There were more changes at the top for Compaq Computer Corp on Friday, as its reorganization strategy hit its under-performing European operation. Three newly-formed business units each received a new head for the EMEA region, as part of a company-wide restructuring designed to cut global operating costs by up to $2bn (CI No 3,684). The company also announced it will start selling over the web in Europe this September.
In an interview with Reuters, Werner Keopf, recently-appointed general manager for the EMEA region, said that Compaq will move away from using the net only as a sales-support information tool, and will set up private web pages to sell directly to big accounts. This facility is already available in the US, but Compaq hopes its European rollout will drive sales in a region that has recently not performed as well as the company would have liked. Whether this tentative step into the internet will be enough to impress analysts that have recently criticized Compaq’s slow move online remains to be seen, but would appear unlikely.
There were few big shocks in the new executive lineup. The Enterprise Solutions and Services division will be headed up by Gerard van de Aast, the Personal Computer Product & E-Commerce group by Kasper Rorsted, and the Consumer group will be led by Toon Bouten. All three men are to take the title of EMEA VP and will report to Keopf, as well as to the heads of their respective business units.
