Philips is in consultation with the works council of the R&D department, the review of the reorganization by the Enterprise Chamber has therefore been suspended. That says CEO Roy Jakobs of Philips. According to Jakobs, the reorganization is an important step and is painful for the affected employees, but it will not be able to stop the changing business model.
‘We are an innovation company’, says Jakobs, and that is precisely why this reorganization is necessary – to push the innovative power ‘forward’, ‘closer to customers and in the business’. Jakobs calls it ‘an important step that we must take for the future of Philips’ and that is painful for the affected employees. ‘Especially in Corporate Research, which is a bit further away from the market and the customers.’
This department has, according to Jakobs, ‘really good work’ ‘in the past in another business model that we had’. At the same time, according to Jakobs, it ‘will not be able to hold back the changing model’, ‘because that is the way customers expect us to develop for their innovations’.
‘Reorganization is painful for affected employees’
Business-driven innovation
Jakobs points to successful innovations in diagnostic imaging or image-guided therapy that have also been developed mainly from the business side. ‘Lately we have seen great new products coming out of the business. Of course with the help of technology that has also been developed in the Corporate Resource Center, but not only’. According to Jakobs, innovation is increasingly a combination of hardware, software and services. He points out that the Natlab has always been very focused on hardware development.
Philips was the big winner in the AEX index on the Damrak on Monday with a price gain of almost 11 percent. The healthcare technology group saw turnover rise last quarter, but suffered a loss of millions. That was because the company set aside 575 million euros for a possible claim in the United States in connection with the recall of sleep apnea devices. The defective devices, where the insulation foam could crumble, have kept Philips in the grip for years and the company has already released around a billion euros for the recall itself.
