Question: What do Cott Corp and Chelsea Football Club (affectionately known by their fans as ‘The Blues’) have in common?
That’s a tough one, as you wouldn’t naturally think the world’s largest supplier of private-label soft drinks had many links to the world’s fifth richest football club. Based in Toronto, Cott manufactures beverages for retailers in the US, Canada, the UK and Mexico. Chelsea, on the other hand, is an English football club based in west London that received an injection of capital in 2003 when it was sold to Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch, billionaire owner.
So what do they both have in common? Well, one solution (as it’s possible there’s more than one) is the extraordinary level of shuffles dealt in the boardrooms of both businesses. Let’s just say, if you were to imagine Cott and Chelsea as children participating in a school sports day, it would be fascinating to see who would win the sack race!
Jerry Fowden, the newly appointed CEO of Cott Corporation, is the fifth CEO to be appointed within a span of less than five years. More disconcerting for fans of Chelsea, the club has had four managers in the space of 18 months, with Guus Hiddink, Russia’s football coach, taking the helm last month.
At a time of global economic fragility, it must be a major headache to constantly be ‘losing your heads’, particularly for Cott, which has posted weaker financials in 2008 and was told by Wal-Mart earlier this year that it would no longer be an exclusive soft drinks supplier to the retail giant.
In the next issue of Water Innovation magazine – out in a fortnight – John Sheppard, the new CEO of Icelandic Glacial and former president of Cott, reveals his thoughts on the boardroom shake-ups of his former employer. Watch out for that interview and email me any thoughts you have on the subject.
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