Kenwood 2007 Annual Report Download - page 8

Consolidated net sales composition by business segment
Car Electronics Business
0
2005/3
2006/3
2007/3
Communications Equipment Business
Home Electronics Business Others
20 40 60 80 100 (%)
57.8
58.7
56.1
30.4
31.9
36.1
10.4
8.1
6.3
1.3
1.3
1.5
Kenwood, which was established in 1946 in Akaho, Nagano
Prefecture as a company specializing in radio assembly and repair,
produced an advanced high-frequency coil by taking advantage of
its location surrounded by mountains, where radio waves were
weak. The high-frequency technology that was built at that time
became the base for Kenwood to develop FM tuners and amateur
radios. Since then, it has expanded its business domains steadily to
include home-use and car-mounted audio systems as well as
commercial radio equipment businesses. Its business areas have also
expanded into North America, Europe, Asia, particularly China,
Pacific, East Europe, particularly Russia, Latin America and the
Middle East.
During the period when Kenwood was called TRIO Electronics,
Inc. (1960 - 1986), it developed as a full-scale audio manufacturer
with the launch of FM tuners that were evaluated as the world’s
best, followed by transistorizing audio products for the first time in
the industry. Kenwood leveraged its advanced technologies that it
had developed in home-use audio products to enter into the car
audio product and portable audio product markets in 1980 and
1982, respectively, establishing the foundation of its present
concept of sound entertainment.
After changing its name to Kenwood Corporation in 1986,
Kenwood aggressively entered new fields such as car navigation
systems and mobile phone enabled by advances in digital networks
and IT technologies, becoming known as the “Kenwood – sound
and communications.” Its business performance was poor for some
time due to the severity of the business environment after the
collapse of Japan’s bubble economy. Kenwood carried on a bold
structural reform starting in July 2002, and succeeded in completely
reforming its financial base and capital structure in August 2005.
Thus, Kenwood was able to make a clean break with the difficulties
of the past.
At present, Kenwood is making efforts to expand its corporate
value in accordance with the second mid-term business plan, the
“Value Creation Plan” formulated in May 2005 based on the
corporate vision of a new Kenwood “Reaching out to discover,
inspire and enhance the enjoyment of life.” Kenwood is pursuing a
growth strategy in its core businesses of Car Electronics,
Communications Equipment, and Home Electronics by making use
of its assets including technical prowess, product planning capability,
global networks and brand power. In addition, Kenwood is
accelerating its strategic growth through business alliances and
M&A, which enables growth to the limit of Kenwood‘s own
capabilities.
Thus, as the sole manufacturer simultaneously operating all three
businesses, we will work to further integrate audio and radio
communications, which are our core competencies. Through these
measures, we will continue to make our utmost efforts to become
the dominant company in the world establishing the business
domain of “Mobile & Home Multimedia Systems.”
Corporate
Profile
Kenwood is aiming to become a “World Excellent Company” with
its core competencies in sound and wireless communications.
Car Electronics Business
Home Electronics Business
Communications Equipment Business
•Car Electronics Consumer
(Audio) Business
•Car Electronics Consumer
(Multimedia) Business
•Car Electronics OEM Business
Outline of Kenwood
08 Kenwood Corporation