International Business

Shanghai — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced it has appointed its current Canada finance chief Sean Clarke as COO over the company’s China operations, after former CFO Roland Lawrence and COO Rob Cissell left the company in May.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Clarke will be joined by Steve Smith, named chief marketing officer in China. Smith was senior VP at Delhaize Group. 

NORTHFIELD, Ill. — Kraft Foods announced that Michael Clarke, EVP and president of Kraft Foods Europe, will leave the company in mid-August to take a senior executive position with a U.K.-based public company. Kraft Foods has named Timothy Cofer, formerly SVP of the company's global chocolate category team, to succeed Clarke.  Cofer will report to chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld and become a member of the Kraft Executive Team.  He will be based in Zurich, Switzerland.

SAN FRANCISCO — Levi's announced that it has appointed Paul Zadoff as its new SVP wholesale commercial operations for the Americas. In this role, Zadoff will be responsible for developing and implementing effective strategies to drive long-term sustainable revenue growth, as well as ensuring the integration of a consistent consumer experience across the brand's wholesale commercial operation channels in the Americas.

New York City -- In an address Wednesday at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Los Angeles, COO Kevin Turner said that Microsoft hopes to open 75 freestanding Microsoft stores within the next two to three years.

“We’re going to open up to 75 more stores over the next two to three years, and continue to bring our stores outside the U.S. as well, so we’ve got a huge opportunity to get the Microsoft story out there, and we’re going to keep driving that,” Turner said.

Atlanta -- RedPrairie Corp. announced that Grupo Comercial Control, parent company to Woolworth Mexico and other well-known retail brands, won Mexico's annual National Award for Logistics for its successful implementation of a WMS integral strategy based on the RedPrairie Warehouse Management solution.

St. Louis -- An affiliate of Sun Capital Partners and Kellwood announced an agreement to acquire Amsterdam-based fashion brand Scotch & Soda.  The deal is expected to close in August 2011 upon regulatory approval. Terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.

San Francisco -- A Bloomberg report on Tuesday said that three major grocery chains may have violated antitrust law by profit-sharing during a strike.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Tuesday ruled that Safeway, Supervalu Inc.’s Albertson’s and Kroger Co.’s Ralph’s supermarket chains were not exempt from antitrust scrutiny, as a court last year overturned a lower-court ruling that the agreement, reached during a 2003 conflict with the companies’ unions, didn’t violate antitrust law.

Johannesburg, South Africa -- The South African retailer owned by Wal-Mart Stores will make a key acquisition to expand its fresh food offerings, according to a Tuesday report by Bloomberg.

Massmart Holdings Ltd. said it will acquire The Fruitspot as part of its plan to expand its fresh foods. A Massmart spokesman told Bloomberg that the retailer aims to increase its business in butcheries, bakeries and fruit and vegetable suppliers.
 

NEW YORK — The Jones Group announced that it has entered into an exclusive, world-wide license agreement with Philip Simon Brands Group for the creation, production, marketing and global distribution of a fashion sneaker collection under the Nine West brand.  

Seattle -- Starbucks said Monday that it is dividing responsibilities for its business into three global regions (instead of the current two, U.S. and international) in order to accelerate global growth.

The company has appointed three of its executives to lead the three regions: Asia; the Americas: and the combination of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Cliff Burrows will expand his current role as president, Starbucks U.S. to president, Americas, with responsibility for the United States, Canada, Mexico and Latin America.