Yamaha 2008 Annual Report Download - page 9

07Annual Report 2008
Question 5:
Business expansion in the global marketplace is a prominent aspect of Yamaha’s recent business
activities. Why do you think that Yamaha can prevail in the global market?
Question 6:
Effective strategic investment, including M&A strategy, will be essential for Yamaha’s future growth.
Could you describe Yamaha’s basic approach to strategic investment using recent case examples?
Yamaha has long engaged in business overseas. We have
earned an excellent reputation all over the world for brand value
underpinned by strong customer trust and confidence nurtured
through long years of providing high-quality products and ser-
vices. We intend to further cement our position as the world’s
leading comprehensive musical instruments manufacturer by
maintaining the value of the Yamaha brand and continuing to find
common ground with, and contribute to, musical cultures in the
many regions in which we operate.
We are planning to develop our business aggressively in emerg-
ing markets, where economic growth is fuelling an increase in the
number of people who enjoy music as a part of daily life. But that is
not our only focus, since there is also ample potential for boosting
sales in the mature markets of Japan, North America and Europe
by expanding the market to increase our market share—if we can
propose the right products in the right way. The key here, I believe,
is to build on Yamaha’s market presence still further by continuing to
supply products that offer new value and provide tailored services.
In emerging markets we aim to increase sales by investing manage-
ment resources and selling products adapted to the characteristics
of individual regions or countries. In China, for example—a market
where business conditions remain robust—we are developing our
music schools and sales networks at a rapid pace. We have also
established local sales subsidiaries and are now putting in place the
Yamaha’s basic policy on strategic investment is to make appro-
priate resource investments and seek out further opportunities
for expansion to secure growth in “The Sound Company” busi-
ness domain. Reinforcing the capabilities of the relevant internal
business units is one way in which we have pursued that goal. In
more specific terms, we are not aiming simply to expand busi-
ness scale, but are actively searching for opportunities to
enhance and perfect our in-house technologies, sales network
and manufacturing bases, as well as our product portfolio in
areas where we have low market share. Our plans to marry the
software of German music software developer Steinberg Media
Technologies GmbH with Yamaha’s hardware technologies are a
case in point.
In the commercial audio equipment sector, we recently
entered into an alliance with NEXO S.A., a leading sound rein-
forcement loudspeaker manufacturer in France, and we are now
seeking synergies with them by developing Yamaha digital ampli-
fiers that make the most of the superb sound of NEXO speakers.
We are also achieving benefits of scale in audio equipment
installation and maintenance by merging and integrating our
sound engineering subsidiaries in Japan’s commercial audio
equipment sector. This will enable us to make solid progress in
exploiting business opportunities at numerous halls and theaters
in Japan that are due to upgrade their audio facilities.
In 2008, L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH, an Austrian man-
ufacturer of premium pianos, joined the Yamaha Group. With this
new subsidiary we intend to increase sales and enhance earning
power, in addition to bolstering our presence in the premium piano
market by applying Yamaha’s marketing expertise and developing
new products incorporating automatic playing technology.
infrastructure to expand the musical instruments business in two
other countries: Russia, which boasts a rich tradition of Western
music and striking economic growth; and India, a country that offers
excellent prospects for market expansion.