A Cuckoo in the SAP Nest

Professor Hasso Plattner could have had a satisfying last year as chairman of SAP's Supervisory Board. Punit Renjen, who was elected to the SAP Supervisory Board a year ago and was then designated as Plattner's successor, would have been an activist Chairman and would have broken the "never change a running system" rule and created a new SAP. This SAP would have focused first and foremost on its own customers. No stone would have been left unturned; it would have been a reorganization on an unprecedented scale.

But Punit Renjen decided to resign from the Supervisory Board because of the cliques and quagmire in and around SAP. Interpretations differ: Renjen's friends believe that he recognized the failure of his reform plans and did not want to become a pawn, while his enemies attest to the American top manager's continuing inability to understand the role of a German supervisory board chairman.

Punit Renjen's activist approach has already frightened and antagonized many SAP executives in his first year on the Supervisory Board. After the hectic years with Professor Hasso Plattner, many members of SAP's Supervisory Board and Executive Board have already prepared themselves for calmer times with a Supervisory Board that fulfills its supervisory duties but politely refrains from doling out unwanted advice.

In the end, the endangered and threatened SAP executives found an ally in Professor Hasso Plattner. Punit Renjen will leave the SAP Supervisory Board in May of this year and thus will not become Plattner's successor. His presumed successor is irrelevant. According to the Supervisory Board's schedule, he will be elected for only two years. He has been a member of the Supervisory Board for almost 20 years: he is familiar with all the cliques and their sensitivities. He will make sure he does not ruffle any feathers.

Professor Plattner is handing over a well-positioned and consolidated company to his designated successor, Pekka Ala-Pietilä. CEO Christian Klein is leading the company conscientiously and diligently. But the story continues: after rescuing SAP cliques from an uncertain fate, there is still a young cuckoo's egg on the future SAP Executive Board!

Punit Renjen was elected to the SAP Supervisory Board as Plattner's successor in 2023. Renjen conscientiously analyzed the company of which he was to become chairman and found many areas for improvement, including in the SAP Executive Board. It was Punit Renjen who initiated the reorganization at the turn of the year 2023/2024, which gave Thomas Saueressig a new, important position on the Executive Board and positioned Saueressig as a possible successor to Christian Klein.

In a surprise move, Muhammad Alam will succeed Thomas Saueressig on SAP's Executive Board effective April 1, 2024. Alam will join SAP in 2022 as President and Chief Product Officer for the Intelligent Spend and Business Network. Muhammad Alam is the successor to former SAP Supervisory Board member Punit Renjen.

Personnel decisions on the SAP Executive Board and Supervisory Board have always been the prerogative of Professor Hasso Plattner. Of course, he had many whisperers and advisors inside and outside SAP. In the end, however, it was almost always quite a personal, impulsive, and disruptive decision that also involved human disappointment.

Nonetheless, neither Hasso Plattner nor his friends could prevent the cuckoo's egg from being placed on the SAP Executive Board; Punit Renjen placed the American Muhammad Alam too skillfully and too cleverly: SAP Executive Board member Thomas Saueressig was "lured away" to a new, very unspecific Executive Board position that could quickly become either an exectutor’s seat, or the next step towards SAP CEO. But how long the cuckoo's egg Muhammad Alam will last without the protective hand of Punit Renjen is completely uncertain. Plattner will be missing in action, and the SAP board will be left without a protector.