Strategy in TECH...
Toshiba Corp. announced in Japan that it will appoint a committee to investigate what it calls “possible problems” with its accounting. Investors in Japan responded by hitting the company’s stock with its largest one-day drop in more than a year – dropping the value of its stock almost 5%.
Is the pendulum swinging back? The mayor of Yokohama, Japan, Ms. Fumiko Hayashi, said today that Apple, Inc. has purchased an empty Panasonic factory and will turn it into a state-of-the-art research and development center. For many Japanese, this is likely a highly ironic turn of events, as for decades, Panasonic was the leading edge technology developer.
In just the last two days, Japanese and U.S. press outlets are releasing a slew of stories of Sharp Corp.’s impending doom in the form of a restructuring announcement that isn’t expected to be officially released until May. Nonetheless, multiple reports have emerged from a wide range of media sources including the Nikkei and Reuters news services with a relatively wide range of estimated job cuts – all citing unnamed sources.
In a new report out of Japan, Sony’s TV business is said to be expected to report an operating profit this fiscal year – its first after ten years of losing money. Due to an improved situation in the U.S. market, the report credits the turnaround in Sony’s U.S. results largely as a function of its tightened partnership with retailer Best Buy.
Canadian tech industry website WiFiHiFi (wifihifi.ca) announced today that it has confirmed that Sharp Corp. will exit the Canadian TV market. Much in line with our recent reporting on the troubled brand, this is probably just the first shoe to drop…there will most likely be more.
We’ve been reporting for a while now on the epic survival struggles of some of this industry’s biggest brand names in Japan…most recently Sharp Corp. Some of the changes we’re seeing now were unforeseeable even 24-36 months ago – Sony spinning off divisions, JVC Kenwood pulling out of the consumer business, Pioneer first shutting down A/V, then selling that division to Onkyo, Toshiba pulling out of TV biz, Panasonic dropping consumer business, and on and on…
Now a reporter for the respected Bloomberg View asks, “…why Sharp should still be in business?”
Out of Osaka, Japan we learn that Sharp Corp. is about to embark on a major restructuring of its business that will likely change the company in fundamental ways. Plans call for closing domestic factories – a first for Sharp – staff cuts, and a possible exit from a major business segment for the company. Sharp is also seeking to raise capital, something that is not easy for a struggling company.
JVC Kenwood Corp. released their financial results for the first 9-months of the current fiscal year (ending March 31st) and the company points to a tremendous swing in profits as proof of the positive impact of their painful, multi-year business restructuring efforts. The company completely turned around a negative profit trend – booking an operating profit, an ordinary profit…and a ¥500 million ($4.2 million) improvement to a modest net loss.
In a revealing presentation with the press yesterday in Japan, embattled Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai told the media that the company is finally ready to consider alternatives for its TV, A/V, and smartphone businesses, including exiting them. This is a stunning turnaround in strategy, not just for the inventor of the Trinitron picture tube, but for Hirai himself who had previously identified their TV and smartphone businesses as a core categories when he first took over as CEO in 2012.
New market data confirms what you probably already suspected, South Korea is the #1 supplier of TV products to the world. Home to both Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, S. Korean media is calling itself the ‘Country of TV.’
