Friday 29 Mar 2024
By
main news image

Canon Inc., global market leader in the digital imaging sector, is celebrating more than three decades in Malaysia, after making its debut in 1987. The company’s history stretches back to 1937, when it first started its camera business in Japan.

Today, Canon is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange and had a market capitalisation of ¥4.53 trillion and US$32.97 billion on both exchanges, respectively, as of August 29, according to Bloomberg. According to its official website, it conducts business in more than 220 countries and regions, manufacturing and selling products and servicing its clients worldwide.

Kazutada Kobayashi, president and COO of Canon Marketing Asia, says the company is proud of its history and achievements, and is currently on track to achieve a target of at least ¥4.5 trillion (RM150 billion) in sales in 2025.

Canon’s global net sales in 2021 hit ¥3.51 trillion, up 11.2% from a year earlier. “We are very confident that we can achieve our target by 2025,” he says.

To do that, Kobayashi says it is important for the company to look not just ahead, but back at its history to understand how it has flourished in over eight decades.

For one, the company will continue leveraging its core digital imaging technology — a technology that dictates how light passes through lenses and present itself as images — to expand its businesses. “This technology [has] supported our older products for such a long time and will remain a main competitive edge that supports our future business,” says Kobayashi.

Diversifying its products is another crucial element Canon has learnt to do from the past. After cameras, the company ventured into other products during its earlier days and, in recent times, has included copiers, printers, calculators and computed tomography (CT) systems.

“We have diversified our products to such a variety in different domains. And we are extending our operations through these sound and quality businesses that will contribute to our sales and profit,” says Kobayashi.

In line with product diversification, he says, Canon also continues to embark on its internationalisation journey to increase its global market share, which is another lesson the company learnt from the past.

“We innovate and we produce. And we sell [our products] and service our clients with our own hands. This made us unique in how we continue to exist in the world today.” — Kazutada Kobayashi, president and COO of Canon Marketing Asia

“If the diversification of products is vertical, the diversification of geography is horizontal. This is also what our founders had done in the early days.”

“In 1955, Canon set up its first overseas branch in New York, on Fifth Avenue. Two years later, we set up another office in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1957 as our European headquarters. Since then, we have left our footprints worldwide.”

“We innovate and we produce. And we sell [our products] and service our clients with our own hands. This made us unique in how we continue to exist in the world today,” Kobayashi says.

Corporate philosophy, though abstract and hard to quantify, plays a a vital role in Canon’s long-term success. As a multinational corporation, the company adheres to “Kyosei”, which means ‘working together for the common good and living in harmony with stakeholders, including customers, business partners and employees’. “Such a thinking fits well into the environmental, social and governance (ESG) trend that continues to gain tremendous traction in the corporate world,” says Kobayashi.

In Malaysia, 8,000 trees have been planted since 2016 under Canon Marketing Malaysia (CMM) Sdn Bhd’s One Canon, One Tree campaign. These include 35 trees adopted at Taman Tugu this year, and 300 trees planted recently as a food source for the endangered tapir.

Under the Canon Young Readers Programme, the company has donated more than 200 books to underprivileged children to encourage them to read. Last year, the programme supported the printing and promotion of a book on children’s body safety.

Among several other initiatives, CMM also handed out food aid to 500 families nationwide during the pandemic and joined flood relief efforts when the country was hard hit by one of the worst floodings in decades last year.

Growth in B2B segment and cameras for niche markets

On the local front, Shunji Yoshikai, president and CEO of CMM, says Canon’s history in Malaysia goes back to 1987, when it launched the EOS 650, which was the very first EOS camera worldwide. “So, it is a double celebration for us this year. Not only is it CMM’s anniversary this year, but it is also the 35th anniversary of Canon’s EOS system.”

He attributes Canon’s growth in the local market to the company’s “Kyosei” philosophy that benefits not just the company, but also the countries it operates in. “This philosophy is a key attribute to our success today and is the cornerstone of all our future activities and policies,” says Yoshikai.

Moving forward, he says Canon will focus both on its B2C (business-to-consumer) and B2B (business-to-business) segments to drive business growth.

While it is already well developed in the B2C market with a strong image brand, Canon sees a lot of room for growth in the B2B segment, he says. “On the B2B segment, we expand our value proposition through the ‘Business Can Be Simple’ initiative. We analyse our customers’ challenges and design appropriate solutions to help them increase workplace productivity based on their budget, needs and existing systems. We want to help them simplify their business process, so that they can have peace of mind and focus on their core competencies. This is one of Canon’s ways to build trust in our clients, and to let them use our other products and services,” he says.

“We are also looking into strengthening our business collaboration with key players in the market to enhance our offerings and uphold our position as a global leader in digital imaging solutions.” — Shunji Yoshikai, president and CEO of Canon Marketing Malaysia

“We are also looking into strengthening our business collaboration with key players in the market to enhance our offerings and uphold our position as a global leader in digital imaging solutions,” adds Yoshikai.

Digitalisation and e-commerce are also the focus of CMM. For instance, the company is investing more in cloud-based solutions to ease accessibility to documents and data when more of its clients are working from home. A better multichannel service will also be provided to Canon’s customers in the near future.

“As for the B2C segment, the imaging businesses that involve cameras and lenses have been growing strongly in Malaysia in recent years,” says Yoshikai.

He says consumers increasingly demand different cameras and lenses that cater for specific needs, such as creating photography and videography content for nature, sports, landscapes, vlogs and YouTube videos. “These contents have clearly defined and different requirements that Canon has worked hard to satisfy.”

It was partly to fulfil these niche and growing demands that Canon launched its full-frame mirrorless EOS R system that brought greater creativity and possibilities to the photography and filmmaking industries. Its R series mirrorless cameras have been selling well in the market simultaneously.

“With the launch of the EOS R7 and EOS R10 in May this year, we further expanded the EOS R system’s high image quality and advanced functions in both the photography and video capabilities into our APS-C cameras.”

In fact, Yoshikai says Canon plans to create a more robust EOS system that meets the needs of the increasingly diverse range of consumers. “As a leading brand, we are committed to continuously increasing our new product line-ups to revitalise the market by launching new EOS R cameras and lenses.”

      Print
      Text Size
      Share