Your Views: Did Theresa Gattung do a good job?

Telecom chief executive Theresa Gattung will leave New Zealand's largest listed company on June 30.Telecom reported a first half profit of $452 million but this result, which compared with analysts's forecasts of $427m, was overshadowed by news that Theresa Gattung would step down.

>> Read the story


This debate is now closed

Here is a selection of your views:
Terry Stevens
Her time at Telecom will necessarily be judged by one event. The market does not like surprises. Her failure to negotiate effectively with the government was a major problem but perhaps worse was the fact that she had not prepared her company or shareholders for such an occurrence. She could only say after the "surprise announcement" that she was forming a crisis committee to develop plans to address the problem. Not good enough...not even close. It would have been a reasonable action to sack her immediately.

John Barnes
Teressa Gattung did a very good job for the shareholders of Telecom which was her major responsibility. As for the wider community we were
treated as a source of revenue, the more the better, as does any company. As an example we later learned that marketing "confusion" was used to obscure the relevant issues. NZ is a village and it was always apparent to me that Telecom is not held in high regard. It appears now that even at its birth as a privately owned company, the taxpayers of NZ were robbed.
Nzbnw
Theresa Gattung has been in challenging role for the last 7 years and overall I believe she has had a very good crack at it. At the end of the day New Zealanders can say what they like about Telecom, but its a private entity and its primary goal as with any Business is to maximise its profit. The New Zealand Government sold Telecom, so New Zealand needs to get over it! It may have been your hard earned taxes but the government of the day (right or wrong) got what they perceived to be a fair price. It seems that Telecom as a corporation is suffering the effects of New Zealanders obsession with the Tall Poppy Syndrome. We should be proud of our largest publicly listed company and its many achievements; after all on a global scale Telecom is not that big. Telecom has come along way from being an SOE, and as a private company, has changed the way kiwis communicate, and also the way New Zealand does business with the world. It is unfortunate that our current left wing government has a desire to stick its noise where it is not welcome. Local Loop Unbundling is a gross invasion of property rights. Some say the local loop should be a national assets and perhaps they are right, but don't that that out on Telecom and its desire to maximise its profits and returns to shareholders. Take it out on the New Zealand Government. Good on you Theresa Gattung for standing up for what you believed in over the last 7 years. You will be missed

John
As a former employee of Telecom (broadband) at the sharp end in customer services I can only say good riddance. What made me decide to leave was constant internal PR spin which had no basis in reality and having to lie to customers on a daily basis as a matter of company policy. A lot of us there felt the same way which is why the attrition rate was so high and the average tenure length in broadband was about 6 months even though we were paid above market rates. However what is really amazing is that midlevel management at CSB do nothing to fix the current problems but try to introduce new systems and processes in an effort to show that they are tying to do something. As a former shareholder Im glad I got my profit before the price tanked. And what a winning strategy they have got now. Let's sell Yellow Pages which is generating profit and has intrinsic value while keeping AAPT which bleeding cashflow and hence has no value and then reinvest in it. This is not a company which is serious about sustainable long term growth if it chooses to engage this type of strategy. I wonder if Teresa has the balls to front-up to a shareholder meeting and tell them that she has no regrets about presiding over a decline in shareholder value from $10 to $5. I love to see how that flies with them.

Mary Kelly
I think Theresa did a very good job of running Telecom. For "Telecom" not for the consumers. Having said that I would say govt. has a lot to answer to over the privatisation in the first place.

Z Yuan
Clearly no. She was CEO of a listed company Telecom NZ and not a charitable organsiation. Under her, share value more than halved. If you value her "other" contributions, then she should not be CEO of the listed company. CEO of a listed company has first and foremost responsibility of increasing shareholders wealth, not diminishing it like she did. Yes, she should have gone 5 years earlier.

Catherine
Telecom is stuck where AT&T was 25 years ago - a bloated, overcharging behemoth, finally being broken by government regulation. With luck, we will soon get better service, better prices, fair competition.
Last year, I was paying $16 a month for my phone service in the USA. Free local calls included. And cheaper to call Christchurch from Cleveland than from Auckland! Enough said.

Peter Hatch
No, she didnt do a good job because she didnt look after Telecoms customers. It was as simple as that.

Noel
Put profit before human lives.Napier/Gisborne Rd. No cell phone coverage. Several fires lit recently. If fires get out of control, many lives at risk. Let us hope the next CEO takes this on board and provides coverage.Contacted Anne Tolley MP East Coast. Her reply read..Yes we do share your concerns and continue to remind Telecom the problem of cell phone coverage exists throughout the East Coast.

Gary
TG was not a good CEO. The company was a leading light for shareholders and she managed to take that leadership position and squander it. The company bought AAPT which was a costly mistake. They also missed the boat on the mobile business by wasting $200m on a CDMA mobile network- which will probably have to be replaced by next generation GSM. Telecom had it chances and made the wrong decisions many many times. The company has a long way to go to recover and they need more than an ex CFO to lead them. The next step - consolidate and hope their fixed mobile convergence advantage over Vodafone can position hem for future growth. The best in the Telecoms business work overseas at the moment. I am sure there will be a kiwi or two who would gladly come home to be CEO. I will drop my CV in the post tomorrow.

Sam Bearda
She has done a good job for herself and her bank balance. Not much for the company or its customers. Her arrogance that the ordinary man in the street can be ignored so completely is the arrogance of all big business.

John
If McDonalds, The Warehouse, or any other large company executed a plan of "keep out competition to keep our revenue" as i's only strategy it would fail. Did Telecom fail under Theresa - absolutely! The shareholders got Government intervention "game over". The customers got second rate services "game over". If like McDonalds, the warehouse or any other large company, Telecom had been innovative with new and pleasing services, Theresa would have been a hero. Theresa deserves the label "cost the company billions". The cool part however is if the new CEO creates new and pleasing services "Game On".

John
She did a fantastic job - of earning herself a lot of money before she quit. Roderick did an even better job - he got out at the right time. Did either of them do a good job for their customers? Get real.

Grant Weaver
It is a hard job to judge how someone has performed in a company that had a monopolistic position. Given that Telecom is fast losing that advantage I guess she has failed to protect her shareholders. However she has failed the NZ public for the last seven years, so she was never going to succeed.

Colin Moore
She took on Helen -- and lost. She actually should have been fired and it is sickening to see the media let her get away scot free and no doubt, with a big severance package, Fact is, she tried to out bluff the Govt and was totally stuffed by a resolute admin. The only people to see her for what she was were the shareholders. Lets see our business journos show a bit backbone. If Gattung had been skilful in her handling of the broadband issue there would have been no need for regulation. She underestimated her adversary -- our Helen.

Bruce Kenah
Telecom was run like a big bully to New Zealand. They had a monopoly that they used to rip off New Zealanders. Now that the ship is sinking Theresa has jumped off board as rats do! Telecom is about making profits for the share holders, not to provide a massive service to New Zealanders. Telecom could have jumped us ahead in technology but instead wanted to line their own pockets. It is so great that the goverment has given us a choice of line rental companies. I hope New Zealanders leave rip off Telecom stick it to them!

Allan
She did good for the company. Not for the customers.

Chris
Theresas governance has managed to anger Telecom's customer base, the government and Telecom's shareholders (in successive order of trickle-down reactions). Telecoms handling of its monopoly places NZ at the bottom of the OECDs internet telecom ranking, when its remoteness would dictate that it be the opposite. Telecoms policy of restricting usage instead of investing as its "broadband" (ha ha!) customer base grew means that this period will remain as a counter-example against privatisation, not far above UK rail.

Thilal Panditharatne
I totally agree with Grant. She has not only helped NZ rank at the bottom of OECD telecom standards, but in shareholder value too. Her results should be assessed in the backdrop of very dynamic strides that took place almost anywhere in the world during the last five years. In that sense, we sure have lost time than money.

Rakesh Krishnan
Heck, she used a monopoly over the countrys largest market to give shareholders big profits; does that need talent?

Ray
Theresa Guttung has done what she was paid to do but has she done it well? Im paying $27.00 a month when I should be paying no more than $10.00 & lucky to get 48kbs on a 56k modem. Theresa should have made Telecom a more essential proposition to the consumer. She has had to over hype Telecoms performance & product delivery on a network that just doesnt cut it when the rest of the world has the Infrastructure in place . New Zealand is only a small country but could be served better by its government & its over hyping telco. I have had fibre optics running past my home for over 10 years & I am still waiting for Telecom to put a broadband converter in the road side cabinet. I dont think Theresa was worth the 3 mill plus pay cheque a year. Supply a decent stable product with out any deceit & customers will come & stay. I look forward to a new CEO who will have a better social conscience. Some times the people of this country (average wage earners)must feel like NEO in the Matrix movie when he woke up realising he was being lied to & being used for his organic power , and Theresa Gutting had a big part to play in that.

David
Absolutely. Anybody passing comment here needs to reflect and understand the requirements of a CEO to deliver services to customers in accordance with what they are prepared to pay, at the same time as providing to investors a return on their investment. The seven years has included the roller coaster of the dot.com and teleco boom and near bust. Countries with higher speed broadband have it because there was no alternative, and all countries with untimed or fee local calls experienced delayed starts in the desire for broadband. More importantly Theresa has tried to think about the future as well as today.

Andrew
I see the tall poppy syndrome is alive and well in NZ following the news of Ms Gattungs resignation. I believe Telecom and NZ will now be worse off and probably some overseas company will benefit hugely from Ms Gattungs knowledge, enthusiasm and drive that kept Telecom at the top of the corporate ladder for many years. It is interesting to note, that possibly the start of Telecoms recent fall from grace came following Labours incessant desire to meddle and legislate in corporate affairs because it hates (private) monopolies! Of course New Zealanders applaud the dismantling of such privately run monopolies but then themselves are happy supporting state run monopolies. Strange psyche!

Kanny Young
Her job was to ensure the company made a good profit, to keep competition low and to satisfy share holders. Share has drop down to $4 from $9 when she started. Therefore she did not do a good job. Her job was not about keeping the Telecom customer happy(as we can see).

Sophia
Though the Telecom internet will be a prettier place, it will be a sad day for the makers of power suits and horror-frocks when Theresa steps down. Who is left to fill her shoes? Jenny Shipley has gone, so has Christine Rankin.... Helen Clark will be next so I am stumped.

Stuart
Gattung is best gone. There is now a window of hope for Telecom to at long last start moving forward and improve its customer relationships, which you can just tell by the 99% negative remarks on this site that they are at the very bottom of the scale. Its an organisation that should always been on the front foot, but instead its always operated on the back foot of progress while she has been at the helm.
I dont think Gattung ever had any talent to move Telecom forward.

Grant
Has she done a good job? Certainly not. Is she a puppet that has been told what to do & when by the Telecom board? Yes. Theresa Gattung will not be remembered for any significant changes that have improved broadband access in this country. We are still 22nd out of 30 for Broadband penetration in the OECD & we are also 22nd out of 30 for expenditure on Broadband/other investment in Telecommunications infrastructure in the OECD. It is little wonder why New Zealand is the laughing stock of the rest of world, with our seriously oversubscribed copper network, that cant handle the demand put upon it.
We were meant to have ADSL2+ technology in June of last year, which still hasnt happened, meanwhile a large number of other countries are moving onto fibre based networks. Instead, Telecom has committed $520 Million out of it's $1.2Billion Annual budget to investment in Australia, its obvious New Zealand investment means nothing to them. Telecom is an embarrassment to this country & as a result we suffer because of its inaction on infrastructure investment & their only real goal appears to be feeding their overseas shareholders more & more dollars, who have no vested interest in New Zealand.


Raphael
She has been out of her league from Day 1. I am amazed she hung on so long. The job of the CEO of a publically listed company is to increase shareholder wealth. The share price is half what it was on the day she took over. In the last year staff numbers have increased by 7% and sales revenue is up only 0.19% and the Net Profit is down by 7.14% - her performance, like the Telecom service is crap ! Lets hope under the new chair they appoint a CEO who can drive the business forward and accept responsibility rather than blame everyone else! The Telecom infrastructure is 3rd World and a real handbrake to the NZ economy.

Garry
No. A junior on say $30.000, could achieve a good profit, with the monopoly she had in most of her time with Telecom, and this junior, would not rush into investing in Australia, and loose many millions.
I also note today Telecom are spending up large again in Australia, to give their new customers a really true fast speed internet service.

Matthew Poole
No. Three or four years ago it could have been argued that she was doing a spectacular job. However, as it became more and more apparent that the government was growing tired of Telecoms behaviour, that was no longer the case. For most shareholders it is a shocking concept that a stocks value exists beyond the end of the next quarter, but a CEO must look further. Theresa failed to do that, and failed miserably. By directing the company in a manner that maximised short-term profit over long-term survival and competitive edge, she was derelict in her duty. That there are no lawsuits being directed at the Board, and at Theresa, for this dramatic failure to act in the long-term interests of shareholders, is very disappointing. It almost hands a free pass to other companies that may, in future, seek to act in the same way. She is better off gone, and its disgusting that she didnt fall on her sword the day that LLU was announced. She brought it on, and should have left when its reality became apparent.

Craig
If you look at what her job was, effectively to maximise returns to her shareholders, you could argue that she has been doing that for the last few years until the government stepped in. The bad reputation Telecom has is because of 2 reasons. The first is that for such a crucial piece of infrastructure the government should have held on to the telecom networks to enable investment and competition. Why would Telecom want to invest in Infrastructure when there is no competition therefore choice. When you are maximising returns why make less money. This reminds me of the govt selling of the rail nfrastructure. It was a hospital pass to privatisation with the sale going to Tranzrail with huge investment required in the rail network. Now it has been sold back to the govt. to sort out the mess they passed in first place. Can we not draw a parallel to Telecom? I guess the situation that Telecom have put themelves in today is because of lack of social responsibility and caring about their customers. This is obviously not part of the Telecom culture. If Telecom were then perhaps we would all be very happy with the level of service, and maybe they would not be so profitable. Has Theresa done a good job? I think she focused on one element being the return to shareholders. Has she set the company up to excel in the new telco enviroment? No, because customers do not hold the company in high regard. Good leaders have a mixture of attributes that are reflected in the business. Measured on this it does not seem to me she was a good leader. The fact my broadband speeds have slowed down, and like many others I await with baited breath for more choice in our telco providers. Telecom will always be around but will we get a replacement CEO that will be able to drive Telecom out of the hole they dug.

Vik
This was long overdue. I dont think she ever had the depth of experience to be in the position she somehow managed to get into as CEO of Telecom. When you have a weak (as in capability) CEO - you end up having a weaker management team which is what Telecom has ended with. Also for most of her tenure her mentor and guide Rod Deane pulled the strings - in the end both were out of depth. The master and pupil both ended as failures and have let the country down and sent us backwards even. Her lack of experience and fundamental capability was evident in making semi-public statements about using confusion as a marketing tool. Brand Telecom has ended in serious trouble during her tenure - leave aside the share market, the brand is now perceived as least trustworthy, inefficient, regressive and almost unethical. Not a situation any brand would like to be in. The recent issue of strong marketing campaigns for broadband without the infrastructure to support it - is one of the kindergarten fundamentals of business: have enough capacity before you generate demand. This again reflects the quality of people Telecom has as accumulated by Theresa.

Karyn
I think not. But, with increased competition Telecom will eventually be left out in the cold. They have charged excessive fees and provided shocking service to too many people. Personally the worst job I can think of now is Customer Service for Telecom!

KB
So what is the role of a CEO? Maximum value for the shareholder would appear to be the single significant measuring stick by which CEO performance is rewarded, and on that basis she has failed. It doesnt help the shareholder if you consistently cream off the profits for dividend payouts at the expense of investment in the network infrastructure that is the lifeblood of your company. Without happy customers there is no profit to fund any activities. Is Ms. Gattung to blame? No, she was just doing what was required of her, to bleed every last drop of value out of the dying dinosaur that Telecom represents. Lets hope the next CEO will be given the chance to evolve Telecom into a 21st century communications provider that this country desperately needs if it is to be able to compete in the global market.

B Clark
After losing 2 billion dollars, halving Telecoms share price, and forcing a government split up of the company - Gattung can happily go out to pasture with her horses. Anyone who thinks that marketing by confusion is "fine" is way too dumb to do anything smart. Telecoms next CEO must pull the plug on Oz and invest here in NZ - hullo? Can you hear me??

Dan R
How does a monopoly lose market share one asks.

Alan
Everyone has a Telecom horror story, except me. During the early November storm in Auckland my landline was destroyed by a falling tree. Telecom had it repaired two days later, which considering
the damage overall was IMHO an excellent effort. As to Theresa I think she has done very well. She has been severely hampered by the decisions
of her predessor (AAPT purchase) and his appointment as chair of the board was a very unsound choice. Rod is/was the real problem at Telecom.
Telecom has become a very convenient whipping boy for poor corporate performance. Try some of these for size: Transit NZ (esp if u live in Akld); Auckland City; Frontera; Feltex; Transpower; Toll
Interislander; Metrowater; Environment Canterbury; MAF quaranteen; CYPS; Corrections Service and every other telco in NZ.

Michael Taylor
Having come back from China, I was staggered at how poor and expensive broadband was in NZ. The speeds aren't really broadband speeds. Given broadband is the way of the future, Telecoms inept performance in delivering fast internet to the NZ public will hurt NZ in the long run. The Government has pandered to Telecoms wishes of blocking competition for too long and even though they have finally acted Telecoms attitude has not changed and it is still trying to drag its heals at every opportunity. Telecom has effectively forgotten who its customers are and in the long run will pay a price. Theresa Gattung as CEO, and having come from a so-aclled marketing background, must take a large chunk of the responsibility

CEDS
Perhaps symptomatic (and rather ironic) that on the morning of announcement of her resignation we received a call that went something like:
"Hi, its Sharon here from Telecom Business. Im just calling to touch base and check that everything is going well and there are no .beep...beep...beep...beep............."
The idea was good but the execution showed the infrastructure to be the sham that it is. But perhaps that's to be expected when you let "marketing" run a technology company.

Brian
Ding dong the witch is dead.

TC
No surprises at Theresas departure as the buck apparently stops at 2.9m a year yet she will still walk away with a queens ransom. Once more its easy to blame the obvious and not look back to the real culprits, Roderick Deane and his board who appointed, supported and left her in the role when she was clearly out of her depth. Note that Rod took off immediately the game (monopoly) was up and cried foul at intervention that his company had foolishly brought upon themselves via a culture of arrogance, deceit and just plain poor service delivery across their range of products to the detriment of the NZ economy. Theresa is a marketing person in a role that always required technical and engineering skills in order to drive the correct outcomes. Which brings us back to the Telecoms board appointment of Teresa and her inadequate performances over the years, its all too convenient to blame Teresa while the old boys who comprise the Telecom board ride the gravy train into retirement.

Saumil
I do not believe Gattung did a good job at all and am surprised that she remained in this role for so long. Telecoms strategy to make profits by creating confusion in the market and in peoples mind about Telecoms services has been a disaster. Also these misleading fast broadband advertisements by Xtra that promise to deliver more than what Telecom actually can, have been a disaster. The fact that she leaves so many internet users disgruntled is proof enough that her regime has been nothing but a failure.


Raj
Its good that she is gone, person in position of Chief of company is there to steer company in right direction while she protected it like a prized catch like world will never change. What you achieve is measured by end result not by keeping a company afloat making more money at the expense of public opinion. Companies spend millions worldwide just to get their image sorted in society by donating, sponsoring parks, sports and charity but Telecom chose to ignore all this except financial figures. Telecom may have made money but it made shareholders lose much more and the loss of goodwill is immeasurable which will only be realised in future.

Tom
The times have changed and Telecoms customers dont like being treated as idiots any more. Almost every interaction with this behemoth is a pain for the customer. It is about time that Telecom wakes up to the understanding that their wealth has been built upon us poor customers who have no choice. Start treating your customers as assets. If she did not see this sea change (opening up the NZ telecom market) coming then I don't know where she has been. It has happened in almost every developed country in the world.

Jason
When a CEO admits to shafting the country with confusion marketing, the shares fall as we all closely observed. A personal move, she should have got out long ago to save face - but then she wouldnt have pocketed as much as she has already. Ihug and others are also shafting us big time, especially after it was sold in the early days - it has gone down hill ever since it was brought by a corporation - now it is a du-opoly. The only reason these companies are allowed to shaft us still is because the government still argues over the price of someones underwear and the price of taxis that one of the grew in the beehive constantly blunders our tax dollars on - among other things! When she leaves, another CEO will step into her shoes and show us what true shafting is all about!

John Waterman
It is way past due. They say that a culture of obfuscation and dishonesty happens in a corporation from the top down. Perhaps a breath of fresh air may now waft through the halls of Telecom but I am not holding my breath.

Jerry Flay
As CEO of Telecom, the buck must stop with Theresa Gattung. Her company has failed to provide a network infrastructure, which would have enabled the NZ economy to take full advantage of the tecommunications revolution, and has damaged many businesses in so doing. Instead, Telecom have wasted millions on misleading advertising, buying Australian companies and propagating a culture of excuse led response to problems. She should be vilified for this. She has not at any time worked for Telecoms customers, but for her shareholders. Much like politicians, she is able to walk away unscathed when the problems reveal themselves.

D.Westphal
Has she done a good job? No! Not for 2+ million dollars !

Craig
Her performance has to be considered in the light of what the entity was that was being managed. It was and still is a complete Telco entity. Thats the way it was privatised by government at the time, essentially a monopoly in New Zealand. When the entity you have been given to manage is a monopoly, where competitors require access to your infrastructure at some point if they are to succeed, its not surprising from a commercial perspective you probably want to maintain that monopoly? That will involve employing much of your entitys time and resource keeping your competitors out as much you can. Also you may not necessarily require the investment in new technology that would probably have been required if the entity did not enjoy the benefits of a monopoly. Microsoft had this same experience a few years ago.I too would like to have a better technology infrastructure in place by now in this country, however I see the void there more a symptom of the initial privatisation. Government has made moves to address this now but probably 10 years overdue? Its not a fault of the management ability of this candidate however if suddenly the terms of reference for the commercial entity are changed overnight.When charged with managing the commercial entity that it has been in this candidates tenure and a key accountability to maximise return to shareholders, this candidate has done a reasonable job over the years.

Peter
Regardless who is head, Telecom will be the company known to have robbed NZ of the progress the country deserves, hiding behind series manipulative and delaying tactics to secure the salaries of their executives. With Theresa parting the company, she will leave a legacy of bad memories of a company that has seen restrictive policies such as:
1) Free internet providers i4free and Clears zfree eliminated within 2 years of operation.
2) A telecommunications company that once marketed 128k as a broadband standard because they could.
3) Convinced the Commerce Commission and the whole country that UBS (Bitstream) was a sustainable solution as an alternative to unbundling. UBS sank like a ship.
4) Introduced unlimited txt for $10 per month and then reducing this to a maximum of 500 texts.
Without surprise, the list goes on - Over-promise, under-deliver.

Salil Elias
Telecom needs a new direction and a new business philosophy, and the quality if its services have degraded over the years. Its funny and often distressing to note that what it touts in its onerous advertisements, does not match what it provides. Its monopoly over telecommunications has severely stunted telephony and internet in this country, and no where else in the world do we have to pay so much for so little, save for Burundi. So chopping the head and shaving off a few more layers at the top may help Telecom find itself! Good job Theresa, and goodbye.

Steve Limpus
Like most people I know, I am sick and tired of the inflated prices, crap service, and overhyped marketing dished up by the evil empire that has become Telecom; and all the while Telecoms shareholders (and we customers) have been handing our mate Theresa millions! Telecom was built with our hard earned taxes and we have all been shafted. I have no sympathy for the investors - they have only deemed to take action now their precious shares have halved - if they cared one iota for our Telecom they should have demanded change years ago. Farewell Ms. Gattung!

KC
Shes done a very very very poor job. She has to take responsibility for the poor performance of Telecom and the poor level of service Telecom provides NZers. Good riddance to her!

Nettie
No surprise that Teresa has finally given in, but she has to be praised for hanging on for so long. Theres a layer of management in Telecom that has progressively prevented her from seeing whats actually going on in her own company, let alone whats going on customer-wise. She couldnt see down the chain and Telecom employers below the brown layer couldnt get up to her. When firing on all cylinders she was charismatic and genuine but eventually they got her - they all being men, now that is no surprise. Telecom has lost its vision, its way and its future. Todays higher than forecast profits are largely made up of one-off payments. How is the company going to remain profitable when it's sold everythin