Summary
Markets in Asia responded favorably to Liu Chuanzhi's return as Lenovo's Chairman. Liu founded Legend computer over 20 years ago and retired when Legend bought IBM’s PC division and the company name was changed to Lenovo. With Yang Yuanging moving from Chairman back to his old job as CEO, the Chinese tandem is once again in charge of the company.
Analysis
The former Legend leaders are several years wiser after
having purchased their way into an international company. The primary concern
for the Chinese company when purchasing IBM’s PC division in 2005 was a lack of international
experience. Four years later and having learned from CEOs from IBM (Steve Ward)
and Dell (Bill Amelio), Yang is ready and confident to run the international
company himself.
Another major shift was the hiring of entrepreneur Mike
Sievert from Microsoft as Chief Marketing Officer. Lenovo has been very
effective at hiring competitive leaders to bring new skills and knowledge to
the company. This hire signals a shift from the high-end, brand-building
policies of Deepak Advani who came from IBM to a more innovative approach at
the low end of the PC market.IBM was known as producing high-end quality
products like ThinkPad. With future market growth primarily in consumer
products, Lenovo may now be moving to become more competitive globally. Hence,
the positive response by the stock market to these changes.
