'Our aim is to give concrete solutions to customers, rather than plain vanilla products'

Ronnie Lau has been assigned the task of studying the market and devising
strategies to entrench the Fujitsu Microelectronics? brand locally for its
display and IC products. Besides establishing a direct presence in India, he
tells CI that he is also working out on the feasibility of having a global
resource center here to give inputs on manufacturing and product development.

What are your plans for India in the current fiscal?

India has talent that is required for our product development. It?s one of
the largest and fastest growing markets across the world. We want to tap this
market with varied offerings through our distributors.

We will also strengthen our direct presence in India. Our Bangalore office is
already functional. We might also look at India as a global resource center to
give inputs on manufacturing and product development.

What specific offerings to you have for solution
providers?

For solution providers, we have a lot of offerings such as RFID and
smart-card solutions. There is also the FRV family for the multimedia processing
and other display products. We will also help them deliver middleware solution
based on our offerings along with software solutions.

Will you be emulating your global business strategies in
India or will you work on making it more country-specific?

The Indian market is very different from the rest of the world in several
ways. It is not our game plan to merely increase our revenues in the country. We
also want to build brand equity and loyalty, besides garnering goodwill.

Telecommunications n Optical network (Long Haul) n Switches n Mobile and wireless n Network management services Computing Products and Peripherals n Notebook n Tablet PCs n PDAs n Scanners

Our aim is to give concrete solutions to customers, rather
than plain vanilla products. The Indian industry requires a lot of solutions and
we want to provide as many of these as possible. We will tie up with solutions
providers to offer comprehensive products.

We want our partners to increase the production using our
hardware and middleware offerings. Meanwhile, we will also continue working with
our existing three distributors as well.

Who are your major competitors in India?

Since our offerings are very varied in nature, we don?t have a single
company as a direct competitor. Fujitsu provides customer-focused IT and
communications solutions for the global marketplace. We deliver these
comprehensive solutions across various segments. However, in isolation, Toshiba
and ST Micro are our competitors.

 

How important a market is India in your global game plan?

The most unique feature of the India market is its diversity in every
aspect. There are several verticals, like broadcasting, energy, digital media,
automation, which are growing at a fast pace. We are aware that we have made a
late entry into the country and are therefore working with extra vigor to
accelerate our business fast in region.

Will you set up a manufacturing facility in India?

Although no plans have been finalized yet, we might look at this proposition
seriously. Overall, India is a lucrative destination to be based in and in the
future we would want India to be the resource hub for Fujitsu Microelectronics.

We would like to have a development center for our solutions
offerings in the country and probably put up a manufacturing unit in distant
future. Currently, we have two in China and Japan.

What will your local go-to-market strategy be?

We are focused on the long-term potential of this market. To start with, we
will fortify our direct presence here and consolidate the channel presence.
Right now, we have three national distributors who have been selling products.
In the near future, we will look at solutions-driven sales.

We will also launch the complete range of our products-ASIC
products, application-specific ICs, display panels, micro-controllers, system
memory and multimedia solutions for set-top boxes. We will also engage in brand
building activities such as regular partner seminars and exhibitions, while
simultaneously expanding the office.

SHWETA KHANNA