An analyst says Quark was struggling under CEO Kamar Aulakh, and that the next CEO will be asked to turn the company around quickly.The departure of Quark CEO Kamar Aulakh is likely to throw new light on the company and its potential strategies for besting Adobe Systems in the years to come.
Although Quark Inc. has not given a reason as to why Aulakh left, it has become common to switch CEOs as a matter of strategy, said Joe Wilcox, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research.
"Whenever there's a CEO change, there's an opportunity to rethink direction," Wilcox said. "Also, you can blame problems on the outgoing executive and emphasize how it'll now be fixed."
Read more here about Aulakh's departure.
An issue that will need to be addressed by a new top executive will be how the company can compete with Adobe Systems Inc., which has shown strength in courting enterprise users and drawing more designers to its product lines.
Under Aulakh's leadership, Quark didn't appear to be gaining any ground in catching up with Adobe, Wilcox observed.
"Adobe's strategies are paying off, and they seem to be coming out with more features and products, but Quark still seems to be focused on its one strong, flagship product," he said.
Click here to read details about the next release of QuarkXPress.
A new CEO could bring considerable change to the company and put it back into heated competition with Adobe, Wilcox said.
"With a change at the helm, some bold decisions can be made and some new strategies can definitely be put in place," he said.
One direction that a new Quark CEO could pursue is with QuarkCommerce, an order management application that connects the company's desktop publishing tools to back-end systems.
Linda Chase, senior vice president of commerce product development at the company, has been appointed as interim CEO. The appointment could be an indication that Quark will give more weight to its commerce product when a new chief executive is hired.
Click here to read a column criticizing Quark's anti-Adobe marketing campaign.
In a recent interview with Publish.com, Chase indicated that the company is very interested in broadening its products and services through QuarkCommerce. "This is where Quark is headed," she said. "We're going to go beyond the desktop, way beyond, and provide closed-loop marketing services. It's very exciting."
Whichever fresh directions Quark chooses to pursue, it is possible that a new CEO won't have much time to make an impact. Aulakh was in the job for less than two years, and it's possible that the next CEO will be expected to hit the ground running—or else.
"Doing only two years in a CEO position, or even less, isn't unusual today," said John Challenger, chief executive of outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "Companies don't give people much time to implement long-term strategies anymore. You have to do the job or get out."
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