Slashdot Mirror
Sharp Warns That It Might Collapse
angry tapir writes "Japan's Sharp, a major supplier of LCD displays to Apple and other manufacturers, has warned that it may not survive if it can't turn around its business. The Osaka-based manufacturer said there is "material doubt" about its ability to continue operating in its earnings report filed Thursday. Sharp added, however, that it still believes it can cut costs and secure enough credit to survive. Its IGZO technology for mobile displays is likely to be a key element of its business strategy."
This would be an opportune time for Apple to buy Sharp....
This would be an even more opportune time for Samsung to buy Sharp.
The problem, from Apple's perspective, is that Samsung is the only viable producer of top-quality displays. Only Samsung and LG can produce the volume necessary, and Samsung is openly hostile now that Apple's been trying to bend them over one too many times. So now they're stuck with crap SSDs (Toshiba) and crap IPS panels (LG) unless they pull a rabbit out of the hat. Keeping Sharp afloat with purchasing agreements would be the Microsoft move (a la the investment in Apple, early 90's) but Apple is more likely to buy Sharp and try to keep the entire supply chain in-house. It would take years for this one to bear fruit but, hasn't Apple been patient before? And they've got the cash to build out in a hurry.
$
Big Japanese mobile companies always take a long time to turn around if something happens. They all still don't understand why the iphone is successful since all the management level there was brought up in a time when NTT had a monopoly and the companies produced mobile phones nearly exclusively for NTT/docomo (imode), which in turn force fed the mobiles to the customers.
I liked Sharps products, learned programming on a MZ-80B. I always wanted to buy a zaurus, one of the first linux-based PDAs, but it was mainly sold/available inside Japan. When i lived in Japanlater, i bought a sharp netwalker T1 (only available in Japan).
The netwalker demonstrates all of Sharps shortcomings in a technically not so bad device:
-Target the Japanese market only from the beginning
-make no advertisements about the special features it has (e.g. standard usb host port, interesting pointing device layout)
-make a half-assed decision of using Ubuntu on it (for *two* devices they used the ARM port of Ubuntu)
-leave it unpolished, with easy to fix show-stopper bugs, trusting that the Japanese will always buy Sharp
because then Apple tells them to get bent, buys all their displays from someone else and Sharp goes under instantly.
An electronics manufacturer I talked to was in a similar situation where a large customer pretty much said that they wanted things made cheaper or they would take their business elsewhere. Instead of shitting his pants he went over the numbers and regrettably informed the customer that he couldn't build things at the price they demanded. A few month later they got back and accepted his original price.
Moral of the story?
If you can't produce at the demanded price then chances are that your competition can't either.
The customer is only right as long as he is willing to pay, if he doesn't want to pay he is no customer and you should spend your time on those who appreciate your services.
1. No, not nearly enough unless they want to spend pretty much all of it. Sharp is huge, and selling to a foreigner would require massive amount of extra funds to essentially bribe a lot of japanese legislature.
2. Sharp has problems with money flow due to current banking environment and crisis hitting its sales and profit margins hard, in addition to increasing competition. It's not really ready to collapse, that statement was most likely aimed at helping it secure low cost loans with governmental backing, as is the way of things in Japan.
3. Expertise in question simply doesn't exist. This is what Sony tried once, threw a LOT of resources at the problem and failed in a spectacular margin. Biggest problem is completely different corporate culture, japanese and american simply do not mix.
Many people nowadays think that money solves everything. It really doesn't. What money can do is support inefficiency until it runs out. But it won't fix the problem causing the drain.