International Management Essay
Executive Summary
Canon commenced out as a company with a handful of employees and a burning passion. That company soon became a world-renowned camera maker and is now a global multimedia corporation. However, the origins of our success remain unchanged: the passion of our early years and technological expertise amassed over more than 60 years. Canon will continue using its technologies to benefit people as it pursues its objective of becoming a company that is loved by people throughout the world.
History
As a camera maker with a handful of employees in Japan, the success of the Canon Corporation begins. As of the present, it is now a multimedia corporation which produces and markets products for homes, offices and industry globally with a focus on enhancing the quality of life. Its products include high technology product line ranging from precision photocopiers, to optical components for digital cameras, to flat-panel television screens. Based in the United States, Europe and Asia, it has three regional head quarters. And as a global organization, the company has proven continued success proofed through its technological advancements and innovation, profit margins, and profitable global expansion initiatives. Outsourcing comprises 42% of its world-wide production overseas. To maintain its technological edge and high profit margin, however, the company must balance low-cost manufacturing with the high tech precision it achieves in Japan. This is not without challenges and threats.
Its global strategies are implemented through the Three Regional Headquarters system with bases in the U.S., Europe and Asia ( 2005). In 2003, the Canon Group’s consolidated net sales were approximately ¥3,198 billion (U.S.,888 million), of which about 75% was generated outside Japan. There are 198 Group companies with approximately 102,500 employees around the world are working to achieve the aims set forth in the company’s Excellent Global Corporation Plan.
Canon Strategies
With two years remaining in Phase II of the company’s Excellent Global Corporation Plan includes, accelerating the pace of our efforts towards achieving key goals which is to become No. 1 business fields worldwide and to attain the status of a corporation that is welcomed and respected everywhere it operates. The company strives for innovation in R&D and production activities as well as pursuing structural reforms. Environmental considerations, guided by 2010 Vision program, remain at the center of all the company’s activities. With the same focus on innovation that has been the hallmark of Canon’s rise to success, the company intends to make 2004 another extraordinary year for the organization
Behind the robust growth of Canon’s business are proprietary core technologies such as the CMOS imaging sensor and the iR controller. Such technologies position Canon’s digital SLR cameras, multifunction devices (MFDs) and other products on the leading edge of their fields. As the company endeavor to capture the No. 1 market position worldwide in each of their primary business operations, Canon continue to seek the optimum organizational structure, implementing reforms that strengthen the bonds among their research, production and sales operations. The gains the company has made are enabling the company to cultivate relationships with larger customers.
For a manufacturer, the keys to enduring growth are the development of original, value-added products and the reduction of production costs. To achieve these goals, the company is implementing factory automation and “prototype-less design” through the joint efforts of R&D and production operations. Canon continues to pursue the in-house development of tools and measuring equipment needed for production, which helps to ensure flexibility and quality assurance while also reducing costs. The new technologies and infrastructure for production that is being created in the present will ensure continued growth into the future.
As a corporate leader in environmental matters, Canon works vigorously to integrate environmental and economic goals into all corporate activities. The company has moved quickly to support and comply with Europe’s RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) Directive, which is considered the strictest environmental directive in the world. The company’s own 2010 Vision program sets guidelines for halving the environmental burden relative to the company’s sales. Canon’s code of ethics and progressive management and employment policies create an environment in which all Canon employees can, as the corporate philosophy calls for, make contributions toward world prosperity and happiness for all people.
Canon Challenges
The information revolution is sweeping through our economy. No company can escape its effects. Dramatic reductions in the cost of obtaining, processing, and transmitting information are changing the way we do business.
Most general managers know that the revolution is under way, and few dispute its importance. As more and more of their time and investment capital is absorbed in information technology and its effects, executives have a growing awareness that the technology can no longer be the exclusive territory of EDP or ARE departments. As they see their rivals use information for competitive advantage, these executives’ recognize the need to become directly involved in the management of the new technology. In the face of rapid change, however, they don’t know how.
Managers must first understand that information technology is more than just computers. Today, information technology must be conceived of broadly to encompass the information that businesses create and use as well as a wide spectrum of increasingly convergent and linked technologies that process the information. In addition to computers, then, data recognition equipment, communications technologies, factory automation, and other hardware and services are involved.
The information revolution is affecting competition in three vital ways:
· It changes industry structure and, in so doing, alters the rules of competition.
· It creates competitive advantage by giving companies new ways to outperform their rivals.
· It spawns whole new businesses, often from within a company’s existing operations.
Canon corporation has built a low‑cost copier assembly process around an automated parts selection and materials‑handling system. Assembly workers have bins containing all the parts needed for the particular copier. Canon’s success with this system derives from the software that controls parts inventory and selection. In insurance brokerage, a number of insurance companies usually participate in underwriting a contract. The costs of documenting each company’s participation are high. Now a computer model can optimize (and often reduce) the number of insurers per contract, lowering the broker’s total cost. In garment production, equipment such as automated pattern drawers, fabric cutters, and systems for delivering cloth to the final sewing station have reduced the labor time for manufacturing by up to 50%.
In addition to playing a direct role in cost, information technology often alters the cost drivers of activities in ways that can improve (or erode) a company’s relative cost position (, 2004). However, the move has made the national scale of operations the key determinant of the cost of selling, rather than regional scale.
Moreover, one of its challenges is to compete with other business brands specializing products the way the Canon Corporation does. There are many known brands emerging in the market nowadays (, 2004). This would be a tight competition to the industry as to whether which of these brands offer quality products, quality services, affordable prices, nice features etc.
Also important challenge that the company has to face is the environment. The company has to ensure that the products they are creating are environment friendly ( 2004). That they wouldn’t cause bad effects to our environments and at the same time they wouldn’t disrupt our nature. They have to make sure that what they are creating is safe for everybody and at the same time would benefit our way of living (, 2004)
Importantly, the company has also to consider the ever increasing changes of product features, new techniques and has to become updated to the latest technology available ( 2004). This would cost much money of course but it is for the sake of the company’s success that they have to do these things. They have to take risks and try out new things. They also have to be flexible enough for the customer’s wants and needs. And has to make sure that their products would be easy to operate or in other words user friendly. They also have to be up-to-date with the latest trends nowadays and the latest styles and designs (, 2004). They too have to consider the management and operation of the company. The services being offered. It is one of the ingredients to the success of the company.
Recommendations
There are only three marketing strategies needed to grow a business: (1) Increase the number of customers (2) Increase the average transaction amount, and (3) Increase the frequency of repurchase ( 2005).
Every marketing strategy should be measured by it’s ability to directlyv impact and improve upon each of these three factors (, 2005). Increasing only one factor will produce linear business growth. Increasing all three factors will produce geometric business growth.
Marketing Strategy #1. Increase the number of customers
Increasing the total number of customers is the first step most business owners and managers take to grow their business. Losses can occur when inexperienced sales personnel are put in charge of designing and implementing a marketing program – investing corporate resources to find more customers. Executed correctly, basic marketing strategies cost efficiently produce new prospects that are ready, willing and able to buy products or services. The main purpose of a marketing strategy is to give sales personnel prospects to convert into paying customers (, 2005). Rewarding existing customers for referring new ones is one easy step business owners can take to increase their total number of customers.
Marketing Strategy #2. Increase the average transaction amount
Owners and managers spend most of their time operating their business and searching for new customers ( 2005). They often overlook the customers they see regularly. These repeat customers are usually taken for granted and left to conduct entire transactions without ever being asked if they would like to buy more product or service. Complacency, expecting customers to buy a minimum amount of product or service without ever being asked to buy more, can be the undoing of a business. This attitude can eventually cause customers to spend less money. Customers who aren’t continuously offered compelling reasons to keep buying more of the same products and services from one business will look for new reasons to buy from another. Cross selling and upselling, systematically offering customers more value via additional products or services at the point of sale, are two simple steps business owners can take to increase their average transaction amount.
Marketing Strategy #3. Increase the frequency of repurchase
In an established business, an average customer purchasing pattern develops and (like the average transaction amount) is usually taken for granted and rarely improved upon. A customer’s repeat business is earned by the business who gives the customer what they want. Without having basic marketing strategies or processes for consistently offering customers more of what they want, repeat business is earned less frequently. Frequently communicating news and offers to past and present customers via telephone or mail generally increases their frequency of repurchase and is one more step owners can take to grow their business.
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