Sharp NEC Display Announces Exec Re-Org In Wake Of 2020 Joint Venture

January 10, 2022 by Dave Haynes

Now that Sharp and NEC Display have been business-married for several months, the blended companies have pushed out news and guidance on how the two Japanese firms will operate going forward in the North American market, at least in the context of pro AV.

You may recall that Sharp and NEC did a joint venture almost two years ago that saw Sharp acquire 66% of shares for NEC Display Solutions Ltd.  Since then, the blended display companies have been marketing as Sharp NEC Display Solutions Ltd. (or SNDS).

Now, Sharp NEC Display Solutions of America (SNDSA) and Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA) have collaborated on a plan and re-org that takes effect Feb. 1, that unsurprisingly combines business units and streamlines efforts that were operating in parallel.

As a second step in building stronger value to our customers, management from SNDSA and SIICA have been studying how to leverage the resource strengths across both organizations. Our objective is to use the greatest capabilities represented by each company and combine them into a single, more powerful team driving profitable growth through an efficient operating model. All areas of the organizations were studied: Sales and Marketing, Finance/Accounting, Business Operations, Service/Support and IT to determine the best way to move together to achieve our joint objective.

Sales and Marketing: We are combining the Pro AV marketing and sales teams to intensify our focus on the end user customer and Pro AV Channel. SIICA Pro AV channel sales will work together with SNDSA channel sales as a single team under the leadership of Betsy Larson (SNDSA). Pro AV distribution account management will consolidate under John Sheehan (SIICA), who will also continue leading Sharp channel sales for other product categories. In line with unifying the sales structure, the Pro AV product marketing teams will be integrated and report into Jennifer Cheh (SNDSA). Todd Bouman (SNDSA) will lead the sales and marketing efforts of the Pro AV business for both the NEC and Sharp brands with both Channel Sales and Pro AV Marketing functions reporting directly to him and the Pro AV Distribution business having dotted line reporting.

Finance/Accounting and Operations: A common system and logistics model is being implemented that will enable better efficiencies and drive overall cost savings. To realize these savings, SNDSA will rely on SIICA for back-office support in finance/accounting, order management, logistics and IT. This provides better resource utilization and economies of scale across both the display and printer businesses. As part of this effort we will are implementing a unified system architecture and combined fulfillment and logistics operations by utilizing the Sharp ordering and logistics systems you are familiar with today. The planned go-live date is February 1st, 2022. This will provide a single face to the customer, simplifying our business model while building efficiencies in our companies.

Canada: To better align with Sharp’s regional sales model, the SNDSA Canada business will move over to Sharp Canada. Sharp has a well-established Canadian sales office that will provide a closer connection to the customer and provide greater reach into the overall market. SNDSA will continue to support Sharp Canada from a product, marketing and service perspective.

We are confident that by combining the Sharp and Sharp/NEC teams into a unified go-to-market structure we will be better able to serve you and the overall market.

The SNDSA/SIICA thing gets a little confusing, but apart from blending teams and assigning leaders, it looks like Mike Marusic will be the CEO of all this, with Bouman, currently the President of CEO of SNDSA, leading the sales and marketing effort on the Pro AV side. The announcement does not get into titles, but it seems evident he will not have CEO on his card come February 1. Cheh is already Senior VP Marketing, so maybe EVP???

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