Hitachi Australia has reorganised internally following dissatisfaction with its distributor model as well as blurring of the boundaries between consumer products and multimedia.
Bernhard Kotarski, Hitachi's general manager, sales and marketing, said: "The past 18 months have been demanding as we introduced our new multimedia product-based sales and support model in Australia. We have also seen big shifts to the retail channel while the traditional distributor model has not really worked to our satisfaction.
"I am pleased to report that our revised structure is now in place to better accommodate changes in our product and channel strategies."
Kotarski said the key changes were:
· The appointment of Dipak Kumar as assistant general manager of the electronics group, incorporating responsibility for the information technology and multimedia operations, as well as electronics;· The division of the electronics sales operation into two regional groups to focus staff on direct dealer support and large account business development;· Separation of the Hitachi consumer group into two regional centres and;· Appointment of Kotarski himself to the Hitachi Australia board.
