Innovation at Panasonic - Case Study Example

Innovation at Panasonic Panasonic is one of the most renowned companies of the world, ranked number 89 according to Forbes in terms of its size and revenue. The Japanese company was found in 1918 and is one of the biggest electronics manufacturers in the industry. Along with manufacturing electronics, it has diversified into other industries as well for instance home renovation. Konosuke Matshushita was the founder of the company and has brands like Sanyo and National working successfully as its subsidiaries. The aim of the company is to become the number one innovative company in years to come and Panasonic promotes itself with a vision of Green life and Green Business Innovation. It promotes a very environmentally friendly image which is a positive and helpful point in promotional activities (Forbes, 2011; Panasonic Website, 2011). When discussing the company’s rich profile of successful products even in today’s competitive world with equally good competitors like Sony, Samsung, Toshiba and Canon, Panasonic has been a very technologically sound and growing firm with consistent improvement and innovation in its products. Panasonic owes much of its success to it Research and Development Centre which has helped it in creating technology oriented products that were a success. Some of these products include SD Memory cards and DVDs. Their Usability Centers established all over the world ensure that the products features and functionality is perfectly in line with the expectations of the company and the consumer. With the help of these, the products that are sold to the final user are competitive and successful in terms of their usage. Panasonic has been successful at gauging consumer insight and boosting sales due to its impressive technological advancements, producing products that amaze consumers and competitors in the technological industry (Panasonic Annual Report, 2011; Panasonic Website, 2011). 2) The company spends a lot on its research and development due to which it is a gigantic success story. With the help of cutting edge technology that is the main success factor of the firm’s continuous improvement. Since Panasonic aims to become the number one Green Solutions Company, its target is to make sure that lies of people are made environmentally safer, along with business being environmentally friendly. Panasonic wants to reduce wastage and increase efficiency in its processes. It wants to reduce its costs and believes that recycling products will bring an environmental protection to the world as a whole. Panasonic is showing its initiatives that it has taken for its “Green Business Innovation” for conservation of energy and efficiently utilizing resources available. Panasonic wants to convert most of this world into a 3D phenomenon which includes personal and professional lives of people. The company has set up a Panasonic Booth for showcasing its plans for becoming the best Green Business Innovator by 2018. The booth constitutes of an Eco Corner which emphasizes on the creation of solutions based on energy conservation usage and storage. The ultimate goal of the eco corner is to promote a lifestyle which is ‘greener’. The Panasonic booth also has a 3D HD presentation wall that airs the full line of products of Panasonic which are 3D solutions, and appear to be a great experience for those who visit. There is also a Digital Imagery corner and Television Internet service providers followed by a Home theatre corner, AV Solutions and Energy Solutions Zone, all promoting Green Business Innovation. The company’s Annual Report 2011 has shown a steady increase in its Sales all over the world owing to the cutting edge technology usage and its effective promotion. The company was involved in aggressive selling throughout the year and made its way because of its latest digital AVC Networks that constitute of the latest technology products such as camcorders, digital cameras, DVDs, Blue ray technology and other recording/storage items. Digital AVC Networks showed the highest Sales in 2011 that is 33%, making one third of the company revenue. Its home appliances and other components and devices also experienced a steady increase in their sales (McNicholas, 2011). 3) The company mainly relies on its innovation for successful operations all over the world and the technology industry is a highly competitive one by all means. The aim of the company is to continuously improve and become the number one Green Business Solutions company by 2018 and it is working very hard to achieve that status. For being a competitive player in the technology industry, the most important thing to be taken into account is the industry competition and the direction in which it is going. This means that it is very important to rate yourself with competitors to gauge whether the products being made are in line with the needs of the market and the competition of the industry. Panasonic uses the strategy of ensuring that its products are better than competitors and uses innovation to create such products that become a success in the market. They ultimately maintain good quality and do not compromise on their standards to maintain and improve company image. The most important strategy used by Panasonic is the Blue Ocean Strategy which means that it concentrates more on bringing new things into the limelight and creating products that were never created before which can amaze the customers. Their market would be untapped and they would enjoy the first mover’s advantage of introducing a product for the first time in the market. Panasonic works on the elimination of non-value adding activities to its operational cycle by setting its aims and objectives in such a way that they demand the maximum efficiency and least wastage (Panasonic Annual Report, 2011). 4) While going through products of Panasonic with their competitors, it was mostly seen that the Panasonic Product had more features with almost a similar price. Taking for instance cameras of three different companies, Panasonic’s Lumix vs. Nikon vs. Canon, their comparison in detail shows that Panasonic proved to be the best choice amongst the three in terms of features. These included; Megapixels, Battery life, zoom, sensor, video, macro HDR and a lot more. It also turned out to be the easiest one to handle and the most successful with taking pictures. Its zoom was better than the other two, so were its pictures in flash focus and time response as well as speed. Hence, Panasonic products are more popular in the market because of their technologically more advanced products and better features to be offered to the consumers. Ultimately, Panasonic follows the concepts of improving continuously and becoming the best as well as different from others and of course better than them as well. Looking at them in great detail, one can say that they have extremely smart processes and they are open to changes all the time. Being in the technology industry is in itself a very tough job when one has to be on its toes all the time. Products in this industry are getting obsolete with the minute and a lot of research and development cost can sink. It is therefore an achievement to be a successful pioneer in this industry proving that the research and development, brainstorming, ideas, creativity and innovation is giving a hard time to the competition yet Panasonic keeps introducing products to startle people who use them and who wish to produce them (Panasonic Annual Report, 2011; Panasonic Website, 2011). 5) Panasonic is very clear and focused in terms of its aims and objectives and it knows how it is to reach them in the shortest possible time. As mentioned earlier also, Panasonic is mainly focused on its research and development. Activities that are part of its operations during the research and development are mainly divided into three parts. First of all Panasonic wants to work on its Display quality on screen, television, camera or any other equipment. Second, it aims to become even better at advanced new applications that improve everyday living such as home appliances for instance. Thirdly, it works on the quality of voice transmission in its products which it wants to be better than other competitors (Panasonic Website: 3D Innovation Centre; Panasonic Annual Report 2011). 6) Panasonic had not been too focused on aggressive marketing in previous years but recently, in 2011, it really worked hard on its marketing and branding to ensure that they provide the right product to the right consumer. It is a very popular yet humble brand in itself and has created an image of quality and innovation over the past 94 years. Panasonic has always focused on its slogan “Ideas for life” that revolves around innovation. Now their focus has also been driven towards consumer needs and wants. Panasonic wishes to revive its brand value to the customers and deliver ideas that could be useful and well-liked by the customers. According to Panasonic’s brand strategy, it has made its name because it has been a symbol of trust and quality for people over its life. The foundation of the concept of marketing strategy has emerged from “ideas” which are potentially and presently the most important feature required creating a place in the market. Using cutting edge technology to come up with products that never existed before is what helps make way clearing all barriers that can possibly come. Panasonic has recently taken moves like introducing a brand revamping strategy in the Middle East to promote the brand in a way that can tap the market that exists there. The ultimate Business Philosophy of Panasonic has been to create products that add value to people’s lives and enhance quality of living of the society as a whole. It also includes keeping in touch with customers to know what their needs are and what is it that is missing in their lives and can be made. Panasonic believes in corporate citizenship activities concentrating on a loop which involves 3 elements; the environment in which we live and ways to improve it, the next generation which needs to be taken care of and is to be given a world which is safe from hazards, the third loop aims to combine education and coexistence together in order to create a cycle that fulfills all necessary activities for sustainability of the planet and enhancement of lifestyles of people. Moreover, in its ‘eco ideas’ assertion, Panasonic undertakes and plans to increase the frequency of activities that support environmental health and sustainability from a global perspective and it undertakes many useful activities in order to achieve its main goal of sustainability of the environment for a greener future and a better present.. Panasonic ‘eco ideas’ is a very interesting concept that helps promote wellness of the environment by focusing on conservation of resources in the environment such as water as well as the air e breath in and the chemicals used in its products which are meant to be environmentally friendly. Not only this, it also focuses on the concept of biodiversity and believes in saving all species to avoid the loss of their being endangered. Panasonic also aims to achieve the goal of taking initiatives to spread awareness in the society regarding the preservation of the environment and protecting it from degradation. It does this by interacting with the society by arranging programs and providing forums that promote imparting education and training programs for this purpose. The ultimate aim is to save and sustain the environment. It also takes other initiatives such as planting trees in different areas. Since Panasonic operates throughout the world across all continents, it makes environmental conservation plans according to different regions keeping in mind the quality and quantity of resources available there. In 2011, an eco ideas forum was conducted in Singapore to discuss ideas and ways to implement them in order to conserve energy and sustain the environment for generations to come. Panasonic has a system of assessing its products in terms of their extent of being environmentally friendly. They are labeled as Green Products if they fulfill the basic criteria of being environmentally friendly. If they supersede the basic idea of being green products and perform better, they are termed as superior green products. Similarly, if their products are able to set a new trend in helping to sustain the environment, and exceed the level of superior green products, they are termed as super green products. Moreover, Panasonic’s factories are also called their “green factories” where their products are checked for being environmentally friendly and they have their own internal audit system to check, mark and give scores to the level of those products being environmentally friendly. There are a number of strict criteria that measure the extent of products being eco friendly. These factors include the amount of carbon dioxide emission from their factories, the emission of chemical substances into the air and water, the level of recycling being done at their factories, carbon dioxide emission per unit product, improvement in amount of waste reduction in comparison with previous years, improvement in carbon dioxide emission reduction, water consumption improvement ratio as per the trend analysis, efficient management of chemical substances produced as waste, promotion of activities related to the environment such as training programs and seminars or forums conducted to increase awareness, improvement in management of Human Resources and their relative productivity and air/water conservation in terms of maintaining and improving quality (Panasonic Annual Report, 2011; Solheim, 2007) & (Panasonic Website). Works Cited McNicholas, K.How Panasonics Targeting Corporate America: September 2011. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kymmcnicholas/2011/09/09/how-panasonic-targets-corporate-america/ Panasonic, Annual Report. 2011. Retrieved from: http://panasonic.net/ir/annual/2011/pdf/panasonic_ar2011_e20.pdf Panasonic Website. Panasonic Technology Impresses at World Innovation Forum. 2010. Retrieved from: http://panasonic.net/avc/3d-innovation/ Solheim, S. Analysis: Panasonic Ready to fight for competitors Turf’. 2007. Retrieved from: http://www.crn.com/news/components-peripherals/199203199/analysis-panasonic-ready-to-fight-for-competitors-turf.htm;jsessionid=bkPAwF3M+i3lo5mPaa-KRw**.ecappj01 Read More