MORRISVILLE, N.C. – Lenovo’s reformatted management team is putting more BRICs in the wall, so to speak, of its strategy to return the world’s No. 4 PC maker to profitability.

BRIC is short for Brazil, Russia, India and China. It’s also shorthand to refer in a broader sense to emerging markets. And in Beijing, where Lenovo operates the twin of its Morrisville headquarters, on Thursday, Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing said several interesting things in interviews:

  1. Demand for computers in China increased in Lenovo’s recent quarter from the previous one. Since China is where Lenovo does the lion’s share of its business and is the top point of emphasis for former Chairman Yang in his CEO role, that’s good news.
  2. Lenovo also plans to introduce 50 new computer models this year in another attempt to grow global market share. "In the short term we are pursuing higher market share rather than profits," Yang said. However, Lenovo’s failure to improve sales in 2008 despite a wide range of new models and very expensive global marketing campaigns didn’t prevent big losses or a drop in market share. The failures led to William Amelio’s departure as CEO and Lenovo’s new focus on emerging markets with a streamlined management team and a recently reconfigured, flatter organizational structure.
  3. Even though Lenovo remains interested in growth for acquisitions, Yang said opportunities have receded. In other words, apparently Lenovo is cooling its lust for Positivio, the top PC maker in Brazil. "Even if asset prices fall to a low level, it does not necessarily bring a deal to us," Yang said, according to Reuters.
  4. Yang said Lenovo also wants to grow business in Mexico, Turkey and the Middle East. Lenovo recently brought its new production plant in Mexico online. It’s also building a new plant in Poland.

Will Lenovo’s strategy work? Yang acknowledged the global economic situation will dictate much of what happens.

"If the market situation does not deteriorate further, we are confident that we can quickly place this operation back on the track to profits once this restructuring is finished," he said, according to IDG News Service.