Sir Peter Davis has been busy from day one. E-commerce is now at the heart of the revival operation. Belinda Gannaway assesses the shake up so far F or Kevin McCarten ­ the man often blamed for Sainsbury's catastrophic Value to Shout About ­ last week's management shakeup came as a nasty shock. And at 11pm on March 9 ­ the day before the news was officially released to the City ­ McCarten sent an emotional e-mail to his colleagues. "As you can imagine the news came as a surprise to me (and David) and it serves no purpose to try to explain the rationale," he wrote. "You will have to draw your own conclusions as you compare and contrast the principles I was trying to expound as we met together over the past few weeks, with the new leadership's views over the coming weeks. "The past few years have undoubtedly knocked the stuffing out of many of you as we have sought to fight our way out of the problems we are in. As you look to the future, have confidence in yourselves as individuals but also try to pick up new ideas. Do not allow others to make you feel small in the vain attempt to make themselves seem big." After less than two weeks in the job, chief executive Sir Peter Davis has made his mark in a big way. Not only has he ended the Sainsbury careers of two top managers ­ stores director McCarten and deputy chief executive David Bremner ­ he has also taken decisive steps to reinvigorate its e-commerce strategy. Angela Megson, formerly director of Sainsbury's Local, becomes the new director of e-commerce for supermarkets. She will report directly to Sir Peter. Patrick McHugh, a former engineer and management consultant with AT Kearney, is a new face to Sainsbury. He joins as director of group e-commerce strategy. Sir Peter said: "These are significant appointments and a clear signal about the development of the business. We intend that e-commerce will form an integral part of our offer to customers and we will also be looking at innovative ways of using all aspects of our business to create value." And he has made it clear that Sainsbury must opt for a dual approach of using instore picking and fulfilment centres ­ even if temporarily ­ if it is to catch up with runaway leaders Tesco. Other parts of Sir Peter's strategy will remain under wraps until Sainsbury reports its results at the end of May. But but whatever is unveiled, he clearly believes it's crucial to put traditional values back in the heart of the business. "We're talking about concentrating again on what Sainsbury is good at. Fresh foods, in store standards and retail value." Those at Sainsbury who remember Sir Peter from his former days say this is a different man. A tougher, fiercer candidate altogether. And the City clearly likes what he has been done so far, with Sainsbury's shares jumping 2234p to 26134p on news of the management shakeup. David Stoddart, an analyst with Investec Henderson Crothswaite, believes Sir Peter is heading in the right direction. "There are clearly deep roop rooted cultural problems at Sainsbury. [Outgoing chief executive] Dino Adriano and his team had started trying to change but to change more quickly you need to be very radical, you almost need a sense of crisis. "Sir Peter is trying to put a noticeable change of pace into the organisation. "The clear message is: We aren't what we used to be'." But, as Stoddart points out, getting rid of senior managers is not always a win, win situation: "You can lose a lot of accumulated knowledge and learning that way." As far as further management changes go, Sir Peter is not predicting anything dramatic: "I don't think you'll see a lot more change. I'm impressed by many of the people I've seen here." One individual to pass inspection is Robin Whitbread with whom Sir Peter worked during his earlier stint at Sainsbury. Whitbread, on the group board for 10 years, has been promoted to retail director for supermarkets. This is not an equivalent role to Bremner's though over time Sir Peter said someone else would be expected to "take some of the weight from me in running the supermarket business if only as part of succession planning in due course". So were Bremner and McCarten surprised at being sacked? Sir Peter insists there had been frank discussions between Bremner and himself covering the overlap of their roles since before his appointment was announced in January. Sir Peter said there was not room for the two of them overseeing the supermarket chain. "This does not mean that I have found any problems or a black hole," he stressed. "This is simply about management ­ and a recognition of the fact that we have got a lot to do." After McCarten, there will be no new group marketing director. The divisional marketing directors ­ including Sara Weller at the supermarket business ­ will report directly to Sir Peter. No doubt like McCarten last week these marketers will find themselves working late into the night in the weeks to come ­ albeit for very different reasons. {{NEWS }}

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