Round Rock, Texas — Dell says it has completed an ongoing senior management restructuring with the hiring of former Oracle executive Mark Jarvis as chief marketing officer, the company’s first.
Jarvis, who assumed his new role today, is responsible for reorganizing and maximizing Dell’s global marketing operations.
His appointment ends a months-long reorganization that began in December with the appointment of chief financial officer Donald Clarity, followed in January by founder Michael Dell’s return as CEO, who succeeded Kevin Rollins. In February, Solectron CEO Michael Cannon joined the company as president of global operations and former Motorola exec Ron Garriques came on board as president of its global consumer group.
The management shuffle was prompted by sharp sales, earnings and market share declines attributed in part to a revitalized HP and the iPod-fueled growth of Apple Macs.
The reorganization has put numerous plans on hold, including a retail store strategy that called for the opening of a second 3,000-square-foot store in a shopping mall in West Nyack, N.Y. Plans for that store have been scraped.
“The new executive team is evaluating all options,” a company spokesperson said, “and no final strategy on how we reach the next billion customers has been decided.”
The spokesperson noted that Dell’s first and only company-operated retail store, which opened last summer in Dallas, is “performing very well and is enjoying a high level of customer acceptance.”
Dell will continue to maintain a direct presence in West Nyack and some 160 other locations through its Dell Direct Store kiosk program. The kiosks, located in malls and airports around the country, showcase about a dozen core products and accept orders for delivery.
