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BACKGROUND:
Sharp Corporation which is known as the next generations product manufacturer has established their organization with this rare characteristic to provide new products in every possible step and sphere of life. They have the ability to come up with 20 new products in a year which is like 1 to 2 in every month. Sharps president spends lots of time and effort looking for innovations for new products. Understanding consumers mind and demand is more important for this company. Finance comes later as they are a real example of consumer oriented company. Technological innovations and the understanding about customers mind makes them prepare for the future demand and also makes them to be successful fulfilling it. This is there actual leadership which is very rare among their competitors.

Kinkyu:
Sharps products development and ideas come from their very organized senior level expertise. Sharps Kinkyu or emergency program use a system to develop outstanding and challenging ideas and development or new products. They make continuous revision on the market and existing products and demand to form the new ideas. Products are divided into three categories high, middle and low-end products. Each has individual characteristics and set of features. In 1993 the 8 best selling electric appliance the renowned research centre Nikkei bring into being that 4 of them were Sharp products.

Sharps products:
In 1992 this company came out with the idea of LCD-View Cam. This was a video camera and was based on a the development of a very little reflection LCD display that was not trouble-free for their competitor to facsimile. The idea of view cam developed by the feedback the collect from every level. Top down approach worked well in case of this product. People from bottom suggested for a video camera featuring all the characteristics LCD-View Cam has.

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Next comes the Awash in the same year 1992, a new type of washing machine that had a sensor to control positioning and it was also very hard-hitting to duplicate. The idea of Awash developed by an incident witnessed by president Tsuji of watching and old lady to use a step to reach into the machine and use a hook to pull the clothes out. That is where the idea of a low height washing machine came from. Sharp always put themselves in their customers shoe to get the knowledge about future requirements. And this is the secret of being the creation-intensive successful company as the value creation. From the innovation Sharps VIP refrigerator in the month of February and it shipped 80,000 units in 7 months. Market share of Sharp refrigerator raised by 1.1% by this time. VIP refrigerator was designed in a way so that the external size gets abridged without reducing the internal space. It was possible because of the use of silicon dioxide pellets in a vacuum environment to reduce the insulation width. And this technology made the competitor in little trouble. Lastly the wide-TV set with the lowest price in the market. It had IC technology but was comparatively easy to duplicate but with the cheapest price the got the market. This wide screen TV had increased the market share by 0.9% according to the Nikko Research Center. Wide-TV sets also used their effective method which is the top down strategy. The president encourages their people to be suggestive so that they can reach to their minds. Later on the ideas get investigated in the research and development group.

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Sharps Market Share:

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Products Electronic Calculators Home Phones Microwave Ovens Japanese word processors Color TVs Camcorders Refrigerators VCRs Plain paper copiers

Market Share 36.0% 22.0% 20.9% 20.2% 15.5% 15.2% 13.0% 12.0% 6.9%

Product Development System of Sharp:

Sharp is known as one of the most creative companies in Japan. Because of the ability to explore the market and concentrating on new technologies they come with new product ideas and innovation of very unique products in the market. They get the financial backup from the headquarter. When the outcomes r short term, the organizational impact is significant and the potential of sales is huge the usually get fund from headquarter. Each proposal gets investigated and pointed by a team with a chairperson. If the project gets high point it is judged as the valid one and submitted to the engineering meeting held monthly. Then the resource judgment gets done and the proposal gets its allocated budget. After a very flexible time of three years the group is supposed to repay the half of the investment on that project back to the headquarter. development of one kinkyu project generally takes one to one and half year time. So it is quite possible to repay within given time period.

Longer term projects are the responsibility of R&D group and get the funding from the corporate R&D group as it is a corporate-wide effort. In this case they use their own judgment and assessment. About 80% of the projects are

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product development projects. And the remaining 20% are software development or service development for new business. The vital characteristics of kinkyu projects are the responsibility and power is given to the project head. And only the president can choose this person. All the team members are supposed to understand his corporate power and should abide by him. Like the other typical companies Sharp do not give the responsibility to the vice president or divisional manager rather make such person in charge that can understand and run the project well. The reason of their success is mainly the cultivation of creativeness and the philosophy of exploring the market to find the needs. In different era they target different market. Like in 1975 their target was the baby boomers. In 1984 and 1985 the baby boomers families began to take over Sharps products and their products did not work well that time. It required Sharp to come up with new concept and a new strategy. For this the company founded the research group who make the investigation. They appreciate unique ideas from anywhere possible. Their different approaches like on the field observation, top-down approach and other knowledge sharing concept are generously accepted into the organization. Practice of coming up with new project ideas and targeting different market with different product design and strategy is Sharps unique character which have made them to be in the top list of the most creative company. The have the mentality to develop products according to the each scenario that gets viewed.

Problem Sharp faces:

The problem they had was their long distance communication. Product division was in Tochigi and the audio products division was in Hiroshima. They need a organization that can combine these two in making discussion and decision about audio-visual products. Some organization that can integrate products would help them to come out of this problem. Another problem they faced was about different perspective. In real life one

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single person plays numeral role and each of the roles represents different window for self-expression. Observation does not work that well here. Priority in life varies person to person. It is hard to figure out peoples priority by observing the field. To make the process perfect they need to observe each of the scene of a persons or a consumers life which is not easy practically. Third problem was the managing knowledge and clear conception of the senior managing director, Tsuji about what the organization should be doing. The way how the new ideas should be done and the process is decided by the teams themselves. There is less involvement of higher authority. The dizzy perception makes the way complex of reaching the target.

Overcoming problems:
As the result of concluding to the solution the company has come up with the design center. There is many reasons to stimulate the organization to do new things and the organization units need to be responsible for doing them. The co-ordinate division and executives have this ability but what the company lack is a life style center which will show certain pattern. The creative life style planning group has two centers in Osaka and Makhuri. They review the designs and revise them to be more customer oriented. They also do the market survey in USA, Europe and Japan to get suggestion from the consumers and understand the lifestyle. This design center is now considered as the brain of the company. To make themselves more focused and accurate they wanted to observe their customers 24 hours a day. They monitored housewives and customers. For this reason they set up a center how people spend their lives, what things they care more and their priority. So that they can understand more about their consumers lives and demand. Outstanding products came out from such study about consumer behavior.

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From the previous stage they developed it toward more sense following and professional one. Next level of consumer was the sense leader. At the bottom of the market there was no sense consumer or the mass market targeted production. Their competitor like Matsushita and Sanyo target mass market where Sharp is more customer oriented and take care of the single possible needs with there continuous revision of product development. Sophisticated behavior toward the needs continued more through the step or sense leading. In sense leader process the call the person who bought the product. Meeting with the sense leaders typically lasted two hours and includes five people from the company. After the meeting the top officer initiates action on the recommendation.

Future plan of Sharp:

In November 1992 Sharp opened their multimedia development headquarter to celebrate their 80th anniversary with a view of futuristic international market player. They believe multimedia product will merge the existing products categories and will meet next generations products. Developing strategic alliance with other major company will give them the access to learn about different strategy and mold it according to their working style and approach so that they can achieve more efficiency. As the Nikkei Sangyos newspaper article noted that Sharp lacked in communication technology so such future projects like multimedia will be able to overcome this lap and fulfill the demand and hold a stronger position in the market compare to their competitors.

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THEME
Sharp is one of the leading creative companies of Japan which was established in 1912. From then, Sharp continued its innovations derived from the companys ability to commercialize its technologies. Haruo Tsuji is the current President of Sharp Corporation whose leadership enrolled Sharp to be the most profitable organization in the technological ind ustry. However, there are some problems in Sharp regarding- Sharp did not expand their business in the large markets like China, India and Russia; Sharp has strong competitors like Sony, Matsushita, JVC and others in the market; the profit margin of Sharp has decreased from 4.4% in 1990 to 2.1%; Sharp targets the sense leaders, however, finding them is time consuming and difficult; Sharp is investing a large chunk of money in Research and development (R&D), still, the major development of products are very few in number; the Vice President or Division Mangers are insignificant than the Heads of Kinkyu project which can cause conflict inside Sharp; Sharp is working towards full automation of its production line which is really expensive .

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MAIN ISSUE:
Ho w c a n S ha r p uti li ze i ts Ind i a n , C hi ne s e a nd R us s i a n fa c to r i e s to c o m p e te wi t h i ts c o m p e ti to r s a nd i nc r e a s e i ts p r o fi ts ?

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MANAGEMENT BIASED SWOT ANALYSIS

Strength: 1. Most creative company in Japan: Sharp has undoubtedly recognized as one of the most creative companies in Japan. They have continued innovations derived from the companys ability to commercialize its technologies. Justification: As Sharp use different methods to practice creativeness in the organization and be successful as they are very focused toward the need of their consumers, they have made their way to be in the top list of most creative companies. 2. Always think from customers perspective by putting them in consumers shoes: Sharp observe the market and get the idea about it by putting themselves in their consumers shoe. As they put them at customers place they get the idea about different type of lifestyle as well as different types of demands derived from that. Justification: Incident described like getting idea about Awash washing machine while watching an old lady using step to reach the regular washing machine and using hook to pull out the clothes gave the idea of a new revolutionary washing machine shows their commitment toward the customer orientation.

3. Keep pace with changing demand: They use modern technology to develop their product according to the demand. To keep pace with the changing demand and habits Sharp is not falling behind to face and meet them. Justification: Sharps R&D team and new formed multimedia group and communication group are continuously coming with suitable technology and both developed and new type of products like View-Cam.

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Justification: The kinkyu project is effective because of their short time accomplishment characteristic. It helps them to reach the target market the products are developed for. 6. Make sure the succession of Kinkyu projects: They make sure that the products kinkyu projects are handling are profitable enough. Through lots of investigation and engineering meeting that holds once in a month they allocate fund for such type of projects. But do it only then when they are sure about the succession of it. Justification: The process and consideration each of the product development ideas goes through assures the accomplishment of the projects. 7. Very active R&D department Sharps research and development group is the most active and efficient group as they deal with all the technical support and the required resources needed. 4. Different product design for each different product: Sharp prefer individual product design for every single product. Small groups take form in order to take the responsibility and to understand the product idea and to design according to that. Justification: The process described shows that small group take care of different projects where there is a project head and other member are supposed to follow him. This person is chosen based on the understanding and technological qualification that is needed for the product. 5. Development of Kinkyu for each individual projects typically takes one to one and half year time to complete: Kinkyu projects of Sharp takes lesser time than other projects. Generally these projects take one to one and half year to accomplish. This is reasonable to meet the demand on the proper time when customers need it.

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Justification:

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R&D department of Sharp makes all the process goes through via them. They make necessary research and come up with an appropriate suggestion or way when a new type of product is suggested from any of the sources.

8. Involvement of top to bottom level employees using top-down approach and sense leader: Sharp has introduced a very unique process to get more possible ideas inside the organization. They have brought this approach called topdown where lower level employers are allowed to share their ideas and perspective and top level management welcomed this. Sense leader refers to the approach where Sharps employees find out a sharp product user and organize a meeting where the consumer gives the feedback. Justification: The reason these are counted as one of the strength is because top-down approach helps to get various ideas which may not be seen from the top level managements. And sense leader process makes very specific comment about the product so it gets easy to take necessary steps to make the customization or develop products next time. 9. On the field observation and knowledge seeking are practiced It is the culture of the company to focus the scenario wherever possible and investigate and understand customers want. Justification: On the field observation makes the way to get closer with the scenario where the demand can be seen. It enhances their knowledge and gives suggestion about current product development and future products. 10. Free flow of sharing knowledge and ideas: Both the inside and outside culture of this organization appreciate a barrier free flow of knowledge. They never mind having suggestions and ideas from different sources even if from lower level employees or customers feedback or reaction. Justification: A barrier free environment gives the access to the employees to explore their mind and think about new ideas as they are very much appreciated about it.

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Weaknesses

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1. Not so as many major developments as desired: Sharp may have a large number of products that are being revised or sold in a given year, but the major developments are not so many in number. Justification: As per Sharps projected goals set by Mr. Haruo Tsuji, president of Sharp Corporations, through the introduction of kinkyu projects, Sharp has the line-up of at least 20 products in a given year. But, Sharp only manages to cover 3-5 products per quarter, meaning only about 15 -20 per year.

2. Market research becomes expensive as Sharp needs to understand each consumers mind: Consumer had their own mode of expression which caused Sharp to invest more for extensive market research. But as we all know, most expenses in a market research are not meant with full purpose due to the mere arrangement of such investigations. Justification: Sharp is having a hard time trying to know what is on the consumers mind and what they exactly want. This is very time consuming and resource overwhelming project that Sharp has taken into their hands.

3. Their visual products division was in Tochigi and audio in Hiroshima. This created a considerable amount of pressure on valuable time and finances: Every industry, technical or not, needs to cut costs to increase profit and prosper in the market. But this achievement becomes difficult when various production lines of the company are situated at different places. Justification: When different sectors are situated at different places, costs such as mainly transport, communication and the uses of other variable resources increases and causes lower profit margin for the management.

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4. Nikkei Sangyos newspaper article said Sharps current weakness was in communication technology: Whenever a local or national newspaper or other media publishes something about a company, they make it known to everyone who is reading it. Justification: So when Nikkei published an article concerning the weakness of communication technology in Sharp, it created a mindset in the consumers mind that they must avoid Sharps specified product lines. This ultimately means financial loss for the company, and a threat.

5. Sonys lightweight handycam Snap was taking over the market: When Sonys handycam Snap was launched into the market, Sharp was facing heavy competition from Sony. Justification: The competition was mainly because Sonys Snap was smaller in size, lighter and easier to be held in only one hand than that of Sharps ViewCam at that time in the market. 6. Overall operating profits were 2.1% of sales in 1992, this is down from the 4.4% profit margin of 1990: Profits were decreasing by the day for Sharp Corporation and became less than half by two years time. This was a very bad news for the management of the Sharp Corporation. Justification: Although the 2.1% mark was greater than that what Sharp profited in the year 1987 and 1988, the decrement of this from only two years pushed Sharp into a vulnerable position with the threat of further downfall.

Opportunities
1. In 1993, Sharp increased its market share of refrigerators 1.1%: Sharps refrigerator VIP was becoming a market phenomenon from the beginning of its incision into the market. Sharp share was constantly increasing, surpassing the expected sales.

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Justification:

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With the introduction of the newest method of reducing the outside space of the fridge without cutting the space inside was an instant hit with the customers. This also incuded VIP refrigerators and Awash washing machines introduced new methods to cut heat and allow low cost productions by reducing outside space with silicon dioxide. 2. Sharp avoids bureaucracy as much as possible to maintain pace and keep up with the kinkyu project goals: By avoiding the bureaucracy in the organization, Sharp manages t keep pace with the ongoing kinkyu projects to meet the required demand in the market. Justification: Competitors of Sharp tried to introduce the kinkyu progression in their companies and they failed at it. One of the reasons for their failure was to maintain bureaucracy which Sharp avoids by all cost.

3. The search for sense leaders was difficult, yet kept Sharp ahead of their competitors: The search for the sense leaders was becoming a very frustrating method to comply with in order to keep up and keep themselves ahead of Sharps competitors to gain profit and maintain pace. Justification: Sharp was trying to track down the sense leaders in the market one by one by complying with the traditional method of asking someone, who did you get this suggestion from? This could become a burden for the company if a suitable alternative is not figured out soon. But this kept Sharp ahead of their competitors.

4. Large new markets in China and India opened up new opportunities with huge potentials: Developing countries like Pakistan and Latin American countries send invitations to Sharp to set up factories. Justification: Developing countries like Pakistan and Latin American countries were the emerging markets that were growing at the staggering rate of 610% per year in demand. Bangladesh is relieved from such patent right and all other kinds of related bureaucracies which slows down the production and manufacturing of critical life saving machines. In a

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country like Japan where people everywhere and is stricken with the endless cycle of innovation, electronic manufacturer. 5. The ViewCam created the all-in-one display/camera/recorder with 60.9% bought by first time purchasers of such products: Although ViewCam faced heavy competition from Sonys Snap, it was stilled very much popular with the first time users of the product. This is where Sharp managed to gain the majority of share in this portion of the market. Justification: Although the 2.1% mark was greater than that what Sharp profited in the year 1987 and 1988, the decrement of this from only two years pushed Sharp into a vulnerable position with the threat of further downfall. When different sectors are situated at different places, costs such as mainly transport, communication and the uses of other variable resources increases and causes lower profit margin for the management. 6. Sharp surpassed Matsushita in market share in 1993 to become number. 2 in video camera market and projecting a 40% by half of 1994: The major competitors in the video camera market were Sony, JVC and Matsushita. Sony was currently number one, Sharp was number two, and Matsushita was number three. JVC admitted that they lost share in 1993. Justification: The reason these are counted as one of the opportunities is because top-down approach helps to get various ideas which may not be seen from the top level managements. And sense leader process makes very specific comment about the product so it gets easy to take necessary steps to make the customization or develop products next time. 7. Sharp introduced personal notebook Zaurus for $500 whereas Apples Newton was heavier with a little more functions priced at $800: According to Sharps president Mr. Tsuji, Multimedia was becoming an important area. Sharp was going to link many small products with the network. Justification: When they think about the computer market, we have grown up from the calculator business to the electronic organizer, and now the Zaurus

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or Apple Newton. This has not been a success yet, but in the future we see the integration of pictures, voice and data communications. Those will be central to technological innovations in the future. 8. ViewCam teleport allowed user to send pictures a telephone line to another ViewCam: A bottom-up example of Sharp was the ViewCam Teleport. Users can take a picture and send it through a telephone line to another ViewCam. They can send their child's picture to the grandparents. The wide-screen TV is another, displaying news announcements on the screen as they occur. This can also be used for advertising. Justification: Sharp was hinting the future of telecommunication through the introduction of ViewCam teleport with the likes of e-mail and other forms of data transfer that is available today.

9. Research in second generation flash memory is in development in integration with world famous microprocessor company Intel: Flash memory has potential. Sharp were then expanding production and developing the second generation flash memory with Intel. This is strategic cooperation with the world famous microprocessor company. According to Sharp, Intel was the best imaginable partner. Sharp is always extending feelers for potential cooperation. Justification: When different sectors are situated at different places, costs such as mainly transport, communication and the uses of other variable resources increases and causes lower profit margin for the management.

Threats
1. The wide-TV introduced at the lowest price in market by applying IC technology was easy to duplicate by competitors: The introduction of low priced wide-TV in the market was very much vulnerable to piracy and other forms of threats because Sharp acknowledged it themselves that the product was easy to duplicate. Justification: The reason these are counted as one of the opportunities is because topdown approach helps to get various ideas which may not be seen from the top level managements. And sense leader process makes very specific comment about the product so it gets easy to take necessary steps to

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make the customization or develop products next time. Vulnerability of a product in the market is always faced with cheap replacements or alternatives.

2. Sharp was first to make a home copier with facsimile option. But market was soon taken over by Toshiba: This can be transferred to another using infrared communication. That has become the world standard for infrared communications. Sharp have developed the ability to send a digital facsimile through telephone. Justification: Sharp have developed a printer that communicates with the Zaurus by infrared used for data transfer of pictures. Sharp also have an infrared communication link for PCs using Windows. These are examples of bottom up approaches.

3. The use of NTTs brand name in their personal handy phone makes Sharp less of an important brand: We also have miniaturization technology that allows us to develop very light-weight and portable products. Our PHS, personal handy phone, is an example. We are one of many suppliers of this product OEM to NTT. Sharps is the preferred PHS. In the PHS market, there are 43 models being produced by 29 vendors. Justification: Sharps two models account for between 60 and 70 percent of the market. Our models weigh about half as much as other models at 200 grams. Because it has NTTs brand name, consumers dont realize that they prefer Sharps models. The smallest cellular phone is 95 grams. It

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MANAGEMENTS PERSPECTIVE
1) Sharp did not expand their business in the large markets like China, India and Russia
Sharp is clearly recognized as one of the worlds leading technological based company. It continued its innovations derived from the companys ability to commercialize its technologies. Sharp is successful in expanding its overseas position in Europe, U.S. Japan and other Asian countries. However, Sharp did not operate its expedition in India, China and Russia where they can target a large market of more than 2.3 billion people. Also, China and India are the new emerging nations with growth rate of 6-10 % per year. Therefore, to capitalize these markets, Sharp needs to target their local needs, meeting their requirements and come up with the right products for them. Also, Sharp needs to maintain its image and technical competence in those markets with fine quality products followed by relatively cheaper price. Furthermore, Sharp requires producing products which are suitable for Indian, Chinese and Russian people with lower incomes and different tastes, attitude and behavior.

2) Sharp has strong competitors like Sony, Matsushita, JVC and others in the market.
Sharp consists of large collection of electrical devices, starting from color TVs, VCRs, Refrigerators, Air Conditioners and many more. However, it cannot acquire competitive advantage in any of its products due to strong competitors like Sony, Matsushita, and JVC. Sharp invests a large amount of money for Research and Development programs which are literally very expensive, however, due to its competitors; it cannot enjoy higher marginal profit. It was seen that whatever Sharp build, their opponents take very negligible time to come with substitutes. Although, Sharp enjoys higher market share for its electrical gazettes, still sometimes, it falls behind in profitability as its rivals follows Sharps footsteps and launch alternative products for each of Sharps electrical machines. The top management of Sharp is continuously working to overcome these issue and secure any sorts of competitive advantage which can be available by creating distinct products through the Sharps innovative Research and Development department.

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3) The profit margin of Sharp has decreased from 4.4% in 1990 to 2.1%.
In 1975, the baby boomers became the target of Sharps new life strategy. However, in 1984-1985, the children of Baby boomers started taking over the family which declined Sharps sell. Then, Sharp came up with a new concept and strategy which increased its revenue and made it market leader. By the way, in 1991, Sharps sell declined from 4.4% to 2.1%, although their profits were the highest in the industry. This is 21st century where it is vital to know about young people (under 20) and their philosophy. It is important to make products to meet the needs of these people to maintain Sharps profitability; however, finding a concept that fits these people is very complicated. Also, it was observed that, Sharp was not coming up with pure new innovation which resist to acquire higher competitive advantage through Skimming pricing strategy. Sharp is clearly recognized as one of the worlds leading innovative based company. To sustain its fame, Sharp wised to come up with ideas which will improve its profitability.

4) Sharp targets the sense leaders, however, finding them is time consuming and difficult.
Sharps identified different roles that people played. Sharp considered the most sophisticated people in the market are professionals, next comes the consumers who are also the sense leaders, another group of customers are called sense followers and the last groups of patrons are named as no-sense consumers. Before, Sharp used Dentsu, Hahuhodo or McCann Erickson advertising companies to monitor consumers and to talk about products. However, those companies used to charge a large quantity of money for their work. Therefore, Sharp itself targeted sense leaders who influenced others to buy new products. The important aspect of sense leader is their philosophical concept which can be found through interviews and meeting. The life -style center works on concept. It also deals with pricing, performance and styling. The objective is to identify the person who recommended products to others. Sharps is trying to locate such people, and having meeting with them to discuss about the products in presence of companys employees. However, finding these people is time consuming and difficult

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5) Sharp is investing a large chunk of money in Research and development (R&D) programs, still, the major development of products are very few in number.
Sharp has a large number of products that are being revised or sold in a given year, however the major develop ment are not so many in number. Those products are basically divided into high, middle and low-end products. They each have a different set of features that are required. Sharp intended to channel all their efforts into creating next-generation of outstanding new products by developing and exploiting key devices. For doing so, Sharp invests large amount of money in Research and Development programs, however, the R&D departments are unable to come up with new and distinct products which cannot be substituted easily by competitors. Therefore, in most cases, company has products which has alternatives made by their competitors, so their profit margin for each of their products are low and these does not compensate their investment on R&D cost.

6) The Vice President or Division Mangers are insignificant than the Heads of Kinkyu project which can cause conflict inside Sharp.
Kinkyu projects are assignments which create driving force to make something new happen. Kinkyu projects are successful for Sharp due to their philosophy of cultivating new markets with the creation of new products. 80% of the projects are product development projects and the remaining 20% are for software development or service development for new business. After the decision for the assignment is done, then Sharp developed its internal recruiting for Kinkyu project memebers called Star 21. The President of Sharp selects the members and their Head. The Head of the project has corporate power which can be understand by everyone; surprisingly the Head of such assignments has more priority and importance than the Vice President or Division Managers of the organization. This additional power of project Head is unique; however, it can create conflict of interest between the Top Management (Vice President or Division Managers) and the Project Head.

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7) Sharp is working towards full automation of its production line which is really expensive
Sharp is clearly recognized as one of the worlds leading technological based company. It continued its innovations derived from the companys ability to commercialize its technologies. Sharp has a large number of products that are being revised or sold in a given year, however the major development are not so many in number. Those products are basically divided into high, middle and low-end products. They each have a different set of features that are required. Sharp consists of large collection of electrical devices, starting from color TVs, VCRs, Refrigerators, Air Conditioners and many more.In many of Sharps production division, Sharp is working towards full automation of its production using a wide variety of automated equipment and robots. Full automation is very expensive, and these can reduce its competitiveness as Sharp is facing significant competition from its opponents like Sony, Matsushita, JVC and others.

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Sharp did not expand their business in the large markets like China, India and Russia
Sharp is clearly recognized as one of the worlds leading technological based company. It continued its innovations derived from the companys ability to commercialize its technologies. Sharp is successful in expanding its overseas position in Europe, U.S. Japan and other Asian countries. However, Sharp did not operate its expedition in India, China and Russia where they can target a large market of more than 2.3 billion people. Also, China and India are the new emerging nations with growth rate of 6-10 % per year.

a)

b) Sharp needs to target the local needs of Chinese, Indian and Russian customersand then come up with the right products for them. To do so

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Problem-2 Sharp has strong competitors like Sony, Matsushita, JVC and others in the market.
meet requirements Also, --

Sharp consists of large collection of electrical devices, starting from color TVs, VCRs, Refrigerators, Air Conditioners and many more. However, it cannot acquire competitive advantage in any of its products due to strong competitors like Sony, Matsushita, and JVC. Sharp invests a large amount of money for Research and Development programs which are literally very expensive, however, due to its competitors; it cannot enjoy higher marginal profit. Although, Sharp enjoys higher market share for its electrical gazettes, still sometimes, it falls behind in profitability as its rivals follows Sharps footsteps and launch alternative products for each of Sharps electrical machines.

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Recommendation:

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a) Reorganize the Research and Development (R&D) Department In R&D department, Sharp used to have engineers and managers who together come up with new product innovation, however, due to extreme competitions with other technological companies, R&D department needs to get rearranged with employees specialized in psychology and philosophy. It is believed that, new R&D employees can come with products which will provide competitive edge to Sharp. Also, managers and engineers will play their vital role as well.

b)

Hire experienced engineers and managers from competitors (Sony, Matsushita, JVC)

Every managerial and technical employees work very hard for their organization, in return they expect good amount of compensation, with fringe benefits and rewards. Therefore, to be competitive, Sharp can influence the intellectual engineers and managers of rivalry organization to switch their jobs and work under Sharp. This way, the competitors will lose effectiveness for particular period of time, thus Sharp with new products will increase profitability and market share.

Justification:
Sharp has a huge collection of products to offer to their customers, however, their profits for their products are very negligible due to extreme competitions between Sharp, Matsushita, JVC and others. Therefore, reorganizing the R&D department by employing employees with psychology and philosophy majors and appointing genius engineers and managers from competitors firm can help Sharp to outperform each of their every business rivals.

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Problem-3 The profit margin of Sharp has decreased from 4.4% in 1990 to 2.1%.
In 1991, Sharps sell declined from 4.4% to 2.1%, although their profits were the highest in the industry. This is 21 st century where it is vital to know about young people (under 20) and their philosophy. It is important to make products to meet the needs of these people to maintain Sharps profitability; however, finding a concept that fits these people is very complicated. Also, it was observed that, Sharp was not coming up with pure new innovation which resist to acquire higher competitive advantage through Skimming pricing strategy. Sharp is clearly recognized as one of the worlds leading innovative based company. To sustain its fame, Sharp wised to come up with ideas which will improve its profitability. Recommendation: a) Product planning group needs psychological, philosophical and software
knowledge

Sharp has to target the needs of young consumers who have a diversified mind, to catch their attention, products need to be attractive, logical or ethical and IT friendly. That is why, to fulfill their needs, Sharp appointed Psychologists, philosophy majors and software engineers to work side by side with technical engineers and managers and produce products which will enlighten young generation to use Sharps creation. b) Sharp can introduce their factories in Southeast Asia and China Sharp did not operate its expedition in India and China where they can target a large market of more than 2.05 billion people. Also, China and India are the new emerging nations with growth rate of 6-10 % per year. Moreover, in China and India, Sharp will get skilled labor force with cheap wages, inexpensive management and technological employees and also can use local suppliers that provide quality raw materials with minimal cost. The production cost of those factories will be very low. Also, India and China has a large segment of middle-class families who can afford and will buy Sharps creations.

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Justification:
To fulfill the desires of the young customers, innovation with proper management is not enough, they need something extra which will and can be provided by the newly hired Psychologists, philosophy majors and software engineers, that is why product planning group needs to be diversified and this will increase their profit margin. Also, the Chinese and Indian market is very huge, if Sharp can create products according to their requirements, then Sharp will reach the peak of its business.

Problem-4 Sharp is investing a large chunk of money in Research and development (R&D), still, the major development of products are very few in number.
Sharp has a large number of products that are being revised or sold in a given year, however the major development are not so many in number. Those products are basically divided into high, middle and low-end products. They each have a different set of features that are required. Sharp invests large amount of money in Research and

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Development programs, however, the R&D departments are unable to come up with new and distinct products which cannot be substituted easily by competitors. Therefore, in most cases, company has products which has alternatives made by their competitors, so their profit margin for each of their products are low and these does not compensate their investment on R&D cost.

Recommendation:
a) Reorganize the Research and Development (R&D) Department In R&D department, Sharp used to have engineers and managers who together come up with new product innovation, however, the R&D are unable to create new dimensions of products, therefore, R&D department needs to get rearranged with employees specialized in psychology and philosophy. It is believed that, new R&D employees can come with products which will provide competitive edge to Sharp. Also, managers and engineers will play their vital role as well. b) Terminate the employment of workers with poor performance It was observed that, the R&D department is not functioning as it should be, so the top management can terminate the employees from the R&D department who were insignificant in their work. The engineers are the prime target of termination as they are one who will make fresh products. Performance of each and every employee needs to be monitored, promotion and termination needs to be given referring to performance.

Justification:
As R&D department of Sharp is not effective as expected, so change is mandatory; that is employing workers with majors in philosophy and psychology. Employee performance is very crucial for organization such Sharp, as Sharp is an innovation based company, so it wants maximum output from its employees. It was observed, employees are not performing well, and therefore terminations of such workers are required.

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Problem-5 The Vice President or Division Mangers are insignificant than the Heads of Kinkyu project which can cause conflict inside Sharp.
Kinkyu projects are assignments which create driving force to make something new happen. 80% of the projects are product development projects and the remaining 20% are for software development or service development for new business. The President of Sharp selects the members and their Head. The Head of the project has corporate power which can be understand by everyone; surprisingly the Head of such assignments has more priority and importance than the Vice President or Division Managers of the organization. This additional power of project Head is unique; however, it can create conflict of interest between the Top Management (Vice President or Division Managers) and the Project Head.

Recommendation:
A meeting can be arranged by the President with the Vice President or division Managers

In that meeting, President discusses about the Kinkyu projects and its progresses. As referred to the extra power of the Project Head, President can make the divisional managers understand why the project head needs to have so much power. This meeting was arranged, as it seems, there can a conflict of interest between Project Head and the Vice President or Divisional Managers as the top management is insignificant than the leader of the Kinkyu Project.

Justification
The President of Sharp selects the members and their Head. The Head of the project has corporate power which can be understand by everyone; surprisingly the Head of such

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assignments has more priority and importance than the Vice President or Division Managers of the organization. This is because, the President wanted them to work independently, and that is why meeting between the top management and the President will be helpful to reduce or remove any sort of conflicts among Sharps employees.

Problem-6 Sharp is working towards full automation of its production line which is really expensive
Sharp is clearly recognized as one of the worlds leading technological based company. It continued its innovations derived from the companys ability to commerciali ze its technologies. Sharp consists of large collection of electrical devices, starting from color TVs, VCRs, Refrigerators, Air Conditioners and many more. In many of Sharps production division, Sharp is working towards full automation of its production using a wide variety of automated equipment and robots.

Recommendation:

Sharp can transfer some of its production plants in Asian countries where manufacturi Full automation in production line is very expensive, so Sharp can transfer its producti Sharp will get skilled labor force with cheap wages, inexpensive management and technological employees and also can use local suppliers that provide quality raw materials with minimal cost. The production cost of those factories will be very low.

Justification
Sharp is suffering from high competition, if it performs fill automation, then Sharp has to invest large quantity of money, thus full automation needs to postpone. Sharp can transfer its production plants in Asian countries (India, China, Malaysia, and Taiwan), where, they have cheap labor, cheap raw materials thus less production costs. Also, full automation can cause unrest to the employees of Sharp as many of production workers will lose jobs.

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-

Sharp did not expand their business in the large markets like China, India and Russia
Sharp is clearly recognized as one of the worlds leading technological based company. It continued its innovations derived from the companys ability to commercialize its technologies.

Sharp needs to target the local needs of Chinese, Indian and Russian customersand then come up with the right products for them. To do so

How to implement?
Market research on these two countries is very important at first, with initial introduction of fewer products on the markets.

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Where to implement?

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The growth towards the new markets with cost effective products. However, Sharp did not operate its expedition in India, China and Russia where they can target a large market of more than 2.3 billion people. Also, China and India are the new emerging nations with growth rate of 6-10 % per year.

Who will implement?

Sales and production division has to be active here to supply the market according to the demand.

When will it be implemented?

As soon as possible, because Sharps competitors in Japan are always active for hunting new market possibilities. Sharp needs to target the local needs of Chinese, Indian and Russian customersand then come up with the right products for them. To do so

Problem-2 Sharp has strong competitors like Sony, Matsushita, JVC and others in the market.

Recommendation:
Reorganize the Research and Development (R&D) Department It is believed that, new R&D employees can come with products which will provide competitive edge to Sharp. Also, managers and engineers will play their vital role as well.

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How to implement?
Hire experienced engineers and managers from competitors (Sony, Matsushita, JVC) and reorganize the Research and Development (R&D) Department. Although, Sharp enjoys higher market share for its electrical gazettes, still sometimes, it falls behind in profitability as its rivals follows Sharps footsteps and launch alternative products for each of Sharps electrical machines. Hire experienced engineers and managers from competitors (Sony, Matsushita, JVC) Every managerial and technical employees work very hard for their organization, in return they expect good amount of compensation, with fringe benefits and rewards.

Where to implement?
The implementation will take place in the R&D dept. when hiring of competitors take place. Sharp consists of large collection of electrical devices, starting from color TVs, VCRs, Refrigerators, Air Conditioners and many more. In R&D department, Sharp used to have engineers and managers who together come up with new product innovation, however, due to extreme competitions with other technological companies, R&D department needs to get rearranged with employees specialized in psychology and philosophy.

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Who will implement?

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The HR dept. plays the role here with the experience of Mr. Haruo Tsuji. It is believed that, new R&D employees can come with products which will provide competitive edge to Sharp. Also, managers and engineers will play their vital role as well.

When to implement?
It can be implemented whenever the R&D sector is requiring new applicants. Sharp can influence the intellectual engineers and managers of rivalry organization to switch their jobs and work under Sharp. This way, the competitors will lose effectiveness for particular period of time, thus Sharp with new products will increase profitability and market share. Sharp has a huge collection of products to offer to their customers, however, their profits for their products are very negligible due to extreme competitions between Sharp, Matsushita, JVC and others.

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Problem-3

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The profit margin of Sharp has decreased from 4.4% in 1990 to 2.1%.
In 1991, Sharps sell declined from 4.4% to 2.1%, although their profits were the highest in the industry. This is 21st century where it is vital to know about young people (under 20) and their philosophy. It is important to make products to meet the needs of these people to maintain Sharps profitability; however, finding a concept that fits these people is very complicated. Also, it was observed that, Sharp was not coming up with pure new innovation which resist to acquire higher competitive advantage through Skimming pricing strategy. Sharp is clearly recognized as one of the worlds leading innovative based company. To sustain its fame, Sharp wised to come up with ideas which will improve its profitability. Recommendation: Product planning group needs psychological, philosophical and software knowledge Sharp has to target the needs of young consumers who have a diversified mind, to catch their attention, products need to be attractive, logical or ethical and IT friendly. Sharp can introduce their factories in Southeast Asia and China Sharp did not operate its expedition in India and China where they can target a large market of more than 2.05 billion people.

How to implement?
Product planning group needs psychological, philosophical and software knowledge in addition to Sharps introduction of their factories in Southeast Asia and China. That is why, to fulfill their needs, Sharp appointed psychologists, philosophy majors and software engineers to work side by side with technical engineers and managers and produce products which will enlighten young generation to use Sharps creation.

Where to implement it?

The product planning groups where design and concept are essential. Moreover, in China and India, Sharp will get skilled labor force with cheap wages, inexpensive management and technological employees and also can use local suppliers that provide quality raw materials with minimal cost. The production cost of those factories will be very low. Also, India and China has a

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large segment of middle-class families who can afford and will buy Sharps creations.

Who will implement it?

HR dept. is largely responsible for implementation with collaboration of heads from product developments and company high officials. To fulfill the desires of the young customers, innovation with proper management is not enough, they need something extra which will and can be provided by the newly hired Psychologists, philosophy majors and software engineers, that is why product planning group needs to be diversified and this will increase their profit margin. Also, the Chinese and Indian market is very huge, if Sharp can create products according to their requirements, then Sharp will reach the peak of its business.

When will it be implemented?

As soon as possible, else Sharp will soon start making less and less profits, that makes company difficult to operate. Sharp did not operate its expedition in India and China where they can target a large market of more than 2.05 billion people. Also, China and India are the new emerging nations with growth rate of 6-10 % per year. Sharp has to target the needs of young consumers who have a diversified mind .

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Problem-4

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Sharp is investing a large chunk of money in Research and development (R&D), still, the major development of products are very few in number.
Sharp has a large number of products that are being revised or sold in a given year, however the major development are not so many in number. Those products are basically divided into high, middle and low-end products.

Recommendation:
c) Reorganize the Research and Development (R&D) Department In R&D department, Sharp used to have engineers and managers who together come up with new product innovation. d) Terminate the employment of workers with poor performance It was observed that, the R&D department is not functioning as it should be, so the top management can terminate the employees from the R&D department who were insignificant in their work.

How to implement it?

There are employees in every organization who does not perform well. Here, Sharp can terminate the employment of workers with poor performance. As R&D department of Sharp is not effective as expected, so change is mandatory; that is employing workers with majors in philosophy and psychology. Employee performance is very crucial for organization such Sharp, as Sharp is an innovation based company, so it wants maximum output from its employees. It was observed, employees are not performing well, and therefore terminations of such workers are required.

Where to implement it?

Implementation is carried out in the R&D sector. In R&D department, Sharp used to have engineers and managers who together come up with new product innovation, however, the R&D are unable to create new dimensions of products, therefore, R&D department needs to get rearranged with employees specialized in psychology and philosophy. It is believed that, new R&D employees can come with products which will provide competitive edge to Sharp. Also, managers and engineers will play their vital role as well.

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Who will implement it?

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Personnel who are responsible for hiring and firing (HR dept.) . The engineers are the prime target of termination as they are one who will make fresh products. Performance of each and every employee needs to be monitored, promotion and termination needs to be given referring to performance.

When to implement it?

Poor performance brings down any company anywhere in the world. Poor performance cannot be tolerated, so action must be effective immediately. Those products are basically divided into high, middle and low-end products.

Problem-5 The Vice President or Division Mangers are insignificant than the Heads of Kinkyu project which can cause conflict inside Sharp.
Kinkyu projects are assignments which create driving force to make something new happen. 80% of the projects are product development projects and the remaining 20% are for software development or service development for new business.

Recommendation:
A meeting can be arranged by the President with the Vice President or division Managers

In that meeting, President discusses about the Kinkyu projects and its progresses.

How to implement it?

Meetings can be arranged by the President with the Vice President or division Managers to ensure entrustment among the top management of the company. Head of such assignments has more priority and importance than the Vice President or Division Managers of the organization. The President of Sharp selects the members and their Head. The Head of the project has corporate power which can be understa nd by everyone; surprisingly this is because, the President wanted them to work independently, and that is why meeting between the top management and the President will be helpful to reduce or remove any sort of conflicts among Sharps employees.

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Where to implement it?

M A NM A GG M E MM ME NM T

This can be implemented with the top executives of the company. The President of Sharp selects the members and their Head. The Head of the project has corporate power which can be understa nd by everyone; surprisingly the Head of such assignments has more priority and importance than the Vice President or Division Managers of the organization. This additional power of project Head is unique; however, it can create conflict of interest between the Top Management (Vice President or Division Managers) and the Project Head.

Who will implement it?

Implementation is carried out by the company president and head. As referred to the extra power of the Project Head, President can make the divisional managers understand why the project head needs to have so much power. This meeting was arranged, as it seems, there can a conflict of interest between Project Head and the Vice President or Divisional Managers as the top management is insignificant than the leader of the Kinkyu Project.

When to implement it?

On a regular basis (monthly, quarterly, etc) to ensure company standard of highest quality. They each have a different set of features that are required. Sharp invests large amount of money in Research and Development programs, however, the R&D departments are unable to come up with new and distinct products which cannot be substituted easily by competitors. Therefore, in most cases, company has products which has alternatives made by their competitors, so their profit margin for each of their products are low and these does not compensate their investment on R&D cost.

Problem-6 Sharp is working towards full automation of its production line which is really expensive
Sharp is clearly recognized as one of the worlds leading technological based company. It continued its innovations derived from the companys ability to commercialize its technologies. Sharp consists of large collection of electrical devices, starting from color TVs, VCRs, Refrigerators, Air Conditioners and many more.

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In many of Sharps production division, Sharp is working towards full automation of its production using a wide variety of automated equipment and robots.

Recommendation:
Sharp can transfer some of its production plants in Asian countries where manufacturing is cheaper Full automation in production line is very expensive, so Sharp can transfer its production plants in India, China, Malaysia and Taiwan.

How to implement it?

Outsourcing the production plants in developing countries is much cheaper than converting to full automation systems. Sharp is suffering from high competition, if it performs fill automation, then Sharp has to invest large quantity of money, thus full automation needs to postpone. Sharp can transfer its production plants in Asian countries (India, China, Malaysia, and Taiwan), where, they have cheap labor, cheap raw materials thus less production costs. Also, full automation can cause unrest to the employees of Sharp as many of production workers will lose jobs.

Where to implement it?

Implementation by outsourcing has to be done in the developing countries where the labor is cheap, such as China, India, Pakistan, etc. Sharp will still work in Japan for the progress of new and advanced products which will be marketed in Japan, U.S. and European nations. In Asian countries, Sharp will get skilled labor force with cheap wages, inexpensive management and technological employees and also can use local suppliers that provide quality raw materials with minimal cost. The production cost of those factories will be very low.

Who will implement it?

The president has to be mainly responsible for such strategic movement with the collaboration of HR dept. Sharp is clearly recognized as one of the worlds leading technological based company. It continued its innovations derived from the companys ability to commercialize its technologies.

When to implement it?

Implementation can be done whenever the market research concerning the new places has been completed. Sharp consists of large collection of electrical devices, starting from color TVs, VCRs, Refrigerators, Air Conditioners and many more. In many of Sharps production division, Sharp is working towards full automation of its production using a wide variety of automated equipment and robots.

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Appendix
The Power-Point slide is included in the appendix. Moreover, the soft copy of the report is already sent to instructors email address.

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