In Germany he'll need to get buy-in from the board, which will include employee representatives (I've not looked at Bayer specifically, but either directly, or through a supervisory board that has real power), while also convincing shareholders that he's going to either goose the share price short-term, or actually add value long-term. While the hope for the German corporate model is that it delivers on long-term value for both employees & shareholders, it has not held up to much long term scrutiny unfortunately (which isn't to say it is bad, just that it hasn't necessarily shown itself to be better than most other corporate governance models). What it has done is make for innovative CEOs, and not necessarily in the US model, as they try and negotiate the pitfalls.
In Germany he'll need to get buy-in from the board, which will include employee representatives (I've not looked at Bayer specifically, but either directly, or through a supervisory board that has real power), while also convincing shareholders that he's going to either goose the share price short-term, or actually add value long-term. While the hope for the German corporate model is that it delivers on long-term value for both employees & shareholders, it has not held up to much long term scrutiny unfortunately (which isn't to say it is bad, just that it hasn't necessarily shown itself to be better than most other corporate governance models). What it has done is make for innovative CEOs, and not necessarily in the US model, as they try and negotiate the pitfalls.