Olympus 2003 Annual Report Download - page 9

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ness model is based on a system of charging customers only for
the actual testing they do, rather than the one-time sale of a pack-
aged product. We offer our customers a contract where pricing
is determined on a per-test basis and includes everything they
need, from hardware and reagents to support services. The clin-
ical analyzer business is the most progressive business at O lympus
that is based on the number of installations. Since Olympus is a
manufacturer, the Company provides value in other businesses
mainly through hardware functions. In the clinical analyzer busi-
ness, however, the Company does not sell the product itself, but
provides value by earning revenue based on how much the cus-
tomer uses the product. This difference is what makes the clini-
cal analyzer business unique, and is its secret to future growth.
Olympus’s technological background is deeply rooted to the
microscope business. In addition, backed by its number one mar-
ket share, Olympus is the largest manufacturer of microscopes in
the world. Microscopes are employed in a variety of applications,
and recently have been used prominently for research in the field
of life sciences including genome research. Fittingly, customers
that use our microscopes are on the cutting edge of scientific tech-
nology. This connection to our customers—the researchers—is
a precious asset to Olympus that is not immediately apparent.
The second reason is to strike off in a new direction through
a combination of existing businesses and the advancement of opti-
cal technologies—the foundation of Olympus—by launching the
Life Science Group. We aim to develop life science operations
from a base of common points shared by genome medicine and
parts of our traditional microscope and clinical analyzer busi-
nesses. Through this initiative, Olympus plans to establish the
life sciences field as its third business pillar after the medical and
imaging fields.
Olympus believes that dividing operations into two groups
will spur innovation in and the advancement of its core tech-
nologies under a new framework.
Q2: Could you describe how the clinical analyzer and micro-
scope businesses relate to genome medicine?
With annual sales of nearly ¥.billion, the clinical analyzer
business is second only to digital cameras in terms of growth. This
is because Olympus is one of the few companies in the clinical
testing industry able to provide both hardware (clinical analyz-
ers) and software (reagents) to its customers. Moreover, this busi-
FE
M A R K E T S H A R E F O R
M I C R O S C O P E S
Olympus is the
largest manufacturer
of microscopes in the
world.
#1
OLYMPUS 2003
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