Strategy in TECH...
Panasonic Corp. has announced it will cut production of LCD panels targeted for TV manufacture in the next fiscal year in order to increase production of small and midsize LCD panels for tablets and other mobile devices. The move is seen as a response to the company’s declining TV business.
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The Nikkei reported today that Pioneer Corporation is planning to use contract manufacturers in Indonesia for the production of its automotive sound systems starting next spring. According to the report, the company is “facing a shrinking market for its mainline car navigation equipment.”
At last month’s CEDIA Expo in Indianapolis, we learned about – and reported on – a new venture by industry stalwart Joe Piccirilli to sell a residential energy storage hub under the Rosewater Energy Group brand. Their hub uses rechargeable batteries to store energy from the power grid, or from renewable sources (i.e. solar panels, wind turbines), or even from a back-up generator to condition the energy and power your home.
Now news comes out of Asia that Japanese industry, in conjunction with the Japanese government, is preparing a proposal for the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to set international standards for the fledgling residential storage industry.
It seems that a great green wave is sweeping over Japan as the government and several businesses partner to drive adoption of, and set standards for, the residential energy storage (RES) system business. In a separate post, we reported on a story out of Japan of an effort by Toshiba, Hitachi, and the Japanese government to persuade the IEC, an international standards setting commission, to set an international standard for RES systems based on their proposal.
And on the same day that this was reported, separately the NEC Corp. announced that they have partnered with Orix Corp. to roll-out a national program (in the domestic Japan market) to lease NEC residential energy storage systems to consumers. Although these systems are not new, they have struggled to grow their share of the market – largely because the systems tend to be expensive.
Sharp Corp., once a high flying superstar of Japanese manufacturing might, finds itself engaged in a multi-front battle for survival as it seeks to replenish its depleted capital reserves. Recently, the company had announced that it was negotiating a partnership deal that included the sale of factories and a capital investment from Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. But these talks stalled when Sharp’s share price dropped to a value less than half the agreed-upon level.
Now, in a series of announcements, the company has submitted a new plan seeking the support of its banks by “upping the ante” in its restructuring plans, more than doubling staff cuts, selling off company assets, and offering several Sharp-owned properties as collateral – including its headquarters facility.
In a rash of news coming out of Japan, it is clear that manufacturers are still struggling with the global economic slowdown…as well as an electronics industry retrenchment. As painful as it’s been for Japanese manufacturers (often called Japan, Inc.) over the last 12-24 months or so – adding insult to injury, the China market has slowed down dramatically recently. Considering that China was everyone’s favorite “emerging” growth market – this amounts to a swift kick in the pants and is forcing many to revisit their estimates for this fiscal year. Below is a sample of the latest painful announcements to come out of Japan over the last few days.
As the industry is on the verge of rolling out the latest HDTV upgrade – 4K resolution – news comes out of Japan that a coalition of Japanese broadcasters and television equipment manufacturers have collaborated to create the next great standard they call Ultra High Definition Television or UHDTV. Another incremental improvement? Oh no…UHDTV leapfrogs 4K…
The Nikkei Reported today that both Sony Corp. and Sharp Corp. have further reduced their original forecast for fiscal year 2012 flat-panel HDTV sales in the wake of a worldwide slowdown in demand. The move surprised analysts, as both companies had forecast weaker demand as part of their initial 2012 forecast. But, as we’ve been reporting for months, sales of flat-panel TVs in Japan’s domestic market have fallen off a cliff as previous government rebate programs meant to encourage consumers to switch to a new digital TV system, as well as to more energy-efficient TVs and appliances, came to an end. Now, manufacturers are experiencing slack demand around the world, including a slowdown in the market they had been counting on to provide substantial growth – China. [Read more…] about After Surprising Analysts with Initial Downgraded 2012 TV Sales Forecast, Sony & Sharp Stun Again with Deeper Cuts
In a public move that will probably make more sense in Japan than it will here, Sony Corp. said on Tuesday that seven top executives will return their fiscal 2011 performance-linked bonuses. The executives affected by this decision include their former CEO Howard Stringer and current CEO Kazuo Harai.
JVC Kenwood Corp. said that next spring it will begin selling a system designed to deliver the soothing sounds of the forest streamed over the Internet in real time. The company will be involved in all aspects of the system from setting up source equipment to collect the sounds of various forests, to coordinating the delivery of the forest content across the Internet, to delivering unique speaker systems in the homes of end users with technology to receive and play the environmental sounds.
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