Why did Japanese mobile phones lose China?

Source: Internet
Author: User

Not long ago, the last trump card of Japanese mobile phones Kyocera announced its withdrawal from the Chinese market, representing a full retreat of Japanese mobile phones from the Chinese mobile market. Toshiba first withdrew from the Chinese market in early 2005, during this period, we experienced the withdrawal of Panasonic, NEC, and Mitsubishi. By March 2008, Japanese mobile phones had completely withdrawn from the Chinese market.

Common sense analysis acquired the mobile phone business of Sanyo. Kyocera has enough strength to open up the Chinese market. After all, after the acquisition, Kyocera mobile phone has become Japan's largest and sixth mobile phone provider in the world, why is the loss of Japanese mobile phones to China in spite of the world's largest mobile phone market?

I. Japanese mobile phone exit schedule

■ At the beginning of 2005, Toshiba and Nanjing Putian wangzhi split their respective ways and took the lead to withdraw from the Chinese mobile phone market.

■ December 9, 2005 Panasonic announced the closure of its two cell phone manufacturing plants in the Philippines and the Czech Republic, as well as its mobile phone R & D centers in the United States and the UK, which means that Panasonic's mobile phone has exited overseas, including China. 2G And 2.5 GB Market.

■ In February 2006, Mitsubishi mobile officially withdrew from the Chinese market.

■ On April 9, November 2006, NEC announced its withdrawal from China 2G And 2.5 GB Mobile phone market.

■ In January 2008, Kyocera acquired the Sanyo mobile phone business and withdrew from the Chinese market.

2. Japanese mobile phones are not defeated in technology

It cannot be said that the Japanese mobile phone technology is outdated. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the factory in Tianjin in Sanyo. So far, I still admire the superb technology of Japanese mobile phone manufacturers. According to the factory director of Sanyo, sanyo mobile phones are far from comparable in terms of durability and practicality to non-General mobile phones or even Nokia and other brand phones. Here, we use a general flip phone as an example to demonstrate that a person standing on a mobile phone that is open and placed on the ground will not be broken down, I believe that 100% of the mobile phones will be crushed, and every Sanyo mobile phone will carry out more than 0.2 million key-press tests before leaving the factory, in terms of product quality assurance, I believe that no manufacturer can compete with Japanese companies, but these cannot ensure that Japanese mobile phones have a firm foothold in the Chinese market.

Not long ago, I met several visiting Japanese friends. Although the cell phone was very advanced in functionality, the huge display screen and 5 million-pixel camera functions provided a bulky appearance, I believe that such mobile phones will not be recognized by too many consumers in the Chinese market. This may be one of the reasons why Japanese mobile phones are not doing well in the Chinese market, because in China, mobile phones are not just communication tools, like a dress, a car, or a symbol of identity and status, a mobile phone must not only have perfect functions, but also have a gorgeous appearance. The reason why SamSung mobile phones have many supporters is that, its leading design can not be ignored, but Japanese mobile phones stick to the performance and practical design philosophy, it is very difficult to please Chinese consumers.

Speaking of usage habits, I have to talk about the differences between Chinese mobile phone users and other countries. Chinese mobile phones generally start up 24 hours a day seven days a week, and even many people will carry their mobile phones with them when they go to the bathroom, for many foreign consumers, mobile phones are just a communication tool. They usually leave their phones in their cars and do not bring them into their homes after work, it is very likely that no answer will be sent to the recipient's mobile phone. The difference in the scope of use determines that the mobile phone sold in the Chinese market should not only have advanced performance but also have a stylish appearance, this is a fatal defect of Japanese mobile phone manufacturers.

Panasonic, a pioneer in opening the Chinese market with a portable camera, and NEC, which first introduced a 1 million-pixel portable camera to China, once in the Chinese market and said that the two companies of Shuang Xiong are now extinct, it also shows that technology is not the main reason for Japanese mobile phones to lose the Chinese market. However, with the increasingly mature mobile phone photography, GPS and other functions over the past few years, it is also true that Japanese mobile phones are no longer ahead of technology.

Iii. management culture determines the decline of Japanese manufacturers

Due to historical reasons, most Japanese mobile phones entering China are cooperating with state-owned enterprises, and there is no difference between Toshiba and Sanyo, in terms of the decision-making power of the partner enterprises, local executives in China are hard-to-do. In Japanese companies, it is difficult for Chinese people to climb to a higher position, local executives that often appear in European and American companies are generally hard to see in Japanese companies.

After working with Japanese companies for a long time, they will find that Japanese companies with employees of a certain level tend to be over 40 years old, and many even start to work for the company after graduation, it is common to work for an enterprise in Japan for a lifetime. Unless a company fails down, it seems that Japanese employees will not easily change jobs, to be promoted to a certain level, just like Chinese university titles, even if you have a certain degree of education, you will have to endure for a certain period of time, therefore, it is hard for Japanese company executives to believe that China's young and strong teams are able to control the company's operations at a light age, and it is not surprising that local Chinese employees are unable to get a promotion.

Different countries have different cultures. Once they cooperate with Japanese companies, they will inform the customers on the phone that they have agreed to purchase their products, I did not expect that the Japanese partner has already begun product design and production without obtaining a formal Po, but the customer's verbal commitment for internal reasons has not become a formal Po, as a result, the two sides were very embarrassed. Later, they knew that the Japanese were very concerned about the commitment. Even if there was no formal Po, they only made a verbal commitment and were also recognized in Japanese culture. Chinese culture was more accommodating, generally, Chinese companies do not think Po is the start of orders. This cultural difference is particularly evident in the company's cooperation. Generally, it takes a long time to negotiate with Japanese companies, however, Japanese companies will follow the rules very seriously. different cultures can easily result in distrust of Japanese employees and Chinese employees, I don't know why Japanese companies are reluctant to promote local Chinese executives.

Although the process-based decision-making process has helped Japanese enterprises open the door to the world, it is doomed that Japanese companies do not understand the Chinese market, it is even harder for European and American companies to adjust their response strategies in a timely manner based on changes in the Chinese market. If Chinese mobile phones have been overwhelmed by Nokia and Motorola, in order to make Chinese consumers better off the pursuit of core technologies, the reason why lianfa black phone is able to show its skills in the Chinese market is that Lianke provides an overall solution for Chinese mobile phone companies in addition to the design, domestic mobile phones can focus entirely on the design, without worrying about the development of core technologies. Although the sales volume is small, the number of mobile phones developed each year is very large.

The inconvenience caused by Japanese mobile phones is another important reason for losing the Chinese market. From the perspective of product R & D investment. European and American manufacturers have developed nearly 40 new models over the past year, while Japanese manufacturers have only 10-20 models, which lacks the sensitivity to mall positioning. It is not so much a lack of judgment on the business, it is better to say that although we know the market, there is a bias in the input position of new products, and occasionally there are products with good sales volume, the end is the lack of sales channels.

Even if local executives in China can occasionally gain a high position, they will be restricted everywhere by their Headquarters. In 2004, the refresh NEC established NEC communications in China (China) company appointed Lu Lei as the president of the Chinese company, the professional manager from Motorola became one of the top Chinese Japanese companies serving in China. However, this appointment to break the conventional practice has not brought a long-waiting change to NEC, and Lu lei, who plans to make great strides on a new platform with rich resources and powerful technologies, soon I found that the optimism of the ideal had such a big gap with the cruelty of reality.

During his tenure as President for more than a year, he was responsible for mobile phone marketing at the Communications Company, which is no different from a series of marketing jobs he previously held at Motorola. What worries Lu Lei is that he does not seem to have much control right except to develop marketing strategies on his own within a limited scope. From the second half of 2005, luolei has frequently traveled between Beijing and Tokyo to report the situation of the Chinese market to the Headquarters. More importantly, he listened to the latest strategic deployment of communications services beyond the mobile phone by the headquarters of NEC. Lu Lei had no choice but to adopt a strategy to move closer to the headquarters. Despite its ability to leverage its marketing experience to the fullest, the decision-making mechanism of the Chinese team is virtually empty under the strict approval mechanism. In the face of the mobile phone market similar to the fast-moving consumer goods market, slow decision-making will inevitably result in a decline in performance.

4. Japanese mobile phones are more suitable for custom marketing

At the beginning, Japanese companies entered China more because China Unicom's CDMA mobile phone was launched, and Japanese mobile phones also occupied the majority of China Unicom's market, because of the customization of operators, the leader in the product quality of Japanese mobile phones is the cause of the leader in the initial phase of CDMA. As China Unicom's customized mobile phones gradually decrease, Japanese mobile phones have not changed with the changes in China's mobile phone market, gradually, Japanese mobile phones are surpassed by Samsung and other companies on CDMA mobile phones. Japanese mobile phones are more suitable for the customized market. Kyocera's announcement that it has withdrawn from the Chinese market and fully switched to the North American market also reflects this.

If mobile phones of multiple brands have been used, the repair rate of Japanese mobile phones should be the lowest. This is related to Japanese companies' R & D and production management, which is also in line with the characteristics customized by operators, after all, although the appearance is not very fashionable, the leading technology + very low maintenance rate is favored by operators. In addition, in the Japanese local market, mobile phones are generally sold in a customized mode, and consumers have adapted to this mode, mobile phone manufacturers have also adapted to the customization mode. Generally, the operator has already participated in the product development and design phase. As a mobile phone manufacturer, there is no need to know too much about consumers, you only need to meet the needs of the carrier.

Guo Chang, a senior analyst at analytics, believes that these Japanese companies share a similar background: they have a wide range of main businesses, but do not pay enough attention to their mobile phone businesses. The Japanese mobile phone market is relatively simple, relying on the cooperation of operators, the situation in China is obviously much more complicated.

Han xiaoice, a senior analyst at nose Telecom Consulting, attributed the poor Japanese operator to the lack of localization. Almost all of his executives were Japanese and lack understanding of the Chinese market, the R & D centers of Japanese mobile phones are mostly located in Japan, rather than China, and the market is slow. The production scale cannot be formed, resulting in high costs and the Japanese mobile phones are not competitive in price.

Sun youan, head of Beijing porcelain mobile phone China, was deeply touched. The famous Japanese CDMA manufacturer, the big boss in charge of China's mobile phone business, is far away from Japan. The market decision-making process is lengthy, which greatly limits the market flexibility, we can only survive in the endless market movements of our competitors.

China's mobile phones are generally separated by machine cards, giving consumers more room to choose from. If Chinese and Japanese manufacturers of TV and other consumer goods can still rely on advanced technologies to occupy the high-end market, in terms of technology, it is really difficult for Japanese mobile phone manufacturers that only rely on the durability and reliability of mobile phones to occupy the mainstream of the market, the lack of market and product strategies determines the failure of Japanese mobile phones in China. It is no surprise to withdraw from the Chinese market.

5. Are there any opportunities for Japanese mobile phones?

If Japanese manufacturers entered China by virtue of their CDMA technology, if they leave the Chinese mobile phone market 3G It is difficult to say that the market is back, not to mention that the TD-SCDMA Japanese manufacturers currently being promoted in China have no advantages, even in the WCDMA field, the rise of Chinese systems such as ZTE and Huawei will surely block the return of Japanese manufacturers.

As communication technology becomes increasingly transparent, Chinese mobile phones are currently lagging behind in technology. ZTE has ranked seventh in the world's mobile phone rankings, second only to Beijing porcelain, thanks to China's powerful market, I believe that it will be a matter of time Before ZTE surpassed Kyocera. After two years of experience in Chinese mobile phones, I believe that with its understanding of the Chinese market and the improvement of China's overall technological level, it is entirely possible to make another breakthrough in the next few years. After years of fake prosperity, Chinese mobile phones will become more powerful once they emerge, blocking Japanese mobile phones from the Chinese market. (Author: laomiao)

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