Electronic companies

China
Company
Aigo
Haier


Germany
Company
Grundig
Siemens


Japan
Company
Alpine
Brother Industries
Canon
Casio
Clarion
Corega
Denon
Eizo (Nanao)
Epson
Fujifilm
Fuji Xerox
Fujitsu
Funai
Hitachi
iiyama
IO Data
JVC (Victor)
Konica Minolta
Kyocera
Marantz
Melco (Buffalo)
Mitsubishi Electric
Mouse Computer
NEC
Nikon
Oki
Olympus
Panasonic
Pentax
Pioneer


History
Haier's history begins long before the actual founding of the company, in 1920's Qingdao where a refrigerator factory was built to supply the Chinese market. After the 1949 establishment of the People's Republic of China, Haier was then taken over and turned into a state-owned enterprise. By the 1980s, the factory was in debt for over CNY ¥1.4 million and suffered from dilapidated infrastructure, poor management, and lack of quality controls; resulting from the planned economic system and relevant policies. [2] Production had slowed to a trickle, rarely surpassing 80 refrigerators a month, and the factory was close to bankruptcy. In desperation, the Qingdao government turned to a young assistant city-manager, Zhang Ruimin, responsible for a number of city owned appliance companies. Zhang was appointed the managing director of the factory in 1984.


Zhang Ruimin and the corporate legend
Zhang was an avid reader who had studied Western and Japanese business practices and management techniques. When he arrived in 1984, Zhang realized that the poor condition of the factory's quality controls was endangering its continued survival.

In 1985, a customer brought a faulty refrigerator back to the factory and showed it to Zhang. Zhang and the customer then went through his entire inventory of 400 refrigerators looking for a replacement. In the process he discovered that there was a 20 percent failure rate in his merchandise. To drive home the importance of product quality, Zhang had the 76 dud refrigerators lined up on the factory floor. He then distributed sledgehammers to the employees and ordered them to destroy the refrigerators. The workers were hesitant; the cost of a refrigerator at the time was about 2 years worth of wages. [3] Seeing their distress, Zhang said: "Destroy them! If we pass these 76 refrigerators for sale, we'll be continuing a mistake that has all but bankrupted our company." The refrigerators were smashed to pieces. One of the hammers is on display at company headquarters as a reminder to posterity.


Founding a new company
Haier was founded as Qingdao Refrigerator Co. in 1984. With China opening up to world markets, foreign corporations began searching for partnerships in China. One of these, Germany's Liebherr Group, entered into an agreement with Qingdao Refrigerator Co., offering technology and equipment to its Chinese counterpart. Refrigerators were to be manufactured under the name of Qingdao-Liebherr (Chinese: 青岛—利勃海尔; Pinyin: Qingdao-Libuhaier). Combined with Zhang's disciplined management techniques, which broke from the tradition of the Iron rice bowl in Chinese state-owned enterprises, the company began to turn around. By 1986, Qingdao Refrigerator had returned to profitability and sales growth averaged 83 percent per year. With sales of just CNY ¥3.5 million in 1984, sales rocketed to CNY ¥40.5 billion by 2000; a growth of more than 11,500 percent.[4]

With the success of Qingdao's refrigerator company, the municipal government asked it to take over some of the city's other ailing appliance makers. In 1988, the company assumed control of Qingdao Electroplating Company (making microwaves) and in 1991, also took over Qingdao Air Conditioner Plant and Qingdao Freezer.


The Haier Brand
Having diversified its product line beyond refrigerators, the company adopted a new name in 1991. Borrowing from the German name of its partner, "Haier" came from the last two syllables of the Chinese transliteration of Liebherr (pronounced "Li-bu-hai-er"). Qingdao Haier Group was further simplified in 1992 to Haier Group, the company's current name.

The company set out to establish itself as the country's leading brand, focusing upon reliability and product quality. Diversification would also allow Haier to spread out its risk among various product lines. So, in 1995 Haier bought out its chief rival in Qingdao, Red Star Electric Appliance Factory. In 1997, the company moved into television manufacturing with the acquisition of Huangshan Electronics Group. By the end of the 1990s, Haier was the most recognized brand in the country with products ranging from mobile phones to computers; it had also captured a dominant market share in its core white goods division.


International expansion
Its place in the domestic market secure, Haier moved onto the international stage with the goal of building a global brand name. The company opened a production facility in Indonesia in 1996, and the Philippines and Malaysia in 1997. Haier's move into the U.S. market was cautious at first; it focused upon two niche markets in compact refrigerators and electric wine cellars. Both markets were underdeveloped, but Haier believed that they both had growth potential and were being largely neglected. The company's sales figures soon proved this belief correct, allowing Haier to firmly establish itself in its US niche.

With this success, Haier looked to make further inroads in the North American market by moving into the full-sized refrigerator category. This would bring it into direct competition with established American giants: GE, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, and Maytag; not to mention foreign competitors like LG and Samsung. As part of its strategy, Haier decided to build a production facilty in the United States at Camden, South Carolina, opened in 2000. By 2002, US revenues reached USD $200 million, small when compared to its overall revenue of $7 billion, but Haier set an ambitious sales goal $1 billion and 10 percent of the US refrigerator market. Also in 2002, Haier moved into the Landmark Building in downtown Manhattan. Formerly the headquarters for the Greenwich Bank, the 52,000 square foot building was built in 1924 in the neo-classical style.

Haier continued its expansion into other international markets as well. Production facilities were constructed in Pakistan in 2002 and Jordan in 2003, greatly strengthening its position in the Middle East market. In Africa, Haier has plants in five countries: Tunisia, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria and South Africa.[5] The company also purchased a factory in Italy, as part of its continued drive into the European market. Haier has been successful in placing its products in most major European retail chains, either under its own brand or under OEM agreements with foreign partners. [6][7]


Ownership Structure
Although under partial public ownership, Haier is still technically a "collective" company, meaning that it is supposed to be owned by its employees. However, its actual ownership situation is opaque; the employees receive no dividends and do not know how much they own in reality. Interference from officials is also a risk for SOE's like Haier. Various levels of government often try to push their ailing companies upon successful ones, often resulting in failure; Haier was once talked into acquiring a pharmaceutical company, even though it had no prior experience or infrastructure in biotechnology.[8]

As a government entity, Haier was also officially barred from entering the stock exchange early on. However, the company needed funds for its expansion and therefore sought loopholes to access private equity. In 1993, it listed a subsidiary Qingdao Haier Refrigerator Co. on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, raising CNY ¥370 million. In 2005, Haier entered the Hong Kong Stock Exchange through a "backdoor listing" by acquiring a controlling stake in a publicly listed joint venture Haier-CCT Holdings Ltd. (SEHK: 1169). Haier is also an index stock of the Dow Jones China 88 Index.


Maytag bid
In June 2005, Haier made a bid to acquire Maytag Corporation, backed by private equity funds Blackstone Group and Bain Capital. The bid was for USD $1.28 billion, or $16 per share, topping a previous offer of $14 per share made by Ripplewood Holdings. [9] In the end however, Maytag was bought by Michigan based Whirlpool Corporation which offered $1.6 billion in cash and stock, or $20 per share, plus assumed debt.[10]



Casio was established in April 1946 by Tadao Kashio (樫尾 忠雄, Kashio Tadao?), an engineer specializing in fabrication technology. Kashio's first major product was the yubiwa pipe, a finger ring that would hold a cigarette, allowing the wearer to smoke the cigarette down to its nub while also leaving the wearer's hands free. Japan was impoverished immediately following World War II so cigarettes were valuable, and the invention was a success.

After seeing the electric calculators at the first Business Show in Ginza, Tokyo in 1949, Kashio and his younger brothers used their profits from the yubiwa pipe to develop their own calculators. Most of the calculators at that time worked using gears and could be operated by hand using a crank or using a motor. Kashio had some knowledge of electronics, and set out to make a calculator using solenoids. The desk-sized calculator was finished in 1954, sold for 485,000 yen and was Japan's first electro-mechanical calculator. One of the central innovations of the calculator was its adoption of the 10-key number pad; at that time other calculators were using a "full keypad", which meant that each place in the number (1s, 10s, 100s, etc...) had nine keys. Another innovation was the use of a single display window instead of the three display windows (one for each argument and one for the answer) used in other calculators.

In 1957 Casio released the Model 14-A, the world's first all-electric compact calculator, which was based on relay technology. 1957 also marked the establishment of Casio Computer Co. Ltd.

In the 1980s, its budget electronic instruments and home keyboards gained huge popularity.

In the same decade the company also became well known for the wide variety and innovation of its wrist watches. It is one of the early manufacturers of quartz-crystal watches, both digital and analog. It also sold a calculator watch at one time. It was one of the first manufacturers of watches that could display the time in many different time zones and of watches with temperature, atmospheric-pressure, and altitude displays.

Especially popular are its dual function (LCD and analog) watches, some of which, called Wave Ceptors, receive radio signals daily from an atomic clock to keep accurate time. These watches come with lengthy manuals(50 pages each in English and Spanish, each the size of a business card): those users who master all the intricate features will be able to tell time in many time zones, use alarms and timers, and even follow Daylight-Saving Time; those who ignore or misunderstand the manual can expect many surprises.


Timeline of important product releases
1957 Casio releases the Model 14-A, the world's first all electric compact calculator
1965 The 001 calculator is released
1972 The release of Casio's personal calculator, the Casio "Mini" sells for 12,800 yen, going on to sell over 10 million units
1974 The Casiotron, a watch that features a fully automatic calendar, including month lengths and leap years, is released.
1980 Casio releases their Casiotone keyboard instrument.
1983 The first G-Shock watch, the DW-5000C, is released.
1985 Casio launches its first professional synthesiser, the CZ-101.
1995 The QV-10, the world's first digital camera that includes a TFT display, is released.
2002 The EX-S1, the first Exilim digital camera is released.

Products
Calculator
Cash register
Illuminator (backlight)
Digital camera - Exilim Series
Laptop and Sub-notebook computers
Mobile phone
Electric keyboard (musical instrument)
PDA and E-Data Bank
Electronic dictionary and Wordtank
Computer printer
Clock, Quartz clock, and Watch
Portable Television and Handheld television


Kyocera Corporation or Kyōsera Kabushiki-gaisha is a Japanese company based in Kyoto, Japan. The company was founded as Kyoto Ceramic Co., Ltd. (京都セラミツク株式会社, Kyōto Seramikku Kabushiki-gaisha?) in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori. It manufactures ceramics and printing-related devices, as well as a comprehensive line of imaging products. Kyocera acquired the famous Yashica Camera Company Ltd. in 1983, along with Yashica's prior licensing agreement with Carl Zeiss, and manufactured a line of high-quality film and digital cameras under the Yashica and Contax trade names, until Kyocera abandoned all film and digital camera production in 2005. In January 2000 Kyocera acquired photocopier manufacturer Mita Industrial, and a month later they bought the mobile phone manufacturing operations of San Diego, California-based QUALCOMM to form Kyocera Wireless.

In the 1980s, Kyocera marketed high-end audio components, such as CD players, receivers, turntables, and cassette decks. These featured unique elements, including Kyocera ceramic-based platforms, and are sought by collectors to the present day. It also introduced a portable LCD screen computer in 1985, the Kyotronic 85. Kyocera also produces ceramics, such as their ceramic knives.

Kyocera are currently the shirt sponsor of Reading F.C., of the English Premiership, Kyoto Purple Sanga in the J-League, Borussia Moenchengladbach in the Bundesliga, and Atlético Paranaense in Brazil. Kyocera also sponsor Atlético's stadium, the Kyocera Arena, and have their insignia on the back of Atlético Madrid's shirts.

In 2003, Kyocera Wireless California started the India subsidiary at Bangalore. It was named Kyocera Wireless India. KWI has tied up with several leading players for providing CDMA services in India. For 2005, Kyocera copiers and printers have received J.D. Power and Associates' highest ranking in their


Planex
Renesas
Ricoh
Sanyo
Seiko
Sharp
SII
Sony
TDK
Toshiba


Korea, South
Company
Daewoo Electronics
LG
Samsung


Netherlands
Company
Philips


Singapore
Company


Taiwan
Company
Acer
AOpen
Asus
BenQ
EPoX
Gigabyte
MSI
Soyo
TSMC
VIA Technologies


United Kingdom
Company





United States
Company
AMD
Apple
Avaya
Averatec
Cisco Systems
CyberPower PCs
Dell
eMachines
Emerson Radio
Emerson Electric
Gateway
Hewlett-Packard
IBM
Intel
NVIDIA
Packard Bell
RCA
SGI
Sun Microsystems
TI
Unisys
Zenith

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