Mr Cannon will retire from the company effective Jan 31 and be replaced by Jeff Clarke, who's formal title will become vice chairman of global operations and head of Dell's business client product group.

Mr Jarvis is slated to leave Dell during this fiscal quarter, and will be replaced by Erin Nelson, formerly vice president of marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Mr Cannon and Mr Jarvis will both remain consultants to the company, Dell said.

Both executives joined Dell in 2007 after its founder, Michael Dell, returned to the role of chief executive in a bid to halt the company's decline in the computer market.

The Round Rock, Texas, company announced the management shake up on Wednesday as a part of a broader reorganization around four customer categories rather than by region: One catering to major global information technology users led by Steve Schuckenbrock, now serving as president of global services and chief information officer; another toward government customers, headed by Paul Bell, currently president of Dell Americas; and a third for small and medium-sized businesses, led by Steve Felice, who currently leads Dell Asia-Pacific and Japan.

Dell's consumer business is already structured as a global segment under Ron Garriques.

Dell has been aggressively cutting costs amid declining corporate spending on computers and information technology. The company cut 2,200 jobs in the third quarter as revenue declined by about 3 per cent, led by an 8 per cent decline in the Americas, the company's largest region in sales. -- AP