ANZ jobs lost in Lenovo restructure
A number of positions at Lenovo's Australia and New Zealand operations will cease to exist as a result of the PC maker's global restructure announced late last week.
The jobs will be relocated to "emerging markets" such as Brazil, China and Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Heather Jones, Lenovo spokesperson for ANZ, told ZDNet Australia.
Positions in operations and finance would be hit, but Jones declined to provide further details nor reveal the number of workers affected.
"They would be offered comparable positions [in marketing, sales and business development], other roles within the company, or given redundancy packages," she said.
"It was a difficult decision and one Lenovo [globally] did not take lightly," she added.
However, Jones was quick to assure customers that the decision would not change the PC maker's service and support operations. The Australian call centre -- located in Brisbane -- for example, would not be affected by the internal restructure.
"The changes will largely be invisible to customers and business partners, but they will help us to meet market demand quickly," she claimed.
Lenovo is expected to make other changes beyond a reduction in headcount over the next six to 12 months to increase its operational efficiency, according to Jones.
She also revealed the cuts wouldn't impact the hunt for a country manager to oversee its New Zealand business -- 10 candidates have been short-listed for the position.
Globally, Lenovo hopes to save approximately US$100 million over the course of the 2007-2008 fiscal year, and re-invest most of the savings on "internal strategic initiatives".
Earlier this week, the China-based PC manufacturer, which acquired IBM's ThinkPad division in 2005, announced a deal with Microsoft in which the two would collaborate on a Beijing-based research and development lab. The facility will focus on mobile technology and products built for Microsoft's software.
Lenovo's ANZ operations employs a few hundred people.