Lenovo Group Ltd (
The management move comes seven months after the Chinese company completed its purchase of IBM's personal computer business. Analysts say the arrival of the executive, William Amelio, suggests that Lenovo wants to move swiftly to generate growth to try to match Dell's prowess in global operating efficiency.
"Clearly, Dell is targeted by this move," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, a research firm in San Jose, California.
Amelio succeeds Stephen Ward Jr, who led the management team that came from IBM. The Lenovo purchase of IBM's PC business, a US$1.75 billion deal announced a year ago, has been widely seen as a sign of China's economic rise and the global ambitions of its corporations. But while IBM played a crucial role in creating the PC industry when it entered the market in 1981, the company rarely made money selling personal computers.
So there was a question about whether an IBM executive like Ward was the right person to lead Lenovo. Ward will remain a consultant to Lenovo.
Under Ward, Lenovo assembled an international management team from a variety of companies.
It attracted a US$350 million investment from three private equity firms. And the market share of Lenovo, the world's third-largest PC maker, after Dell and Hewlett-Packard Co, has increased slightly since the merger.
Lenovo chairman Yang Yuanqing (楊元慶) praised Ward's skills in speeding the smooth integration of the two companies and he emphasized that Lenovo's strategy would not change. But the next step for the company, he said, would be to focus on growth and improved efficiency.
"Bill Amelio's skills and experience are the best fit for the next phase of our business," Yang said.
Amelio, 48, has been the head of Dell's business in the Asia-Pacific region since 2001. Before that, he held senior executive positions at NCR, Honeywell and Allied Signal. Amelio, who earned an MBA at Stanford, also has an IBM heritage, having worked at the company from 1979 to 1997. His last 18 months at IBM were spent as the general manager of worldwide operations for its PC business.
In an interview, Amelio called his new job "a great honor and an opportunity," and said he would focus on building the Lenovo brand, customer service, and increasing the efficiency of the company's procurement and operations.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS