Ricoh 2013 Annual Report Download - page 12

Ricoh Group Sustainability Report 201311
What are the specific initiatives of the
17th Mid-Term Management Plan (MTP),
which runs from April 2011 to March 2014?
The two fundamental strategies specified in the 17th
MTP are “business creation and integration” and the
“establishment฀of฀highly฀efcient฀management.”฀By฀
putting these two into effect, we greatly improved
our฀protability฀in฀scal฀2013฀compared฀to฀the฀
previous year. The structural reforms we pursued
have resulted in an expanded portfolio of products
and services that offer new customer value.
Could you discuss these initiatives,
beginning with “Thoroughly reinforce
earning power through core businesses”?
The core business of the Ricoh Group is imaging
and solutions. There is strong demand for A4 MFPs
in฀Europe,฀Asia฀and฀elsewhere.฀By฀augmenting฀our฀
lineup of these products and adding others that
help customers boost their productivity while saving
on energy costs, we have captured a very high
market share.
Fiscal 2014 is a pivotal period for us. As the final
year of the 17th MTP, it will reveal the true worth of
our accomplishments so far. From here on, we are
pursuing four key initiatives as ways to put us on a
true growth trajectory.
•฀Operating฀Income฀(15th฀to฀17th฀MTP)
•฀Four฀Key฀Initiatives฀for฀Growth
•฀ Thoroughly reinforce earning power
through core businesses
•฀ Create new profit models in the current
core business
•฀ Accelerate development for new growth
businesses
•฀ Improve resource efficiency
These days companies seek out eco-friendly
features such as lower energy consumption and
recycled materials when they assign contracts. Not
only that — they sometimes audit the working
conditions of the production chain. So customers’
demands are getting more diverse and exacting.
If the Ricoh Group can respond properly to these
expectations, we can strengthen our relationships of
trust with our customers.
How about “Create new profit models in
the current core business”?
Our core business has long been MFPs and other
equipment that handle paper documents. The world
has quickly grown more digitized and networked,
thus enabling people to work anytime, anyplace. We
see opportunities in supporting these work styles that
are untethered from the office, and have launched
business models that help customers deal with issues
that arise with new ways of working.
The Ricoh Group continues to provide document-
related products and services, but we also have
competencies in the management of IT environments.
That makes us a one-stop source for solutions
that enhance communication, including projection
systems, videoconferencing systems and interactive
whiteboards.฀By฀packaging฀the฀administration฀of฀IT฀
systems with our other contracted services in this way,
we are simultaneously deepening the relationships
with our customers and building business models that
can increase revenue.
What are the elements of “Accelerate
development for new growth businesses”?
We must continually create new value for our
customers if we are to grow over the long term.
To that end, we are nurturing promising new
technologies. In the field of industrial products, for
example, we have launched a high-performance
compact factory automation camera that can perform
product inspections and positioning, tasks that until
now required human workers on production lines.
This is an illustration of how the amalgamation of
optical, image processing and materials technologies
can lead to new business domains. In consumer
products, our aim is to increase our brand equity
through products like the PENTAX Q10, a digital
mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera that is
incredibly compact and lightweight.
In sum, we are strengthening our overall
processes for exploring, developing and generating
new businesses.
JPY billions
FY
15th MTP 16th MTP 17th MTP
− 18.0
2012 2014
Forecast
140.0
2013
63.4
2006
148.5
2008
181.5
2007
174.3
2011
58.0
2009
74.5
2010
65.9