Wacom 2009 Annual Report Download - page 16

15
Our global model
Back in the 1980s, we set up our corporate headquarters in Japan. We extended our global operations to the United
States and Germany, and then expanded to China, Korea, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In addition to
these subsidiaries, we also have sales bases in Shanghai and Moscow. Each of our regional subsidiaries performs
multiple functions. These functions are carried out with localized execution approaches and staff to help forge close
regional ties. We believe that this balanced approach between global strategy and localized execution maximizes our
strength as a global company and helps us to continually offer dynamic products and services that exceed customer
expectations. This has been proven by the fact that the percentage of our overseas sales was 77.9% in our 26th fiscal
year.
Our market is global, and therefore it is vital to our
success that we continue to enhance our global organi-
zations and optimize our business models to offer
leading technology, and the most competitive products
in terms of features, quality and value across the globe.
Marketing and product management
The United States is home to the world’s most advanced
computer graphics market, so naturally this is where we
concentrate on building new partnerships and planning
new professional products. The focus for our consumer
products is different however. For our consumer
products, we focus on Europe, which covers the widest
range of use patterns and is the most competitive
market, and Japan, where consumers are keen for new
trends and demand highly sophisticated products.
Asia/Oceania, typical of an emerging region, shows very
strong demand in the corporate sector. Therefore, our
current emphasis in this region is on business products.
Product development
Japan is where we develop most of our technology and
design hardware products. This is due to the country’s
strong infrastructure for technological development, as
well as its geographic location being close to our main
manufacturing bases in China and Taiwan.
The development of our driver software is performed in
the United States. Here, we are close to all the global
OS developers, such as Microsoft and Apple, as well as
leading software application developers. This proximity
allows us to work in close partnership with these
companies in developing emerging OS and application
standards.
Manufacturing
We focus on developing optimal manufacturing models
for cost, scalability and product quality leadership. To
achieve this, all critical components continue to be
made by Wacom, and all high-volume manufacturing is
done by partners in China and Taiwan. These manufac-
turing partners are under the guidance of our QA
division to ensure the highest and most consistent
product quality. We also have a supply chain manage-
ment (SCM) base in China.
We regularly organize global executive conferences for
strategic planning, business updates and knowledge-
sharing. These conferences provide a platform for us to
build and promote our corporate vision and business
strategies, and reinforce our company’s global position
as the industry leader.