Many Challenges For Alcatel-Lucent's New Leaders

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) has found its new leaders: Philippe Camus of Lagardere SCA (and Evercore Partners) will be nonexecutive chairman, and former BT plc (BT) CEO Ben Verwaayen (pictured) will be CEO. 

In July, Alcatel-Lucent announced that CEO Patricia Russo and chairman Serge Tchuruk would be stepping down.

A veteran of Lucent and a native of the Netherlands, Verwaayen joined a troubled BT in 2002 and is credited with turning it around through cost cuts and a push into broadband.

His challenges at telecom equipment vendor Alcatel-Lucent look to be even greater, though. Besides dealing with ferocious competition from the likes of China's Huawei, Verwaayen has to forge a unified culture at the U.S.-French company, formed when Alcatel bought Lucent in 2006 but still not successfully integrated either in terms of products or decision-making.

But Verwaayen, who stepped down from his job at BT in April, does bring strong credentials to the job, including a stint in the 1990s as chairman of the Unisource venture, in which several European telecoms (and eventually AT&T) joined forces. Culture clashes are doubtless not a new phenomenon for him.

What will he do to move Alcatel-Lucent forward, apart from trying to address the obvious need for consolidation and a common culture? The most interesting speculation comes from Om Malik at GigaOm, who thinks Verwaayen may buy a consulting company. Moving more deeply into service instead of competing on price could make good sense. - Kenneth Klee