Michel Combes heads Alcatel-Lucent for a little over a year. After a year dedicated to the financial emergency and redefining strategic priorities, the recovery of the French supplier enters a second phase.
What are your priorities for 2014?
I'm trying to juggle three fights. The first is to make a future for Alcatel-Lucent, repositioning itself as a leader in the telecom industry with the Shift plan we announced it a year ago. The second is the future of networks and the transition to digital. Our director of strategy and innovation, Philippe Keryer, chairs the working group on the telecom sovereignty within the 34 industrial plans promoted by Arnaud Montebourg. We take our role as a leader of the French technology sector, and to ensure that future networks will write from Europe. The third fight, which I will be more emphasis in the coming weeks, this is the future of European telecoms. We can not be the forgotten continent of digital mutation. We are in danger. We must conduct a comprehensive aggiornamento our competition policy and review the rules for net-neutrality by pragmatism. I repeat for two years and I have a feeling of not being alone, other areas are affected. In this respect, the arrival of a new Commission is an opportunity to offer a piece of dream in the European project.
Where do you plan execution Shift?
He enters the second chapter, the most exciting. We will now focus on innovation, transformation and growth. We are working on improving the flow, but also through partnerships, technological breakthroughs in the "small cells" with Qualcomm, virtualization with Intel, or cybersecurity with Thales. There will be other partnerships. We also want to maintain more fluid and more entrepreneurial modes in AlcatelLucent. We are already able to attract talent from Cisco, Juniper or Ciena is new. We will also recruit people from adjacent areas, such as cloud. Finally, we seek growth by repositioning our offer around services, such as platforms, management of mobile customers (OSS).
You have about 400 million euros in sales to achieve as part of your three-year plan. Could you open your capital significantly or ally?
We fight. We got some positive results but the battle is not won. My operational battle has quadrupled the market capitalization . Our ownership has evolved, "hedge funds" have been replaced by institutional investors . Is a consolidation Western suppliers? I remind you that since 2006, OEMs are already consolidated. That said, industrial geography, boundaries between trades and technologies evolve quickly. We must be vigilant, understand the dynamics and stay agile.
How job cuts in France did they go over 850 to just under 650?
We benefited from the appeal to patriotism government, the investment recovery of some major European players, and reorganization to make Europe the rear base for Africa and the Middle East . In addition, we signed an agreement with two social partners. In total, our plan will locate in France 50% of European R & D: 4G and 5G, and cloud platforms, the "small cells," this is where it happens. Renowned mathematicians were recruited at Bell Labs Villarceaux. For the work they have done, I salute the courage of trade unions and employees.