Strategy Review

Roy Reynolds was recruited from Shell to succeed Eccles in June 1993, joining the corporation in October and taking over as chief executive in May 1994. He was to hold the post for five and a half years until the end of 1999. He had an extended opportunity to get to know CDC before Eccles’ retirement by visiting the regions and major projects and, most importantly, by establishing a rapport with ODA. At the beginning of 1994 it was agreed that it would be appropriate for him to initiate a strategic review of CDC, with support from the McKinsey consultancy. In some ways the exercise was analogous to the review of CDC undertaken by Eccles in 1982, before he became chief executive, but with interesting differences. In 1982 Eccles had had to wait over two years before gaining responsibility for re-orienting CDC; this time Reynolds was immediately committed to the implementation of the strategic review. In place of the sustained narrative and analysis of the 1982 document, this time there was no formal report. In its place was a series of team presentations to the Board with overhead slides: an Interim Performance Review was presented in March; Developing a Strategic Framework followed in May together with an Interim Report; and in July came Implementing the Strategy – Key Areas For Action. The priorities that were endorsed as a result of this process then formed the basis of corporate plans in the following years, including a series of modifications to the corporate structure.