"In times of constant mergers and acquisitions in the fragrance industry, we firmly believe that our position as a small, independent and 100% family owned fragrance house enables us to better fulfill our customers' demands, as compared to other houses," said Ferdinand Storp, general manager, Drom. "We are always eager to use our freedom from Wall Street and any other shareholders to become even better, for instance by constantly improving our reaction time and customer service. It is our goal to be the fastest, most agile and most customer-minded company in the industry. In times when other houses add management layers to their structure, we are eliminating them and streamlining our operations."
According to the company, the reorganization of its management structure in the U.S. allows for ultimate flexibility. The new structure puts more responsibility on the individual department heads, who are also linked directly to the global headquarters in Germany. "This reduces our decision-making time drastically, improves the global thinking and enables us to best utilize our creative resources all around the world," said Storp.
O'Shea started his career 20 years ago in Europe in the technical field of micro-encapsulation and relocated to New York City in 1997 as part of the new management team for Retail Communications Corp., where he successfully aided in the incorporation of RCC into the Arcade group. Before joining Drom, O'Shea also held a sales management position at CPL. He has been with Drom for more than six years and as vice president of personal care and hair care has been responsible for the successful growth of this division.
Stapf, a German native, has been leading Drom's local marketing teams both in New York as well as in Towaco, NJ, and supervised the global team that developed Drom's brand new Web site. Robert has been with the company for more than seven years and held several marketing positions in both Europe and the U.S.
"This new hierarchy is the most effective way to run a company," said Storp. "Supported by our state-of- the-art modern communication technology, which includes a sophisticated mobile video conferencing system, the decision-making process can be reduced to a matter of minutes."
"The new Drom does not have more than three management layers, from the lab assistants to the owners," said O'Shea. "At Drom, we consider our customers as partners. With this new and ultra-flat hierarchy, we can now offer all of our customers a true partnership."
