Wacom 2007 Annual Report Download - page 8

Head Of f ice (WCL)
Global Initiatives
With its corporate headquarters in Japan, Wacom
launched and expanded its global operations shortly
after its foundation by establishing consolidated
subsidiaries in the United States, Germany, China, the
United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, and Singapore and
sales bases in Taipei, Shanghai, and Moscow. Each base
performs multiple functions in addition to sales, taking
advantage of regional characteristics. In this way, we
intend to maximize our strengths as a global company,
while continually oering products and services that
exceed customer expectations.
Marketing and Product Planning
In the United States, home to Hollywood and the world’s
most advanced computer graphics market, we
concentrate on professional products. For consumer
products, we focus our eorts in Europe, the most
competitive market, and in Japan, where consumers
demand highly sophisticated products. Asia, like Europe
and Japan, shows strong corporate sector demand with
a particular emphasis on low-priced products.
Product Development
Japan is the focal point of hardware development due to
its solid infrastructure for technological development
and proximity to our major manufacturing bases in China
and Taiwan. The development of driver software is
concentrated in the United States, where the
headquarters of major global operating system (OS)
developers such as Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corporation
are located, allowing us to eectively keep pace with
emerging OS standards.
Manufacturing
To achieve cost-competitiveness, we continue to
manufacture components associated with key
technologies in Japan, and we have shifted other
manufacturing bases, such as our production lines in
China and Taiwan, to electronics manufacturing services
(EMS). By providing appropriate technical guidance and
support for these production lines, we ensure high
product quality. We also have a supply chain
management (SCM) base in China in line with the
transfer of our manufacturing bases.
We have endeavored to achieve maximum operational
eciency by strategically allocating functions such as
marketing, product planning, development,
manufacturing, and SCM to optimal locations across the
world. In addition, since the start of our global
operations, we have striven to localize the organization
and staed our international subsidiaries in a way that
develops close regional ties. Regular international
conferences provide opportunities for the management
of the Company and its subsidiaries to share our
corporate vision and business strategies among the
management of all our international bases. We can bring
together global and local perspectives, while
safeguarding our position as the world leader in the
industry. The ratio of international sales to total sales for
the Company has continued to rise, reaching 75.3% on a
consolidated basis in the year under review. Thus, global
markets are increasingly crucial to corporate operations.
Based on our global strategy, we will continue to
combine the best available technology, products, quality,
and cost across the world and establish stronger
distribution channels through business operations.
Wacom Europe GmbH (WEG)
WEG was established in 1988 in Neuss,
Germany, and was subsequently moved
to Krefeld. The company is responsible
for sales and customer support in the
European, Middle Eastern, and African
markets and also plays a key role in
global marketing and product planning
for consumer pen tablets. WEG provides
market support in six languages.
Wacom Technology Corporation (WTC)
WTC was established in 1991 in
Vancouver, Washington, in the United
States. The company is not only
responsible for sales and customer
support in North and Latin America,
but also plays a central role in global
marketing and product planning for
professional pen tablets, and the
development of driver software.
Fully leveraging our strengths as a global company
7