Sharp Middle East, a subsidiary of the 102-year-old electronics company Sharp, plans to ramp up efforts in South Africa, as part of its regional strategy to continue supplying innovative products to serve a dynamic global marketplace.
Speaking at a press event in Cape Town, Hiroshi Kataoka, executive officer of Sharp Corporation and Osamu Narita, GM of Sharp SA, outlined the company’s plans to aim to expand its business in South Africa.
The focus on South Africa as a key market for growth comes on the back of continued growth for the organization, which has been responsible for some of the leading technologies applied in daily life around the world.
From the world’s first handheld calculator through to the most advanced LCD technology, Sharp Corporation has continued to supply global markets with innovative solutions. Speaking at the media conference, Kataoka and Narita outlined ambitious plans to redefine the way the company is doing business in South Africa, including a strong focus on taking local insights through to the product development process in Japan.
“Sharp is going to focus our business in the new markets which has tremendous growth potential. South Africa is one of our focused regions. We will bring the cutting-edge technologies and products from Japan to South African market,” says Kataoka.
“The future for Sharp in South Africa will be spearheaded from their office in Johannesburg, led by Narita and serviced by a team comprising of both local knowledge and global expertise.
“South Africa is a unique marketplace which can no longer be considered as an emerging market,” says Narita.
“The growth potential here as well as the higher-than-continental-average in terms of literacy, economic maturity and service sector population mean that we cannot consider South Africa with the same strategy as we would the rest of the continent. South Africa requires a different business approach that befits a country that is blooming as an emerging market but as sophisticated as a developed market.”
Initially, the office will focus on developing a burgeoning business-to-business market before expanding to include consumer and government markets. “Sharp is one of the only Office Automation companies that can provide a total office solution to the customer, from printers through to display units,” Narita says.
“Therefore, it makes sense for us to capitalize this advantage initially before expanding to include the proactive marketing and distribution of the rest of our product portfolio. The sophistication of the business technology solutions market in South Africa poses a great opportunity for us to begin our efforts here before taking on the direct-to-consumer market.”
