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. 

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — Whirlpool Corp. announced that it was inducted into the Made in the USA Foundation's Hall of Fame at an awards dinner on July 2 in Santa Monica, Calif.  Whirlpool was the winner of the Large Kitchen Appliances Category.

Keeping tabs on key personnel moves at Walmart’s home office in Bentonville is hard enough, but the situation is even more challenging in overseas markets due to an uneven and selective disclosure strategy.

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.

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.

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.

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.