Voice Powered Changes Command : Electronics: CEO steps down as the Canoga Park firm moves into retail distribution. Its second product is due soon.

Michael Bissonnette stepped down as head of Voice Powered Technology International Inc. last week as the Canoga Park company he founded shifts away from direct sales of its voice-activated VCR programmer in favor of retail distribution.

Voice Powered also said it laid off about one-third of its 150 employees last month.

Most worked in its telemarketing department, taking phone orders for the company’s VCR Voice Programmers.

Starting this fall, the devices will be distributed primarily by Philips Consumer Electronics Co., a unit of Dutch electronics giant Philips Industries N. V.

Edward M. Krakauer, 61, took over from Bissonnette, 44, as Voice Powered’s chief executive.

Krakauer had been chief operating officer since 1991 and a director since last year.

Bissonnette will retain his title as chairman.

But he will focus on developing other devices that respond to spoken commands.

“Some people are good at pioneering and some are good at managing and building,” Bissonnette said. “Ed is a builder. This is something I’d been thinking about doing for some time.”

Before joining Voice Powered, Krakauer founded and ran a private consumer-electronics company.

He was also a managing director of the Oxford Group, a management-consulting firm.

Krakauer negotiated Voice Powered’s selling agreement with Philips.

Under the pact, reached in June, Philips will sell Voice Powered’s VCR programmer on an exclusive basis under its Magnavox brand to retailers such as Circuit City and Good Guys in the United States and Canada.

In the next few weeks, Krakauer said, Voice Powered expects to announce a similar agreement for selling its VCR programmers to retailers in Europe.

“We’re reducing our dependence on telemarketing and moving strongly into these kinds of strategic marketing alliances,” said Krakauer.

“Before too long, we’ll be announcing other alliances in the areas of distribution, product development and licensing,” he said.

The company plans to introduce its second voice-activated product next month, a notebook that functions as a digital recorder, appointment calendar, reminder, phone directory and calculator.

Krakauer said Voice Powered, which went public in October, expects to turn profitable this fall.

From the beginning of 1991 through March 31 of this year, the company lost more than $10 million on sales of $6.2 million.