians, who in their turn are now being hunted for top management positions in international structures.
Marcel Cobuz, 35, will become the new CEO of Lafarge operations in Indonesia as of this week, where he will be leading a team of nearly 400 people. Cobuz is leaving for Indonesia after having been Lafarge Romania's chief financial officer for three years. At the same time he also served as financial vice-president for the Greek operations, a position he added to his CFO duties last year.
"Once a sufficiently solid background has been put in place, a so-called 'expatriatable' population is created. Those that performed very well in one of the operational units of the group go to others, which are in need of successful operational practices," Marcel Cobuz told ZIARUL FINANCIAR. The CEO position is the highest position that Lafarge has a sent a Romanian to fill abroad thus far. Cobuz will be replacing American Tom Ehrhart, who is leaving Indonesia for a similar position in Africa.
Cobuz will be the only Romanian inside Lafarge Indonesia, becoming part of a management team that includes two more expats: an Indian and a Malaysian.
The first Romanian managers were sent to Lafarge divisions around the world soon after the takeover of Romcim by this group in 1998. The first Romanian manager was sent abroad in 2000. "A number of 31 managers have been expatriated thus far, with 18 Romanian managers currently expatriated," says Gabriel Matauan, human resources manager of Lafarge Romania.
The Romanian branch of Coca-Cola HBC has thus far supplied 50 Romanian managers to the international group structures.
"Romania was faced with a s
