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Software giant SAP AG announced Friday that it split its sales force in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
Despite news on Thursday that SAP expects better license revenues than anticipated when it reports its fourth quarter 2002 earnings Jan. 30, SAP said the move today is to improve its focus on regional markets.
The reorganization is part of an ongoing restructuring of the Waldorf, Germany-based companys sales operations.
The initial reorganization began last year when Leo Apotheker was named interim head of SAPs North American sales force, replacing then CEO of SAP America, Wolfgang Kemna.
Apotheker, the high profile leader of SAPs European business, was named in May of 2002 as interim CEO of the Americas, while also overseeing worldwide sales.
At that time, SAP split its North American sales force into two separate divisions, the Americas—which includes the U.S. and Canada—and Latin America.
Also as part of the restructuring, Kemna was named as the executive vice president of Global Initiatives, a new division SAP created to focus specifically on SCM [supply chain management] and CRM [customer relationship management].
Under Apothekers latest moves, SAPs EMEA region will be split into two groups: Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in one corner and in the second corner the remaining European regions plus the Middle East and Africa.
Michael Kleinemeier, who heads up SAP in Germany, will take on Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Enrico Negroni, who heads SAP in Italy, will head the rest of the EMEA territory.