Panasonic, the biggest Japanese maker of consumer electronics, announced a major reorganization Thursday under which it will cut thousands of jobs as it adapts its business to a changing global environment and absorbs recent acquisitions.

It will streamline operations along three main lines, down from five, and said it would cut about 17,000 jobs over the next two years from its work force of 367,000, which is already down from the 385,000 people it employed at the end of March 2010. The reorganization will cost about ¥160 billion, or $2 billion, the chief executive of Panasonic, Fumio Ohtsubo, said in Osaka, where the company is based.

The company, formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial, is restructuring to compete with South Korean and Chinese rivals in an industry that is increasingly focusing on emerging markets. It is also eliminating redundancies caused by its acquisitions of Sanyo Electric and Panasonic Electric Works, which were completed this year.

Already facing sluggish demand in Japan, its biggest market, Panasonic said the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the Japanese coast north of Tokyo on March 11 had further dimmed the domestic outlook.