Esther Berrozpe, 43 years old, Spanish-Basque, married with one child, president of Whirlpool Emea since 2013, first woman in this position, was taken ill on Wednesday 7 while she was already hospitalized for health checks.
The news, already serious in itself due to the role played by Berrozpe, at the helm of the European area (East and West) of the multinational and due to the young age of Berrozpe herself, sent managers and employees into panic, because it arrives at a time which to define as critical for the group's activities in Europe is an understatement. The employees of the multinational, already tested by strong contrasts between managers, between the American and European top management, by the sales crisis in a market where competitors are growing, by the threat of the arrival of Midea's Chinese, are in great tension from different time.
The last of the causes of this heavy climate that reigns starting from Rho, the recently inaugurated European office, concerns the management of the Embraco affair, which does indeed depend on the Brazilian management but is 100 percent part of the group. And only the intervention of the Italian government and the minister Carlo Calenda in particular, obtained the direct intervention of the world president of Whirlpool, the Swiss-German Mark Bitzer – who, moreover, previously ignored the real gravity of the situation – and partially unblocked the economic impasse of the affair (redundancy fund, salaries and more).
But Berrozpe's illness – even in the absence of confirmations that will never come – has a long history behind it as we anticipated. After a dull, hard series of contrasts, a charismatic and rocky general manager of Whirlpool Italia, Lorenzo Paolini, has left (the rich margins that he had always put in the pockets of rapacious shareholders have decreased, not ceased, and today this is paid for). The annual report on the group's performance in Europe, which arrived on Wednesday, signals a strong counter-trend with heavy losses of historic shares. An example for all: the non-management of communication of the very heavy effects of the so-called murderous dishwashers of Hotpoint, in England and then, in London, of the tragedy of the tower set on fire due - according to the British press - to a fire in an Indesit fridge. And the consequent significant loss of shares of that 40% of the English market on which the multinational had always relied. And the fall of the Russian market, inherited from the acquisition of Indesit, but hit by sanctions and more….
But what agitates the entire group is the expectation of news as a denial or as a confirmation of the pressing aims of the Chinese Midea to take possession of the gigantic European branch of Whirlpool, which for the shareholders does not give away the previous profits. Waiting in vain. It will seem incredible, but a substantial part of the problems that are reflected in the company's sales and image depends – as is well known – on the crisis communication strategy. “It takes years – said Warren Buffett – to build a reputation and 5 minutes to destroy it”. And the critical issues that Whirlpool had to face were and are just too many. Esther Berrozpe's illness probably proves it.
Great Range Man, pure truth……….
But what happened to Range man? I wish he would answer all the stupid things he said…..
But do you inform yourself before speaking? Above all before denigrating and insulting an Indesit white-collar and managerial class which, despite being located only in Europe, closed all its balance sheets in surplus unlike a Whirlpool EMEA which on the contrary almost always closed them in negative and which was then always saved from bankruptcy thanks to contributions from the American side???? Indesit was founded by people with whom I had and still have the pleasure of working with sound principles attentive to business but also to the local area and above all to people. People who had and still have a very strong sense of belonging and respect for the company, a sense of belonging that Whirlpool does not even dream of at night despite the endless efforts made to involve them. I hope you at least have the common sense to correct your inappropriate and above all inaccurate comment!
I agree with what you say .. Indesit was a company where the owner and workers collaborated together for the common good and if the late Vittorio Merloni was alive and in excellent health he would never have allowed the sale of the Indesit brand, which the wretches did children
What a shame, you are just people from another world… Shame
Whirlpool first take Indesit had a disastrous balance sheet in 5 years -160 million euros !! Indesit in the same period + 60 million!! The truth is this an American organization in Europe has never worked !! It is a company doomed to the Chinese or to fail!
“Indesit, a company that has already gone bankrupt” –> When Indesit was sold, its accounts were in order
“The Indesit executives who have occupied positions of power have meant that with their incompetence our brand too has become a medium-low brand ” –> How many Indesit executives have taken a position in Whirlpool? ZERO or if different from ZERO, they managed to cut off his legs…. there is no one left
a destiny… almost fulfilled (quote)
Indesit, a company that has already gone bankrupt, saved by the wicked Wh shareholders who who knows what they had seen in this merger. Now we find ourselves paying the consequences of a merger that hasn't calculated the timing and consequences on a market that doesn't wait for you and is where everyone they are growing Whirlpool is giving way. The Indesit executives who have occupied positions of power have ensured that with their incompetence our brand too has become a medium-low brand and the process that has been triggered is about to become irreversible.
when you think of fighting the competition in terms of costs…
But where does the information you dispense come from?
“Indesit, a company that has already gone bankrupt” –> When Indesit was sold, its accounts were in order
“The Indesit executives who have occupied positions of power have meant that with their incompetence our brand too has become a medium-low brand ” –> How many Indesit executives have taken a position in Whirlpool? ZERO or if different from ZERO, they managed to cut off his legs…. there is no one left
But do you inform yourself before speaking? Above all before denigrating and insulting an Indesit white-collar and managerial class which, despite being located only in Europe, closed all its balance sheets in surplus unlike a Whirlpool EMEA which on the contrary almost always closed them in negative and which was then always saved from bankruptcy thanks to contributions from the American side???? Indesit was founded by people with whom I had and still have the pleasure of working with sound principles attentive to business but also to the local area and above all to people. People who had and still have a very strong sense of belonging and respect for the company, a sense of belonging that Whirlpool does not even dream of at night despite the endless efforts made to involve them. I hope you at least have the common sense to correct your inappropriate and above all inaccurate comment!
a mix of nonsense and truth like at the sports bar, which has nothing to do with Berrozpe's illness
What they write is all true after the acquisition things have only gotten worse I am a former Indesit employee and I assure you that Whirlpool is the worst company that can exist
But… Who knows why Indesit went bankrupt… And now it is also destroying Whirlpool… It is no coincidence… Goats…
The donkey who calls the goats ignorant then …
Inform yourself better ... Indesit has never gone bankrupt, it just had the misfortune of not having a generational change in the ownership.
With what courage do you allow yourself to make all these speculations?
No respect for a person's privacy, nor for Whirlpool employees.
Is it possible that you have nothing better to tell?
What are the sources of these imaginary nonsense?
Journalism is dead…now anyone can write anything that comes their way…how sorry you are!
God bless you president.