Marketing
December 5
2013
1. (i) Why have Japanese firms, once dominant in the electronics industry, fallen behind competitors such as Samsung, Apple, and Amazon?
(ii) What is ‘monozukuri’? How has this influenced Japanese firms?
(iii) Which environmental forces (micro and macro) have strongly influenced Japanese firms such as Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, and Toshiba, in the last few years?
Be specific.
i. They were too confident about their technology and manufacturing capabilities and lost sight of the products from the consumer's point of view. In other words, they keep creating breakthrough technology, but failed to make improvements faster such as easy-to-use software, online services, and smarter marketing messages. Their technology is outdated compared to the other competitors. They have failed to improve their technology and give the customer what they want.
ii. It is “the art of making things.” This has Japanese firms focusing on creating thinner, smaller, or best improved product in the physical sense, but overlooking what really mattered to people like ease of use and design. This has held back the Japanese firms because they are not listening to what consumers want. Ultimately you have to listen to what consumers want because they are the one’s purchasing the product. For example, the e-reader, Sony was focused on selling devices, while Amazon was focused on selling books. As a result, the Kindle was more in tune with the customers. Even though they were the first device that pointed the way to the future, they let the market slip away from Sony.
iii. The strong yen has narrowed the profit margins for products sold overseas and, in turn, reduces their ability to invest in future production of new products and technologies. The strong yen that is near record levels has narrowed the profit margin of Japanese goods sold abroad. This problem has made it difficult from them to export their product due to high costs. This was also caused
2013
1. (i) Why have Japanese firms, once dominant in the electronics industry, fallen behind competitors such as Samsung, Apple, and Amazon?
(ii) What is ‘monozukuri’? How has this influenced Japanese firms?
(iii) Which environmental forces (micro and macro) have strongly influenced Japanese firms such as Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, and Toshiba, in the last few years?
Be specific.
i. They were too confident about their technology and manufacturing capabilities and lost sight of the products from the consumer's point of view. In other words, they keep creating breakthrough technology, but failed to make improvements faster such as easy-to-use software, online services, and smarter marketing messages. Their technology is outdated compared to the other competitors. They have failed to improve their technology and give the customer what they want.
ii. It is “the art of making things.” This has Japanese firms focusing on creating thinner, smaller, or best improved product in the physical sense, but overlooking what really mattered to people like ease of use and design. This has held back the Japanese firms because they are not listening to what consumers want. Ultimately you have to listen to what consumers want because they are the one’s purchasing the product. For example, the e-reader, Sony was focused on selling devices, while Amazon was focused on selling books. As a result, the Kindle was more in tune with the customers. Even though they were the first device that pointed the way to the future, they let the market slip away from Sony.
iii. The strong yen has narrowed the profit margins for products sold overseas and, in turn, reduces their ability to invest in future production of new products and technologies. The strong yen that is near record levels has narrowed the profit margin of Japanese goods sold abroad. This problem has made it difficult from them to export their product due to high costs. This was also caused