Tue, Jun 4, 2013: Brother, one of the premier providers of products for the home, home office and office that currently markets many industrial products, home appliances and business products manufactured by its parent company, Brother Industries, Ltd of Nagoya Japan came to life in 1908 as a family business involved in the repair and maintenance of industrial sewing machines.
Over the following 105 years, the company and the brand have evolved with the times and with the needs of customers, offering a unique product mix and unparalleled service to its customers.
On Monday, the Brother Group encompasses Printing and Solutions for color laser all-in-ones, monochrome laser printers, compact inkjet all-in-ones, labeling systems and mobile printers; Personal and Home that covers high-end sewing and embroidery machines, home sewing machines, commercial embroidery machines; Machinery and Solutions for industrial sewing machines and machine tools; Network and Contents for online karaoke systems, smartphone and tablet applications, and New Businesses including document scanners, web conferencing, and head-mounted industrial displays.
With manufacturing and sales facilities in more than 40 countries and regions, the Brother Group can implement global business strategies and activities.
In FY2012 the Brother Group recorded total sales of 516 billion yen (RM15.78 billion). The Printing and Solutions division contributed 68% or 351 billion yen (RM10.73 billion ) to overall net sales. Machinery and Solutions contributed 61 billion yen (RM1.86billion), Network and Contents at 50 billion yen (RM1.53 billion) and Personal and Home with 34 billion yen (RM1.04 billion).
According to Mr. Toshikazu Koike, Representative Director and President of Brother Industries, Ltd, The Brother Group is eyeing greater growth in the Asia Pacific and emerging markets in this region are key to its next phase of growth.
“The Americas is still the largest market for Brother, contributing 161 billion yen (RM4.92 billion) or 31.2% in net sales in FY2012, Europe contributed 133 billion yen (RM4.07 billion) or 25.8%, Japan contributed 119 billion yen (RM3.64 billion) or 23% and Asia and Others contributed 103 billion yen (RM3.15 billion) or 19.9%.” Mr. Koike said.
“North America, Europe and Japan are mature markets for Brother, where our products are well-accepted and we will continue to focus on these markets. However, the greatest growth opportunities for Brother come from emerging markets where social and business activity is in the process of rapid growth and industrialization. China, India, Brazil and Russia are very positive for Brother, but the countries in the Asia Pacific for example Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines offer excellent opportunities that we are eager to leverage on,” he said.
The company also introduced the Global Vision 21, a long-term plan to become a leading global company with high profitability of USD10billion annual sales by year 2021, a world-class manufacturer by developing outstanding proprietary technologies that embodies Brother’s partnership and service focused corporate culture, ‘At Your Side’, throughout the organization.
“To achieve Global Vision 21 Brother is rapidly improving our business portfolios and actualizing further global growth in Asia, Oceania and Middle Eastern markets. The USD10 billion annual sales plan is realistic and achievable. Our core products in the medium term will continue to be printers for which there is robust demand in emerging markets,” Mr. Koike explained.
“Our challenge is to grow our share of market in emerging markets to similar levels as in America and Europe, where we are strong,” added Mr. Koike.
“One of our key strategies is to spread our service and corporate culture of ‘At Your Side’ to all our customers in the Asia Pacific, practicing the PULL strategy instead of the conventional PUSH marketing strategy. It is a challenge but we are optimistic that we have the right teams, products and strategies in place to make it happen,” Mr. Koike concluded.
