Seminar on socially responsible restructuring of enterprises
25 October 2002
The ILO Moscow Office and the Chamber of Commerce of the Chuvash Republic jointly organized a seminar on socially responsible restructuring of enterprises, which took place on October 25 2002 in Cheboksary.
The plans for such an event were discussed during the visit of the ILO Moscow delegation the Chuvash Republic in August 2002. During the mission the Ms. Barrett-Reid had meetings with entrepreneurs who had experience of successful restructuring of their enterprises – Mr. Liapunov, Director of ZEiM and its daughter companies and Ms. Larina, Deputy Director of Pike Cotton Factory. Chuvash Republic has a number of bigger enterprises with thousands of employees. When the soviet economy collapsed the period of transformation led these enterprises to a very difficult situation – originally designed to operate in a fully protected “planned economy”, they now need to be totally rebuilt in order to have the capacity to compete and survive in the new market environment.
There are many industrial enterprises with thousands of employees in the Chuvash Republic that are interested in the time-proved practices and new initiatives aimed at saving working places and avoiding worsening working conditions. Thus, on the request of the Chamber of Commerce of the Chuvash Republic the ILO Moscow Office organized a one-day workshop on socially responsible enterprise restructuring. The seminar gathered some 30 representatives of the biggest enterprises of the Republic, such as Ellara instrument-making company, chemical company Khimprom, textile factory Pike and others. The seminar had four themes for discussion:
1. Reasons that make restructuring process necessary
2. Formation of the future image of the organization
3. Definition of optimal structure outlines; reduction of social costs
4. Strategy and tactics of the changes, lessons and results.
The seminar was the first out of series of events planned in Cheboksary (as it was agreed with Mr. Fedorov, President of the Republic during the official mission of the ILO Moscow Office in August), the next seminar scheduled for the next year and will be devoted to gender issues.
The ILO has been actively involved in the process of enterprise renovation and restructuring in transitional economies since 1995. Already in 1998 the ILO started its collaboration with ZEiM enterprise in Cheboksary, Chuvash Republic (www.zeim.ru). ZEiM JSC (the abbreviation stands for Electronics and Mechanics Plant) is the chief company of the business system created as a result of reformation of the Cheboksary Production Association Prompribor – industrial instrument-making enterprise. In 1989 the management of the ZEiM plant started a project of socially responsible restructuring of their enterprise. Today it has the network of over 30 daughter companies, which altogether employ about 3 500 people. The produce is exported to the CIS states, countries of the Eastern Europe, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa. In 1997 and 1998 the company was awarded with the Diploma «The Best Russian Exporter».
The successful experience of ZEiM was later recommended by the ILO experts for the distribution in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Besides, the ILO Moscow Office also has plans to conduct a number of seminars in the CIS countries on socially responsible restructuring of enterprises with the involvement of ZEiM consultants.
The plans for such an event were discussed during the visit of the ILO Moscow delegation the Chuvash Republic in August 2002. During the mission the Ms. Barrett-Reid had meetings with entrepreneurs who had experience of successful restructuring of their enterprises – Mr. Liapunov, Director of ZEiM and its daughter companies and Ms. Larina, Deputy Director of Pike Cotton Factory. Chuvash Republic has a number of bigger enterprises with thousands of employees. When the soviet economy collapsed the period of transformation led these enterprises to a very difficult situation – originally designed to operate in a fully protected “planned economy”, they now need to be totally rebuilt in order to have the capacity to compete and survive in the new market environment.
1. Reasons that make restructuring process necessary
2. Formation of the future image of the organization
3. Definition of optimal structure outlines; reduction of social costs
4. Strategy and tactics of the changes, lessons and results.
The seminar was the first out of series of events planned in Cheboksary (as it was agreed with Mr. Fedorov, President of the Republic during the official mission of the ILO Moscow Office in August), the next seminar scheduled for the next year and will be devoted to gender issues.
The ILO has been actively involved in the process of enterprise renovation and restructuring in transitional economies since 1995. Already in 1998 the ILO started its collaboration with ZEiM enterprise in Cheboksary, Chuvash Republic (www.zeim.ru). ZEiM JSC (the abbreviation stands for Electronics and Mechanics Plant) is the chief company of the business system created as a result of reformation of the Cheboksary Production Association Prompribor – industrial instrument-making enterprise. In 1989 the management of the ZEiM plant started a project of socially responsible restructuring of their enterprise. Today it has the network of over 30 daughter companies, which altogether employ about 3 500 people. The produce is exported to the CIS states, countries of the Eastern Europe, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa. In 1997 and 1998 the company was awarded with the Diploma «The Best Russian Exporter».
The successful experience of ZEiM was later recommended by the ILO experts for the distribution in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Besides, the ILO Moscow Office also has plans to conduct a number of seminars in the CIS countries on socially responsible restructuring of enterprises with the involvement of ZEiM consultants.