Business

Friday January 9, 2009

Canon zooms in on new growth areas

Canon Marketing (M) Sdn Bhd president and CEO Liew Sip Chon expects the company to continue posting double-digit growth this year


HOW do you think the local office equipment and camera/video market will fare in 2009?

The market is expected to slow down this year but we believe that there are still new areas of opportunities to tap into and grow our business.

When the demand of a specific product declines, it does not mean every segment of the product will decline.

Certain segments within the product can still experience growth.

Apart from this, we are also looking at expanding our geographical reach. While the main key markets may see a drop, there are still opportunities in smaller and niche markets to penetrate.

Do you foresee a drop in Canon’s sales in Malaysia this year due to the downturn?

Liew Sip Choon

We expect Canon’s sales in Malaysia to continue to record more than 10% year-on-year growth this year.

What are Canon’s strategies for this year given the weak economy?

Our strategy is to continue with our investments despite the weak economy. We will continue to attract new talents and develop our human resources to improve our productivity and operation efficiency.

Investment in infrastructure to enhance our work processes will continue as planned, especially in the area of Internet communication.

We will also introduce new products & services (e.g. Production Printing & Canonfoto services) and provide the best customer services.

This is the surest way to continue to drive strong demand for your products.

How will the recession in Japan affect Canon’s operations in Malaysia?

The recession in Japan will not affect Canon’s operations in Malaysia. The Malaysian market is different from Japan and as I said earlier, we are on track to achieve more than 10% year-on-year growth this year.

What further steps can be taken by the Malaysian government (or the industry) to boost consumer spending?

In order to boost consumer spending, one has to first boost the economy.

The Government should come out with a more dynamic fiscal & monetary policy, for example, pegging the ringgit help stabilised our economy during the Asian financial crisis introduced by our former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Next, the government must have the ability to spend, but spend wisely with total conviction.

When the people can see that the government is sincere in its efforts to boost and revive the economy, they will know that the government is trying their best to help alleviate the sufferings of the people.

When an economy is burdened by corruption where huge amounts of money go into the pockets of only a few people, one will not see any impact on consumer spending.

The Government should also look into attracting foreign investments by providing sustainable incentives.

Foreign companies doing business in Malaysia are in it for the long haul.

We are looking at not just 10 years but 20 years and beyond.

Frequent changes in policies on foreign investments are a strong deterrent and unclear policies create a lot of uncertainties.

When there are foreign investments, there will be a strong job market and eventually, strong consumer spending.

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