Discount Retail Chain Lidl Germany (owned by Schwarz Group) is undertaking a reorganisation of its management structure in Germany, as it seeks to speed-up decision making and streamline operations, according to reports.
Newspaper Handelsblatt reported that Christian Härtnagel, head of Lidl Germany, will remain in his position, but has been assigned a deputy, Jan Bock, who previously held the role of head of purchasing at Lidl International.
Elsewhere, a former Lidl executive, Arnd Pickardt, who left the discounter for Tchibo in 2018, has been named a new member of Lidl's management board.
Regional Management Structure
In terms of regional management, instead of six managing directors covering Germany, Lidl will have two going forward, Andreas Liepka, who will be in charge of the north region, and Christian Steimle, who will be in charge of the south region, joining the group from Lidl Switzerland.
Three managers are stepping down from their roles, Dominika Kubisch, who held a senior purchasing role, Maximilian Wiedmann from the group's real estate arm and Benny Klein, a regional manager. According to the group, these will be assigned new roles within the company.
'Streamline Structures'
With these changes, Lidl is taking "consistent steps to shorten decision-making processes, streamline structures and processes and align the company as a whole for the future", Härtnagel was quoted by Handelsblatt as saying.
Härtnagel added that the German market is now largely "saturated", however a few geographical opportunities are still evident, and the Schwarz Group-owned discounter plans to open around ten to 15 new stores in Germany per year.
