nec
nec

nec

Strategic Planning for Successful International Expansion

Strategic Planning for Successful International ExpansionA long-time friend of WWJ, Walter Adamson, founder and principal at Digital Investor, sat down with us to share his latest presentation, “Strategic Planning for Successful International Expansion: Lessons Learned from Asia’s Failed Experiences,” a primer on the mistakes that mobile content companies have made while trying to expand across borders, with a focus on Japan and Australia. In the Japanese case, some have succeeded, but many others have not and Walter has provided a clear outline of common mistakes.

Walter attributes failure in many cases to unsophisticated management approaches and suggests that a solution can be found from addressing what he calls the ‘Top Six Sins’ — Strategic Intent, Underestimated Risk, Lack of Linkage (between strategy and action), Poor Balance, Poor Project Reviews and Poor Alignment (between strategy and structure). WWJ thinks Walter’s view may just be valuable to mobile companies anywhere considering a leap into someone else’s market.

Continuation of Customer First Approach

SOFTBANK CORP. and Vodafone K.K. today announce they have made decisions regarding current services based on customer feedback, following the announcement that Vodafone K.K. will enter the SoftBank Group, after completion of the ongoing tender offer bid launched by the SoftBank Group. Customer centers and Vodafone shops received a high number of customer inquiries after this announcement.

NEC Telecom China Plans

NEC Telecom, one of the only really active Japanese handset makers in China, regards China as its most important overseas market amid personnel changes and the retreat of other Japanese firms. So says Ken Lu, the new president of NEC Telecom China. “Global expansion is a focus for NEC Telecom in the world and China is a priority in that expansion,” said Lu yesterday.

Omron Boosts RFID Capacity

Omron has announced that RFID inlay manufacturing capacity will be increased to support production of more than 250 million inlays per year at its Minakuchi factory in Shiga, Japan. This factory location was chosen to take advantage of its more than 30 years of experience with semiconductors and class 10000 clean room standards. The company will continue to add inlay production capacity to further increase annual production above 350 million inlays within the next 12 months.

NEC Considers UWB Module

According to recent reports in the Japanese press, NEC Electronics Corp. has revealed it is discussing volume production of a Certified Wireless USB (WUSB) transmission module using ultra wideband technology based on WiMedia Alliance’s multiband OFDM specification as early as the end of June 2006. If all goes as planned, dongles and other WUSB compatible products are likely to show up on the local market by Fall of 2006.

TI, NEC and Panasonic Consider JV

According to the Nikkei, top mobile phone chip supplier Texas Instruments Inc., NEC Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. are in talks over possible cooperation in cellphones, Matsushita and NEC said on Friday. NEC’s chip unit, NEC Electronics Corp., and the cellphone unit of Matsushita, Panasonic Mobile Communications Co., are involved in the talks, they said, adding that nothing concrete has been decided.