Audiovox 1998 Annual Report Download - page 9

Our core business objective is to increase our earnings by expanding into new technologies; new global markets
made accessible by those products and continued improvements to our operating performance. Our business strategy
is to leverage our competitive strengths and capitalize on key trends in the global wireless industry. Key elements of
that strategy are:
■Supply High Quality Products in all the Available Technologies. We believe that our broad distribution network
and our relationship with our customers permit us to closely monitor needs and changes in wireless product tech-
nologies. Our unique position as a ‘manufacturer without a factory’ allows sourcing all of the available technologies
without the investment in factories and raw materials.
■Expand Global Presence. We intend to be a global supplier of wireless products. And we believe that the addition of
GSM products to our line should allow us to participate in the rapidly expanding GSM international markets. We intend
to capitalize on our strong relationships with domestic carriers who are expanding their footprint in international markets.
■Expand Value Added “Fulfillment” Revenues. Carriers have begun to outsource an increasing amount of product
management and inventory control functions in order to reduce costs and increase their productivity and efficiency.
We believe that we can capitalize on this trend by offering a wide variety of distribution and value added fulfillment
services that effectively and efficiently move wireless handsets and accessories for our customers.
■Promote Company Brand Awareness. During our 15 years in the wireless business, we have invested heavily in pro-
moting the brand “Audiovox”. This promotion was done through direct advertising in various types of media, market
development funds, advertising brochures and literature. We intend to continue investing in our brand to further
leverage its presence in our expanding sales channels.
■Limit Fixed Plant and Capital Risk. A key component of our operating strategy has been to bring to market quality
products under our own brand names or on a private label basis, while limiting our investment in fixed assets. We do
this by controlling the design of our products while having those products produced by quality manufacturers. We
intend to continue this business model and devote a greater portion of our capital resources to design and market-
ing activities and inventory purchases, rather than invest in factories and the associated overhead that would be
required if we manufactured our own products.
INNOVATION
We have a series of ‘firsts’ to our credit, from the first one touch key to the first company to offer
voice activation, SID management and digital features on analog phones.
—Philip Christopher
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