Help wanted at Taiwan Tobacco

Get your CVs ready. The search is continuing for a CEO to head up Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (台灣菸酒公司), the company that sells the popular Taiwan Beer (台啤) and Long Life (長壽) brand of cigarettes.

But industry analysts say the state-run monopoly will have a tough time attracting a qualified manager, as the compensation to take the top job is too low.

"First-tier CEOs from private companies won't be interested at all," said a former high-ranking Taiwan Tobacco official, who worked for the company for 21 years.

"Only poor-performing managers will likely apply for the job, but their ability to run such a huge corporation is questionable."

The pay for the top spot at Taiwan Tobacco is just NT$175,000 per month, the former official said. But similar positions in the private sector offer at least NT$400,000 monthly.

Taiwan Tobacco, formerly known as the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Board (菸酒公賣局), was incorporated on July 1 and plans to complete its privatization process in three years.

Potential candidates will be in charge of company with NT$64 billion in revenue, NT$121 billion in assets and 7,800 employees.

"Challenges for the new CEO include creating new business ideas to restructure and consolidate its business operations and privatizing the corporation in order to stay competitive," Minister of Finance Lee Yung-san (李庸三) said Tuesday, while re-introducing a plan to find a CEO before November.

But the former Taiwan Tobacco official said the ministry should focus on finding candidates from private-sector companies such as Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), which may be interested in purchasing the corporation's shares and having a hand in its management.

Vice Minister of Finance Sam Wang (王得山), who now doubles as Taiwan Tobacco's acting chairman, said that wouldn't be easy, noting that less than 51 percent of the company's shares will likely be released in the next three years.

"[Taiwan Tobacco's] management will continue to be government-controlled after privatization," Wang said, saying the company's situation would be similar to Chunghwa Telecom Co's (中華電信), another quasi-privatized monopoly.

Over the past month, the vice finance minister has been working on a plan to turn Taiwan Tobacco's roughly 100 distribution units into convenience stores, so as to diversify its business.

Wang also plans to launch sales of mineral water and tobacco exports in order to increase profitability and cut production costs, and hopes the new chairman will implement his ideas.

Though it's too early to tell whether Uni-President will take a stake in Taiwan Tobacco, Jean-yves Yao (姚力仁), director of public affairs at Uni-President, said his company's liquor-related branches may be interested in a strategic alliance. "Their know-how and network in the liquor market certainly appeals to us," Yao said.

Wang said Taiwan Tobacco is studying possible strategic alliances with domestic retailers including Uni-President -- the nation's No. 1 retailer -- though it would be the new chairman's call.