Revolving door no guarantee for Motorola success

Motorola Inc. continues to face a strategic quandary on turning around its beleaguered mobile phone business while its top ranks spin through a revolving door.

Since CEO Ed Zander resigned and Greg Brown took over last year, several top executives have left the Schaumburg-based communications company. Reasons given were typically another job or the so-called "new opportunities."

Whether it's cleaning house for a new team, changing for the sake of change or sincere strategy seeking to boost the bottom line, such actions can create upheaval and distract from the mission, said Stephen Burnett, professor of strategic management at Northwestern University.

"A company needs to ask what good it does to change (executives) out again, since it just creates more turmoil," said Burnett.

Motorola said Monday that Chief Strategy and Technology Officer Rich Nottenburg has decided to leave Motorola to return to New York to be with his family and pursue new opportunities, said Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson.

Nottenburg will be replaced by Chief Financial Officer Paul Liska, who will do both jobs.

Also, Motorola Labs, will be led by Dan Moloney, effective immediately. Moloney will continue as president of Motorola's Home & Networks Mobility Business as well.

The announcement last week was quickly followed by the appointment of Dan Moloney, Motorola lab chief, as the replacement, taking on multiple roles.

"These changes support our continued efforts to more closely align technology development with our businesses," Erickson said.

The problem is, many of these top executives haven't been in their current spots very long to make much of a difference, long-term, to help Motorola create that next-big-hit phone, analysts said.

"It just keeps shooting itself in the foot," said Jeff Kagan, an independent telecom analyst in Atlanta, Ga., who met with Greg Brown a month ago to discuss the company's new direction.

"I believe Motorola is going to have several more painful quarters before there's a noticeable turnaround," Kagan said. "They have some very serious problems, but seem to be heading in the right direction."

Motorola announced earlier this year that it plans to spin off its legendary, but financially troubled, mobile phone business. It hasn't had a major hit since 2004 when it launched the ultra-thin Razr mobile phone. So when board raider and billionaire activist Carl Icahn put the squeeze on Motorola, the company relented.

Still, playing shuffleboard with top executives, year after year, isn't going to help the company stabilize long enough to create that next big hit, said Jane Zweig, CEO of The Shosteck Group, a Columbia, Md.,-based research firm that analyzes the wireless industry.

"Re-shuffling the same players around is not going to do it," Zweig said. "There's nothing new. There's no one new. That's the problem. There's no new procedures or products. There's low morale. And there's definitely no fresh blood in there."

Of course, replacing executives with outsiders may bring in fresh blood and new ideas for a while, but it doesn't guarantee success, said Burnett.

"People can change, but with the right leadership," Burnett said.