Borland International Inc, the Scotts Valley, California software supplier, has attempted to pre-empt criticism of very poor year-end figures due this week by revealing the new strategy that necessitated a massive restructuring package. The company will focus on its core businesses of databases and languages, particularly in the client-server market. A series of new products are soon to be launched, including Paradox for Windows, as the company attempts to maintain its position as the foremost database supplier. The restructuring, which the company hopes will be fully completed within six months, will divide its European operations between Northern and Southern Europe, with headquarters in Amsterdam and Paris, respectively (CI No 2,401). Within Northern Europe, four offices, will cover the Nordic and Benelux regions, the UK and Germany and will include marketing, financial and operational and technical support units. Each unit will be expected to share information and resources. All other offices will be downgraded to purely sales branches, and any non-sales information will have to be referred to a regional level. Borland claims not to be consolidating, and hopes the restructuring will create a suitable structure for new markets, while eliminating duplication of effort and paring down personnel, but without losing local knowledge. Borland also plans to mirror its distributors and minimise its warehousing as deliveries are made direct from the duplication plant in Eire. These changes will reduce the European workforce by 20%, 100 jobs, while similar restructuring has reduced the US workforce by 14%, and the company hopes to cut operating costs by up to $50m a year worldwide. The year-end figures will not include the company’s acquisition of Reportsmith Inc, and its eponymous client-server reporting and query software, which has still to be completed.
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