New Year’s Eve, when folks in New York were bellying up to the bar to see out a really horrible year, Dell announced that it was reorganizing again in its search for an elixir for its sagging profits, depressed revenues, eroding market share and shrunken stock price in the midst of a hostile demand environment.

It’s decided that it would have a better shot if it abandoned the regional structure used by its commercial business and adopted a global structure – like the one its consumer PC unit already has – divided into three customer segments: large enterprises, the public sector, and small and medium businesses.

According to a canned statement attributed to Michael Dell, “Customer requirements are increasingly being defined by how they use technology rather than where they use it. That’s why we won’t let ourselves be limited by geographic boundaries in solving their needs.”

Dell also said that two of the guys brought in to fix the company two years ago when Michael Dell returned as CEO would be leaving.

Mike Cannon, the president of Dell’s global operations, the guy who was supposed to take $3 billion out of the company’s production costs, will be retiring effective January 31.

And Mark Jarvis, Dell’s first chief marketing officer, the ex-Oracle guy who was supposed to make Dell sexy, will also leave by the end of the month.

Cannon’s cost-cutting scheme, which only kicked in nine months ago, involved outsourcing production and selling Dell’s plants.

The factories have yet to find a buyer and Barclays Capital remarks that “Given Cannon was leading the cost effort, we believe investors need more specifics from the company around where the savings are coming from, how much could fall to the bottom line, and what metrics we can use to measure the company’s success.”

Barclays suspects a lot of the cost savings have “already been absorbed by significant revenue declines and adverse mix shifts toward consumer and lower margin geographies.”

The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story, says that with production sent to contract manufacturers Dell had less need for Cannon’s skills at trimming production line costs.

He will be replaced by long-time Dell veteran Jeff Clarke, who has been given the high-flown title of vice-chairman, global operations besides his current role as head of Dell’s Business Client Product Group.

Erin Nelson, who has been VP of marketing for Dell EMEA, will replace Jarvis as CMO.

During his tenure Jarvis fired Dell’s 800 ad agencies worldwide and gave the $100 million-$150 million-a-year account to a purpose-built WWP unit called Enfatico that’s only come together recently.

Jarvis’ lieutenant, marketing VP Casey Jones, directly responsible for the Enfatico move, resigned in October. CTO Kevin Kettler is already scheduled to leave the company in mid-January and former procurement boss Martin Garvin is already gone.

Steve Schuckenbrock, currently CIO and president of global services, will run the new large enterprise unit.

Paul Bell, who’s been president of Dell Americas, will run the public sector unit, which includes government, education, healthcare and the environment.

Steve Felice, who’s been running Dell Asia Pacific and Japan out of Singapore, will run the SME unit.

Dell expects the reorg to “unleash innovation” and make it more “responsive.”

It said the “four groups best capitalize on the company’s competitive advantages, while strengthening execution and synergies. Each group will possess greater global accountability and responsibility for responding to customer needs, and for anticipating and leading industry change.”

Some observers expect additional layoffs. The company cut an estimated 11,000 people last year and asked its remaining staff to take five days of unpaid vacation to lower costs.

Cannon and Jarvis, both of whom reported directly to Michael Dell and together collected Dell $22.8 million in compensation, are both supposed to continue to consult for the company.