Ricoh 2000 Annual Report Download - page 5

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A higher market cap
Intense interest in Internet stocks underpinned a roller-
coaster year in global equity markets. Japan was no
exception. By contrast, the share prices of well-established
companies remained stagnant in Japan throughout the
term.
But in this regard Ricoh was certainly an exception.
Our share price reached a high of ¥2,525 ($24.51) during
the year, compared with a peak of ¥1,634 in the previous
fiscal term. Our year-end market capitalization improved
78.0%, to ¥1,523 billion ($14,786 million). Our share
price has since remained near its fiscal 2000 peak despite
a general downturn in Japanese equities markets. Such
prolonged stability reflects the market’s confidence in our
broad, high-value-added lineup of products and solutions
services for the digitally networked office.
Royal Treatment Builds Loyal Customers
At the start of this letter, we attributed much progress to
our customer satisfaction commitment. Of course, this is
not a new concept for Ricoh. Throughout the 1990s, we
overcame dark times precisely because we recognized that
customers have become more selective and expect the
very best.
But what exactly is our customer commitment
today? What’s the focus? First and foremost, our cus-
tomers want the best possible user experience with our
products and services. They want value. Value doesn’t
necessarily mean the initial purchase cost, although
we’re already very competitive in that regard. Value is
consistently delivering the most user-friendly performance
in ways that cut the total cost of ownership.
Value is also pursuing new ways to enrich the cus-
tomer experience while doing something for the environ-
ment. That is why, for example, we have altered our
product lineup in the past few years to concentrate almost
entirely on computer-connective, multifunctional equip-
ment. Equally important, more of our products are very
energy-efficient and recyclable.
One of our most pleasing achievements in fiscal
2000 was winning the 1999 Japan Quality Award, known
colloquially in Japan as the JQA. This award is modeled
after America’s Malcolm Baldridge National Quality
Award. The JQA essentially equates “quality” with “cus-
tomer satisfaction.” Entering the JQA competition was
important in that it encouraged us to reform manage-
ment and pursue customer satisfaction even more
intensely. This, in turn, motivated us to explore areas we
hadn’t considered deeply before and to provide better
solutions.
To Our Shareholders and Customers
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