HTC’s Chou Tells Workers ’Kill Bureaucracy,’ E-mail Shows

HTC Corp., facing a record drop in sales, needs to “kill bureaucracy” and improve communication after changing market conditions allowed competitors to gain share, Chief Executive Officer Peter Chou told employees.

“We have people in meeting and talking all the time but without decision, strategic direction or sense of urgency,” Chou wrote to HTC’s workers, Chairwoman Cher Wang and the board of directors in an e-mail obtained by Bloomberg News. “Bureaucracy crept in without clear ownership. We agreed to do something but we either didn’t do it or executed it loosely.”