Xerox Corp is to reshuffle its sales force for the second time in a year after the earlier reorganization was implicated in the firm’s sluggish second-quarter sales growth. Details of the Stamford, Connecticut-based company’s decision to divide its sales force into six units from the four created in the January reorganization, leaked out in a company memo issued last week which was obtained by Bloomberg Business News. There are no plans to cut any jobs from the firm’s 4,300-strong sales force under the overhaul, which is to be completed by January. Xerox could not be reached for comment as Computergram went to press.
The market-leading leading copier company with business units spanning printers, scanners, software and outsourcing has seen its shares tank 6.8% in the past year compared to a 25% rise in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index of which it is a leading member. Xerox posted sales growth of just 2.5% for the second quarter ending June 30 – falling short of consensus analyst expectations of a 4% to 6% increase. The January reorganization which reclassified accounts by industry rather than location was blamed at the time for the shortfall. News of the latest reorganization further chastened investors amid analyst fears that fresh internal turmoil before the moves are completed will affect momentum.
Xerox shares dropped $4.313, or 9.2%, yesterday to close at $42.75 yesterday.
