The man seems to know how to dress. Noriaki Yamaguchi showed up in dark navy suit, quite well matched with a striped shirt and a handkerchief in the left upper pocket of his jacket.
The stylish CEO of Nikon Imaging Korea Ltd. hopes to apply his fashion sense, which makes him look younger than his age, to the way he runs the local unit of the Japanese camera maker.
One of his business strategies is to transform the image of Nikon - a brand more known for professional users - into one that is more appealing to young generations.
And he has a big reason for that. "Can you guess the percentage of the population of over 50-year-old people in Korea?" the 52-year-old CEO asked.
"Twenty or 23 percent, which means the biggest population (by age group) in Korea is in their 20s and 30s," he said in an interview with The Korea Herald. "This is why we have to focus on young customers here."
The executive said that he was quite surprised that young customers were not fully aware of the Nikon brand.
And he decided to change the brand image from professional-only into the one that is young and appealing.
"The image of the Nikon brand seemed to be too professional for them. I find Mr. Rain attractive to young generations and asked him to let them know more about Nikon," he said.
Rain, the country's top pop singer and actor who recently made his debut in Hollywood with the film "Speed Racer," has been promoting Nikon since 2006.
The image of Rain helps the company's products appeal to young customers.
The company also endeavors to provide a variety of customer support services.
As a result, Yamaguchi said, the company has achieved more than a 50 percent increase in revenues in the fiscal 2007 that ended in March. In the previous year, the company has earned 90 billion won.
Asked how the company deals with the fierce competition around the globe, especially with its rival Canon, the CEO said: "Competition is not the main focus of business."
"Nikon celebrated its 90th anniversary last year with a new slogan for the next 10 years, 'Exceeding Expectation.' If we continue business with that slogan, I think we can provide better service and products worldwide," he said.
"Customers expect (the quality of) the camera this much but we will definitely exceed their expectation," he said.
Launching its high-end digital single lens reflex camera "D3" and DX format "D300" in late 2007, Nikon has completed full lines of entry-level and high-end models of DSLR cameras. He estimated that around 25,000 units of DSLR cameras were sold in Korea last year.
This year, Nikon will once again try to exceed customers' expectations with new products to be released, Yamaguchi said.
"It is top secret. But I will introduce a couple of cameras within this year, which will surprise the market and people. This is what I meant by exceeding expectation by introducing quality products that they would never have imagined before," the CEO said.
He said that in the Korean market about 2.3 million compact digital cameras are being sold each year and the number will grow in another three or four years.
"The market is already mature, but I think there is plenty of room to grow," he said, adding that he plans to expand his business in a more challenging way.
"I don't like 'zero win-zero loss' but rather would prefer 10 win-10 loss which means challenge is very important. I will make this organization more challenging than before," he said.
Born in Fukuoka, Japan, in 1956, Yamaguchi said he was mostly influenced by his father, a businessman who traveled around the globe to explore oil fields during the 1950s and 60s.
"Seeing my father, I thought I will also live overseas," he said.
The dream came true when he developed his career in the United States for 13 years. Then he came to Korea in 2006 to open the company's local unit in Korea, which he calls "smart and very sensitive to new technology."
"Korean customers are very sensitive to new technology. I think Koreans are the most sensitive people worldwide. Which means we can win in other countries if we win in Korea," he said.
He acknowledged that the cultures in Japan and Korea are different and it took him quite a while to adapt himself to the Korean lifestyle, especially spicy food.
"I always ask the waitress to make food less spicy for me." Yamaguchi said he loves galbitang (beef ribs in soup) and egg rolls.
By Cho Chung-un
(christory@heraldm.com)
2008.06.02
My opinion
Introduction
Nikon is very global company. if you take little interest in digital camera, maybe you already knew Nikon company. Especially, Nikon became well known by high-end, its image was somewhat professional. When digital camera was used by profession-only, its professional image was big merits, but market is popularized. To compete with its competitors like Canon, marketing strategy should be changed.
-Repositioning
In formal days, digital camera was very expensive and used professionally. But the price of digital camera is going down and down due to the development of technology, the age of customer is younger and younger. Although regular customer was changing, young customers were not fully aware of the Nikon brand. Nikon decide to change the brand image from professional-only into the one that is young and appealing. Nikon find Mr.Rain ,the country's top pop singer and actor, and attempt to change its brand image more younger. As a result, Nikon has achieved more than a 50 percent increase in revenues in the fiscal 2007 that ended in March. In the previous year, the company has earned 90 billion won.Conclusion
Times are constantly changing. The successful company always response quickly about market situation. There is no eternal winner. They should change without break. Even though Nikon was already successful company, it constantly struggle to response market situation. If it stop to change, the pulse of company stop to beat, too.
20200630 Hong KIJU Entry #13
reference by http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/
By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldm.com)
2008.06.02
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