India becomes the favourite hunting ground for this Japanese giant... willing to make a mark and re-define what ‘Pioneer’ means...
Shogatsu is the most important holiday in Japan;
the date on the Julian calendar being January 15. And guess why its so? It’s the Japanese New Year of course! But unlike other new year dates, this one holds more significance than just being a simple new year date, for it’s also considered pious and the perfect day to start a new venture, taking lessons from the mistakes made in the year gone by. In the modern corporate world, these can come in the form of new product launches, new merger announcements et al. And this company is no exception, as it plans to the age-old Japanese norms; planning new launches in a and around the Japanese new year... this is what we discovered when we caught up with its MD, Akira Haeno on a bright winter morning.
And all this while if you were left wondering which entity we’re talking about, it’s Pioneer Corporation, the Japanese giant which has indeed taken the Indian market by storm – from car stereo systems to Mobile entertainment segments... Pioneer has galactic plans when it comes to its mobile entertainment business group, filled with highly innovative products promising it a strong control over the Indian market.
And before we shot across any question, he took the lead (an inborn leadership quality) as he asserted, “India is an emerging market and has a huge multitude of rising middle-class. So I feel there is a great potential for us to expand in the country.”
“So what’s the investment like?” we asked him. To this his prompt reply was, “We have planned to invest $5 million and we know that this sum alone isn’t sufficient to cover this huge country. Hence, we are planning for more such outflows in our upcoming budget.” Surely, with the rising middle-class consumers’ per capita income rising by the day, the market demand from the Indian market too is appreciating. A fact to which he shows cognisance as he remarks, “We have our factories in China and Thailand and recently we have invested in both which would increase their capacity to double. This would help us to address the rising demand in the Indian market.” Then there is the retail wave crashing on the Indian hinterlands. Not a problem for Pioneer as it plans to set its exclusive outlets too! Quite clearly, when it comes to business in India, Akira is serious, damn serious!
And what about his global forays? Well, he expressed his willingness to spread Pioneer’s wings across the globe, with a keen focus on increasing market control in Central and South America, Russia and Southern Asia. However, all of them would come with huge challenges regarding which Akira displays his awareness; what with cut-throat competition from global giants like Sony, JVC, Panasonic et al. However, he also agrees that despite the hurdles, he is not too scared of the consequences, no matter how big the challenge as he confesses, “Our products have very innovative features and secondly of course, it’s the quality of our products that will ensure that we’d become the number one company in the businesses we are in. Think about it; in spite of biggies, we are doing very well in India...”
We decided to check the facts and promises financially too. In the recently declared Q2 FY07-08 results, it was revealed that this Japanese had witnessed an operating profit rise of 6.3%, with revenues from car electronics sale, both in India and overseas recording an appreciation of a terrific 10.9%! Numbers don’t lie indeed, and if we are to believe this old truth, then Akira and his team seeem to understand what their customers most want as Akira states, “Understanding consumers helps us to create products, which no other players have created till now. Like, sorry to say but India is quiet dusty and this causes a lot of problem for the consumers so we have come up with a dust secured flap or cover for all products to solve this problem...”
A team worker is what he has always known to be, he believes that no goal is impossible or too difficult if the right team is in place. Surely, this commander knows where his ship is headed.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
Shogatsu is the most important holiday in Japan;
the date on the Julian calendar being January 15. And guess why its so? It’s the Japanese New Year of course! But unlike other new year dates, this one holds more significance than just being a simple new year date, for it’s also considered pious and the perfect day to start a new venture, taking lessons from the mistakes made in the year gone by. In the modern corporate world, these can come in the form of new product launches, new merger announcements et al. And this company is no exception, as it plans to the age-old Japanese norms; planning new launches in a and around the Japanese new year... this is what we discovered when we caught up with its MD, Akira Haeno on a bright winter morning.And all this while if you were left wondering which entity we’re talking about, it’s Pioneer Corporation, the Japanese giant which has indeed taken the Indian market by storm – from car stereo systems to Mobile entertainment segments... Pioneer has galactic plans when it comes to its mobile entertainment business group, filled with highly innovative products promising it a strong control over the Indian market.
And before we shot across any question, he took the lead (an inborn leadership quality) as he asserted, “India is an emerging market and has a huge multitude of rising middle-class. So I feel there is a great potential for us to expand in the country.”
“So what’s the investment like?” we asked him. To this his prompt reply was, “We have planned to invest $5 million and we know that this sum alone isn’t sufficient to cover this huge country. Hence, we are planning for more such outflows in our upcoming budget.” Surely, with the rising middle-class consumers’ per capita income rising by the day, the market demand from the Indian market too is appreciating. A fact to which he shows cognisance as he remarks, “We have our factories in China and Thailand and recently we have invested in both which would increase their capacity to double. This would help us to address the rising demand in the Indian market.” Then there is the retail wave crashing on the Indian hinterlands. Not a problem for Pioneer as it plans to set its exclusive outlets too! Quite clearly, when it comes to business in India, Akira is serious, damn serious!
And what about his global forays? Well, he expressed his willingness to spread Pioneer’s wings across the globe, with a keen focus on increasing market control in Central and South America, Russia and Southern Asia. However, all of them would come with huge challenges regarding which Akira displays his awareness; what with cut-throat competition from global giants like Sony, JVC, Panasonic et al. However, he also agrees that despite the hurdles, he is not too scared of the consequences, no matter how big the challenge as he confesses, “Our products have very innovative features and secondly of course, it’s the quality of our products that will ensure that we’d become the number one company in the businesses we are in. Think about it; in spite of biggies, we are doing very well in India...”
We decided to check the facts and promises financially too. In the recently declared Q2 FY07-08 results, it was revealed that this Japanese had witnessed an operating profit rise of 6.3%, with revenues from car electronics sale, both in India and overseas recording an appreciation of a terrific 10.9%! Numbers don’t lie indeed, and if we are to believe this old truth, then Akira and his team seeem to understand what their customers most want as Akira states, “Understanding consumers helps us to create products, which no other players have created till now. Like, sorry to say but India is quiet dusty and this causes a lot of problem for the consumers so we have come up with a dust secured flap or cover for all products to solve this problem...”
A team worker is what he has always known to be, he believes that no goal is impossible or too difficult if the right team is in place. Surely, this commander knows where his ship is headed.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist)
