Sharp Middle East, a subsidiary of Sharp Corporation, the 102-year old global electronics company, recently announced its plans to ramp up efforts in South Africa, as part of its regional strategy to continue supplying innovative products to serve a dynamic global marketplace. Speaking at a press event in Cape Town, Hiroshi Kataoka, executive officer of Sharp Corporation and Osamu Narita, general manager of Sharp South Africa, outlined the company’s plans to aim to expand its business in South Africa.
The focus on South Africa as a key market for growth comes on the back of continued growth for the organisation, which has been responsible for some of the leading technologies applied in daily life around the world. From the world’s first handheld calculator through to the most advanced LCD technology, Sharp Corporation has continued to supply global markets with innovative solutions.
Speaking at the media conference, Kataoka and Narita said the company plans to redefine the way the company is doing business in South Africa, including a strong focus on taking local insights through to the product development process in Japan.
“Sharp is going to focus our business in the new markets which has tremendous growth potential. South Africa is one of our focused regions. We will bring the cutting-edge technologies and products from Japan to South African market’ explains Kataoka.
The future for Sharp in South Africa will be spearheaded from their office in Johannesburg, led by Narita and serviced by a team comprising of both local knowledge and global expertise. “South Africa is a unique marketplace which can no longer be considered as an emerging market,’ says Narita. “The growth potential here as well as the higher-than-continental-average in terms of literacy, economic maturity and service sector population mean that we cannot consider South Africa with the same strategy as we would the rest of the continent. South Africa requires a different business approach that befits a country that is blooming as an emerging market but as sophisticated as a developed market.’
Initially, the office will focus on developing a burgeoning business-to-business market and audio visual integration before expanding to include consumer and government markets. “Sharp is one of the only Office Automation companies that can provide a total office solution to the customer, from printers through to AV display units for boardrooms,’ explains Narita. “Therefore, it makes sense for us to capitalise this advantage initially before expanding to include the proactive marketing and distribution of the rest of our product portfolio. The sophistication of the business technology solutions market in South Africa poses a great opportunity for us to begin our efforts here before taking on the direct-to-consumer market.’
Written by Joanne Taylor