Major Pioneer Electronics Restructure Confirmed

As tipped by ChannelNews Pioneer Australia has announced a major restructuring of their operation in an effort to compete in the TV display, home theatre and sound market. The following statement has just been issued.

In the wake of a global restructure to its display business, Pioneer Electronics Australia has announced the restructure of its local operations to better support the strategic direction set by the parent company, Pioneer Corporation, as well as positioning the company to achieve future growth and profitability.

In a move that will ensure the company pays closer attention to critical aspects of the business moving forward, the key focuses for the mid-term include an operational focus (better servicing our national accounts and developing our specialist channels, corporate planning, OEM & DOP) and category focus (plasma, Blu-ray, navigation, Pro DJ & LCD).
“It’s critical for the future growth and profitability of the business that we focus our mid-term direction on very specific areas of the business,” commented Yasuo Sakuma, managing director of Pioneer Electronics Australia.
Following a review of all business divisions, the major changes include:

Corporate Planning and Strategy

To ensure corporate planning is aligned with the global direction outlined by the parent company, as well as strengthening the business planning function, the following changes are:

Rob Thompson has been appointed General Manager of corporate strategy, after holding the previous position of General Manager for the commercial business group.
Kentaro Inatomi has been appointed to the role of strategy and communication manager, reporting directly to managing director, Yasuo Sakuma, to facilitate the alignment of communication between the parent company and Pioneer Electronics Australia.

Home Electronics Group – Sales

With more specialised resources required to achieve growth in plasma, Blu-ray, Pro DJ and forthcoming LCD models, the commercial business function (including all staff) has been integrated into the home electronics group.

Enabling Pioneer to achieve a greater channel focus and operational efficiency, the following changes have been made:

Simon Bartlett and Steve Johnson will retain their roles as national sales managers with each responsible for specific sales channels.

Steve Johnson will be responsible for the national accounts, including department stores.

Simon Bartlett will be responsible for the specialist channels including specialist dealers, home integrators, multimedia, Pro Video and Pro DJ.

Chris Hall and Graham Marshall will support Simon Bartlett as sales representatives for the specialist channel and a new sales representative role, identical to Chris and Graham, will be established in Queensland

Collee Chappell will continue his role as product specialist for Pro DJ, however he will move across to the specialist division.

Two new sales administration roles have been created. A new sales administrator will be appointed to handle all multimedia accounts, export and general administrative functions, while   another sales administrator will also be appointed to work with the national accounts team.

Neil Walden has been appointed to the critical role of national accounts manager reporting to Steve Johnson, replacing Jo Bottero. Neil previously held the position on Victoria sales manager for the home electronics group.

Jo Bottero moves to the position of trade marketing communications manager for the mobile electronics group, replacing Teresa Steele who recently left Pioneer in pursuit of international travel.

Home Electronics Group – Marketing

With the integration of the commercial business function into the home entertainment group, the marketing department inherits greater responsibility, including Pro DJ, commercial & multimedia, as well as providing more leadership for the New Zealand market.

Mark Anning maintains his current position as national marketing manager for the home entertainment group.

Renee Stein maintains her position as marketing communications manager for the home entertainment group.

Michael Broadhurst also maintains his position as PR & events manager for the home entertainment group.

Home Electronics Group – Product Planning

Increasing its focus on product planning, Pioneer announces the following staff changes:

Tony Trent has been promoted from group product manager to product planning manager.

Kristian Dow maintains his current function as product manager – Video.

Trevor Wilson has been promoted to the role of product manager – Audio.

Brad Morton has accepted the new role of product support manager for multimedia, Pro Video and web management.

Car Electronics Group

In line with the company’s strategic direction to increase the proportion of car electronics business, Pioneer will look to capitalise on opportunities within the OEM / Dealer Option Business.

Chris Kotis will take on direct responsibility for the management and sale of OEM/DOP in addition to his current role of National Sales Manager.

John Graham will support Chris Kotis in this function as Business Development Manager – OEM/DOP.

All changes outlined above are effective immediately.