Dell marketing restructure after UK/Ireland chief quits

Beleaguered US giant Dell Computer has restructured its UK marketing department following the departure of UK & Ireland marketing director Neil Stevens.

Stevens, who is thought to have left the company in March without a job to go to, has been replaced by Kathleen Schneider. She moves from Dell in the US to take up the UK role.

Prior to her time at Dell, Schneider had worked in brand marketing roles in packaged goods, including a spell at Kraft Foods.

Stevens was appointed to the UK and Ireland role in 2003, when Dell centralised its European marketing operations in its consumer and small business division (MW February 27, 2003). Prior to that, Stevens had held the position of marketing director for the home and small business arm in the UK and Ireland.

Dell is struggling, with customers and investors alike unhappy at recent performance. On Monday, company chairman and founder Michael Dell admitted: “We didn’t recognize how competitive the market was going to be”, referring to Hewlett-Packard’s (H-P) stronger performance over the past year. “We are changing our approach,” added Dell.

Despite tough times, yesterday (Tuesday) Dell announced a four-year, $40m (21.5m) services agreement with packaged goods giant Unilever.

Dell has said it will announce its results tomorrow (Thursday) and H-P had not reported results as Marketing Week went to press. However, market analysts are predicting stronger results from H-P.