Morrisons' new chief executive, Marc Bolland, was today starting his first week in charge of the grocer. Reporter Mark Casci spoke to industry experts and commentators on what will be the main issues for the new chief executive.

News of Marc Bolland's appointment in June put an end to months of industry speculation and rumour over the company's future.

Scores of company bosses from all over the world had been linked with the position, yet Morrisons stuck to their guns and refused to comment on the appointment until they unveiled Mr Bolland at the AGM.

The former Heineken boss takes over from outgoing chief executive Bob Stott who is to retire later this month. He is joining a company in flux after some of the most far-reaching changes in its 106-year history. Chairman Sir Ken Morrison has announced he will step down too in 2008.

The company is battling back from the turmoil created by its £3 billion acquisition of Safeway in 2004.

In the months that followed it released a string of profit warnings to shareholders and in March it announced the first annual loss in its history.

As it struggled with the conversion of the Safeway stores, the supermarket saw its market share stall while its rivals at Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's continue to make progress.

The next few years will see Morrisons enter a period of transition as it leaves behind the days of being a family-run business and becomes more of a market-controlled corporation.

Analyst Clive Black, of London-stockbrokers Shore Capital, said Mr Bolland had a variety of matters to address during his first few months in charge.

"The first thing we would advise him to do is to get to know the people and the business and not stick his head above the parapet for a while until he really knows what the issues are he is facing," he said.

"The company he is taking over is stabilising after a period of real turmoil. He will perhaps want to address the lack of clarity in manufacturing and how it contributes to the organisation.

"The smaller Safeway stores are a particular issue that may need a different format from the original way of doing things.

"The Morrisons brand has been very much demoted in the past two or three years, with many people now seeing it as a discount brand, synonymous with low quality. This needs to be repaired, not just through marketing but through development."

However Mr Black said Mr Bolland's background should serve him in good stead for the challenges ahead.

"His background has a lot of virtues. Heineken is a big, powerful and international brand so I would think his contribution to brand management would be first-class.

"He has experience of manufacturing and is used to operating in a highly competitive industry. He will also have a lot of exceptionally able people around him to help out."

Georgina Mitchell, of stockbrokers Redmayne-Bentley, which supplies shares information to the Telegraph & Argus, said: "Firstly he needs to look at the optimisation plan which has got to deliver in terms of cutting costs and growing margins.

"Hopefully the plan will go some way to stopping the string of profit warnings we saw last year."

Mr Bolland had been with Heineken for 20 years and held a range of responsibilities including brand strategy and marketing strategy.

He has moved from Amsterdam to Bradford to assume the new role and took up residency on Friday at the company's new HQ in Thornton.

He will be working alongside Mr Stott for the next few weeks as part of a hand-over period and is expected to take full control in September.

Rowan Bradford, of business psychology consultants Kaisen Consulting, said that Mr Bolland was likely to face more than just business issues in his new role.

"With any new appointment at that level you tend to see quite a lot of power-play and will have to quickly tap into the politics - something that may prove difficult.

"The business he is joining is a family-run company based in the north of England and he will have to get used to this culture.

"Another issue may be that Morrisons attempts to replicate the feel of a British market, an experience he may not have familiarity with."

A spokesman for Morrisons declined to comment on Mr Bolland's arrival, saying that they would rather wait until his "feet were under the table".

e-mail: mark.casci@bradford.newsquest.co.uk