Shashwat Chaturvedi
MUMBAI/GOA: Established in 1912 in Tokyo, Japan, Sharp Corporation is one of
the oldest surviving electronics company in the globe. The company is renowned
for its innovative products like the first LCD (liquid crystal display)
calculator, etc. Yet, strangely the Japanese company took quite many years to
arrive in India, as T Mori, managing director, Sharp Business Systems (India),
candidly admits, “We were simply unaware about India as a marketplace.”
Sharp Business Systems arrived in India in the year 2000, in a joint venture
with Larsen & Toubro. The next few years were spent in understanding the
market place and spreading the network. Sharp sometime back bought over L&T's
stake in the joint venture, and the company is a direct subsidiary of Sharp
Corporation. Clarifies, Sunil Sinha, chief executive, Sharp Business Systems
(India), says, “L&T wanted to exit the business, while Sharp wanted to
venture into the business. Thus the exit plan was always in place, maybe the
handholding period got prolonged.”
Now, the company aims for a sharp upward turn on the growth graph in India.
There are two Sharp companies in India, i.e., Sharp Electronics selling white
goods like television, etc. and Sharp Business dealing in office automation
products like printers, copiers, projectors, etc.
And the company is banking on its flagship MFDs (multi-function devices) to
do the wonders. MFDs are basically, printer, copier, scanner, fax, etc., all
rolled into one and used by companies that have decent printing requirements.
Hewlett & Packard (HP), Epson, Xerox, Canon, etc., are some of the dominant
player in the Indian marketplace. But, Sharp in the last few years has broken
into the marketplace and currently has close to sixteen per cent market share
and aims to increase it to around twenty percent in the coming year. “The main
reason behind this is our comprehensive product line-up. We have a solution for
every need,” informs Mori.
“The market is directly linked to the economy and as India's economy is
booming, so is the market. We intend to make the best out of it, ” says Sinha.
The strategy is simple, go rural. “There is a huge scope for auto automation
products in Tier II & III cities that has not been fully exploited,” he
adds Sinha. The company is also using new innovative marketing tools like
permission marketing to sell its products in India.
Yet, it will be the products that will win the day, hopes Sharp. The company
has a slew of products in the office automation space available in the Indian
market aimed at different price points. The company recently launched MX-2700G,
nicknamed Pastel in the Indian market. The MFD is priced at around Four lakh
rupees, and even has a USB port for direct printing output.
Mori also informs that the company is developing a lot of its software from
the Indian development center in Bangalore, though he clarifies, that there is
no immediate plan to set up a manufacturing unit. “We will look into it if the
need arises,” he says. The company has around 200 people in India and looking
at expanding its team. Sharp clocked revenues in the Rs. 100 crores range in the
office automation space in the year 2005-06.
Will this late entrant in the market beat well-entrenched players? The signs
are ominous and time will tell.
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