Strategy in TECH...
Well-known industry executive Dave Donald has left Origin Acoustics where he was Vice President of Marketing to take a position at media center manufacturer Kaleidescape. Donald left Origin approximately two weeks ago and oddly, neither company has offered any type of official announcement. We first heard about this situation from multiple sources and confirmed it with both Origin and Mr. Donald.
On Controls, the cloud-based home automation solutions for integrators, announced today that it has named Jeffrey Skalny to Director of Control. In this role, Skalny will report to the company’s CEO directly and will be based out of On Controls Detroit, MI headquarters location.
We live in interesting times! In a news report out of Japan that is, shall we say, unusual – proxy investment advisory firm ISS is recommending that Japanese shareholders vote against the reelection of the top executives at both Sony Corp. and Sharp Corp. at upcoming annual shareholders meeting for the firms. Coming from the land of consensus and support for local brands, this news is quite surprising.
As many regular readers know, Strata-gee has been closely following the litigation between Monster, LLC and Beats Electronics, LLC. Although the matter is really just getting started, it appears to be getting really ugly, really quickly. Now we have learned that Apple, Inc. has taken several actions that, according to Monster CEO Noel Lee (who is known as the Head Monster), are pure retaliation over this lawsuit – even though Monster did not sue Apple.
“The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” This old saying will likely resonate with many Sharp Corp. employees who are about to learn that the company is planning major job cuts – far greater than originally rumored – as it tries to turn around its struggling operations and cut its losses. The company’s management – whether voluntarily or forced by their banks – seem to be finally ready to take the drastic steps necessary to make a meaningful change at the company.
Osaka, Japan-based Onkyo Corporation says it has set a new global growth strategy that will focus on launching portable music players and headphones, thanks largely to resources it received in its acquisition of Pioneer’s home AV division. In an interview appearing in Japanese media, Onkyo President Munenori Otsuki said the world is entering “the age of portable music players.”
New data from market researcher Forrester Research Inc. suggests that retailers should forget about trying to attract millennials or other younger shoppers and instead shift gears to reach out to baby boomers. Why? Quite simply, that’s where the money is.
Toshiba Corp. announced in Japan that it will appoint a committee to investigate what it calls “possible problems” with its accounting. Investors in Japan responded by hitting the company’s stock with its largest one-day drop in more than a year – dropping the value of its stock almost 5%.
In a development that, depending on your viewpoint, is either very shocking – or not surprising at all – we learned on Wednesday that Kaleidescape Vice President of Sales Mark Weisenberg has left the company. Even in a company known for turmoil at the Sales VP position – this is an unusually quick turnaround. We originally announced Weisenberg’s appointment as Kaleidescape VP of Sales in an exclusive SYNCH newsletter at the end of January…just eight weeks ago.
