Acer, one of the biggest seller of personal computers in the world, now has a change of leadership at the very top.
Acer CEO and President Gianfranco Lanci today resigned from the company, with Chairman J.T. Wang taking acting role in the interim. The resignation was approved at a meeting of Acer's Board of Directors today.
The computer company was clear on the reason for his departure: Lanci held different views from a majority of the board members, and could not reach a consensus following several months' of dialog. According to the press release, he and the board placed different levels of importance on scale, growth, customer value creation, brand position enhancement, and on resource allocation and methods of implementation.
Acer Chairman, J.T. Wang commented, "The personal computer remains the core of our business. We have built up a strong foundation and will continue to expand within, especially in the commercial PC segment. In addition, we are stepping into the new mobile device market, where we will invest cautiously and aim to become one of the leading players."
Such comments make it sound as if Lanci had ideas to shift focus away from the PC and towards mobile devices less cautiously than the board wanted.
"In this new ICT industry," continued Wang, "Acer needs a period of time for adjustment. With the spirit of entrepreneurship, we will face new challenges and look to the future with confidence."
UPDATE: It was the other way around. Lanci's strategy was in the PC space competing against Dell and HP but the board wanted to compete against the likes of Apple and HTC on phones and tablets.
The move was made likely after the board saw the dollar signs that come with Apple's profit margins. According to Bloomberg, Apple had a 21.5 percent profit margin in its last fiscal year, whereas Acer had 2.3 percent.
“We were almost too successful in the past . . . but more recently the iPad [tablet computer] and other new form factors have had a very big impact on the PC market,” Mr. Wang said to the Financial Times. “We have to change our business strategy.”
