In Monday morning news that had me scratching my groggy head, BusinessWeek reports that fired Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) CEO -- and General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) alum -- Bob Nardelli is in charge of fixing Chrysler. If someone can explain to me why this makes sense, I would like to hear it.
That's because during his tenure as CEO, Nardelli systematically destroyed Home Depot's greatest strengths -- its expert sales staff and ability to supply products that customers needed in the stores. Moreover, he has no experience in the automobile industry, which depends heavily for its success on developing cars that consumers want to buy at a price they can afford.
Nardelli is not the first manager from outside the auto industry to be parachuted in to save the day. Consider Alan Mullaly, who was passed over for CEO of Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) for another GE alum, James McNerney. Mullaly took over at Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) in September 2006.
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