Power play: with a hydroelectric power shortage shaking mercosur neighbor Brazil, the CEO of Chilean power generator Gener finds himself lobbying the government to prevent a similar meltdown in Chile. (Strategies).

ANDRES GLUSKI LOOKS relaxed, dressed in a sports shirt and slacks behind the chief executive's desk at Gener, Chile's second-largest electricity generator and, since January the property of US-based AES. "I've decided to import dress-down Friday to Chile," says the Venezuela-born, US-educated economist.

He and the family are settling in well in their new adopted country, he says -- although the sluggish Chilean bureaucracy means that after four months one of the most important men in regional power generation still has no government identification number, and, hence, no bank account. "I've got a bunch of pay checks in the drawer which I can't deposit," he jokes.

While his personal affairs have yet to be sorted out, Gluski, 44, has wasted no time in putting Gener's house in order, stamping the distinctive AES management style on the company The firm's Chilean workforce has already been halved to around 250, through a voluntary retirement program and by outsourcing such functions as technology and legal support. "Those …