What for decades has been the world number one (in value) of household appliances sadly starts to decline in terms of turnover (-10,3 percent in 2022), profits, internationalization and also management. In the American night - and that is at 8 this morning for Italy - the Whirlpool has indeed announced not only the final balance of a tumultuous and negative year and that of a quarter in line with this trend but also the clamorous defenestration of the president and Coo (Chief Operating Officer) of the entire Corporation, Joseph T. Liotine, in office only since August 2021.
Whirlpool says goodbye to its number two, in 2023 "manager massacre"
Liotine was number two in the company, above him was only mega-president Marc Bitzer. But, on closer inspection, he wasn't the only one to be kicked out: Whirlpool massacred managers and sub-managers. Any examples? Coo's farewell had been preceded in great confidentiality by his removal on 9 January President of Whirlpool Latin America, Joao Carlos Costa Brega, appointed in 2012 and who had wanted and followed the onerous investment of 52 million dollars for a new factory in Argentina (in full chaos and ungovernable). And then immediately after, on January 13, here is the "resignation" of Vishal Bohola, president only from 2021 of Whirlpool India, a very important country for Whirlpool, as it is rapidly growing, full of worthy managers and above all of an increasingly internationalized middle class. And for that matter, even China had previously been left without a CEO since the top of Whirlpool Asia-China had been "resigned", with the closure of the mega factory.
Whirlpool accounts
La communication of the American multinational indicates full-year ongoing EBIT margin (non-GAAP) of 6,9% and recurring earnings (non-GAAP) per diluted share of $19,64 over a challenging (understatement) macro cycle. So fourth quarter GAAP net loss margin of 32,6% and current EBIT margin (non-GAAP) of 3,5%, impacted by a one-time supply chain disruption in North America. Which is the most important cause of the negative results also of the competitor, that Electrolux which would be leaving the American market, where it is implementing the expected plan layoff of 4 thousand employees due to the serious crisis in demand and the continuing chaos of logistics.
But what is happening to Whirlpool should teach us that cutting markets, closing factories and selling jewels (as has recently happened with the agreement with the Turkish Arcelik), does not serve to reduce losses. Instead, it should teach that in a no longer globalized world market, the gigantic and messy reshoring centrifuge makes owned factories and proximity to markets strategic. And after all Electrolux, as it would seem, is leaving the American market, but maintains and indeed strengthens its investments in European and Italian production sites in particular.
Europe: who is number one in home appliances?
La ongoing crisis in demand of household appliances and consumer electronics in the world will revolutionize shares, rankings and not just budgets in a shocking way.
Who is the number of home appliances today in Europe? The German giant resists BSH? And which European factories of Turkish Arçelik are duplicates? What will happen in Russia, where did Arçelik acquire the Whirlpool factory, because of the war? One thing seems certain: the Turkish company where it expands and buys companies and production sites almost never replaces existing managers. Because along with inflation, the collapse of demand and logistics, there is another heavy one crisis, that of managers. The good ones who know the European markets well, extremely diverse and very complicated, are very few and here the Italians excel. In general, the results of the "American" management of the European market by Whirlpool Corporation of its European subsidiary confirmed this: after decades of top-down strategies in America and after the continuous flight of experienced managers, the Benton Harbor stands leaving Europe and not only Europe.
