James Henderson, the Asia-Pacific managing director for printer channel operations of Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd., is fascinated with working with the company as it continues to develop products for today’s consumers.

Fuji Xerox, the inventor of photocopying, has successfully developed a niche that Filipinos use “Xerox” as a catch-all word when referring to the reproduction of documents or information.

But what happens to the company in the so-called digital age?

Henderson enthusiastically told reporters in a recent media roundtable that Fuji Xerox is still going to be a pervasive element since people will continue to disseminate a huge volume of information whether for personal or business.

“That was what we envisioned. Anything that contains information and require transmission either through the virtual world or physical world, the Fuji and Xerox combination will have a heavy participation on it,” says Henderson.

Fuji Xerox, Henderson points out, has dynamically innovated itself to be a relevant entity in the Internet age by being able to transfer electronic data.

“Anything that requires documentation, Fuji Xerox is trying to expand upon those areas,” says Henderson.

He points out that Fuji Xerox has perhaps become even more relevant given the pervasiveness of the Internet and the explosion of information available to people.

“Back to the days when there was no electronic transmission of data, if you want to share the information you have to copy the document and share it around physically,” says Henderson.

“But as the electronic medium became involved in sharing information, printing of information required significantly increased,” adds Henderson.

Henderson believes this trend will persist for the next five years because the current generation has a lot of information available never experienced before.

“Electronic image documentation is rapidly expanding because the amount of information today is dramatically expanding and the other factor is that people are requiring more,” says Henderson.

As a proof, Henderson reports that Fuji Xerox has quadrupled its sales of laser printers and multifunction printer (MFP) units. For fiscal year 2006, Fuji Xerox posted year-on-year growth for color single function units and monochrome single function units at 29 percent and 18 percent respectively, while multifunction (color and monochrome) units experienced “phenomenal” growth of 361 percent for the same period.

Henderson credits the success to the value the company brings to its customers in terms of product quality, pre- and postsales efficiency, and the strengthening of its channels presence across Asia-Pacific.

“In fiscal year 2006, we launched more products than ever, for the consumer, SOHO [small office, home office market] to the graphic arts markets and the customers’ response has been nothing but fantastic. With the support from our channel partners, our innovative and reliable products and services were easily available in each market,” he says.

“We have also seen an increase over the last couple of years in the popularity of printers that can do a wide range of functions, such as photo-copying, sending faxes and sending photocopied documents back to e-mail addresses.

“People want copies in soft and hard documents, so this is the reason why printers that can send documents via e-mail are becoming more appealing. This is happening to all organizations.”

Research think-tank International Data Corp. in its Asia-Pacific quarterly report notes that the total MFP market grew 28 percent over the previous year, totaling 8.1 million units in 2006. Laser MFP shipments recorded a 46-percent increase over 2005, with over 2 million units sold in 2006. The color MFP market segment constitutes 5 percent of the overall laser MFP shipments in 2006 and is expected to reach 9 percent by 2011.

Henderson also notes that there is a growing trend for companies starting from the corporate type to the SOHO group, to shift to color printers.

Over the last the two years, Henderson says both corporate and SOHO prefer colored printer because they are easy to plug and play. He says technological developments also played a key vital role because this enabled the development of colors costing below $10.00.

“The Internet explosion is fueling the growth and we’re finding printing numbers increase. What Fuji Xerox has observed is that printing images continue to grow,” says Henderson.

Furthermore, Henderson says people become more excited to print documents coming from the Internet because they love to see the documents. Having the material mostly in color, people naturally chose to get color printer rather than black and white for better visuals and presentation.

“The younger generation wants to see it in color. Actually, it’s like a television set. You prefer color rather than  black and white because the first provides clearer images,” says Henderson.

Fuji Xerox invented the color printer when it launched the 6500 full-color copy machine in 1975.

In the future, Henderson believes that the speed of printers will also increase dramatically. He also predicts prices to fall for more multifunctional and color printers. He also said that these printers would get smaller but with greater capabilities.

**** 

Green copy 

Fuji Xerox uses the ISO14001 as the foundation for a company-wide environmental management. The company promotes energy conservation in all locations, including sales locations and headquarters, in addition to our production facilities.

Fuji Xerox promotes energy-saving activities based on ISO14001 measures. In its head office, Fuji Xerox aims to achieve zero emission through a resource recycling system for paper among other means. Furthermore, the company will teach this know-how to other affiliates.

Fuji Xerox also advocates recycling. Under their integrated recycling system, “used products are not waste, but valuable resources.”

The system is composed of three concepts, with the main concept being a “closed-loop system. Under the system, used materials are effectively recycled back as resources, and are supported by the concept of “inverse manufacturing.”

According to the company’s web site, the goal is to create products that will have minimum environmental impacts, under the premise that parts are to be reused, and the concept of “zero emissions,” where parts that cannot be reused are separated and recycled, and are comprehensively used as new materials again.

“Products that are placed on the market are collected. After they are collected, they are used up completely. To cut back on inputs of new resources, parts are reused in a closed loop,” it said.

Aside from implementing “environmental impact assessment,” Fuji Xerox continues to develop products that will have minimal environmental impacts.

The company has also developed technology—a first in the industry—capable of providing recycled plastic chip materials the same quality of new chips.

Clear copy

James Henderson, the Asia-Pacific managing director for printer channel operations of Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd., is fascinated with working with the company as it continues to develop products for today’s consumers.

Winning: What makes a lousy leader?

Q: What is lousy leadership?
Goran Milic, Zagreb, Croatia

A: Now, why would you ask that question? Certainly not because you want to be a lousy leader yourself!

It can only be because you’re checking your instincts about someone you know. Maybe even the person who signs your paycheck.

Maintaining thresholds of performance

For some readers, the new rules of market leadership will be intuitively appealing. To others, they will raise stubborn questions. How can a company offer the best value proposition in the market (read: give its products and services away), and still make more money?

Notes to a tragedy

In the next few weeks we shall witness a torrent of sorrow and regret, as any such horrific loss of life should provoke. But, clearly, the story is unfinished, despite the seeming finality of Benazir Bhutto’s murder.

Authorities pressed doctors to stay mum on Bhutto’s death

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan—Pakistani authorities have pressured the medical personnel who tried to save Benazir Bhutto’s life to remain silent about what happened in her final hour and have removed records of her treatment from the facility, according to doctors.

Lending a hand

At the fringe of Makati’s bustling business center stands the head office of Makati Finance Corp. (MFC), a consumer-finance company that has established a stronghold in the industry for over 40 years.

Winning: A year of pushing hot buttons

About this time last year, we received an e-mail from a reader who asked if we believed America’s competitive success was linked to its relative lack of corruption.

INVESTOR BRIEFING

WATER is still flooding the basement of a shopping mall in the Philippines’ central business district after an explosion in October. At least nine died and more than a dozen businesses were kicked out from their glass-walled shops now wrapped with white-painted boards.

REDUCING POWER COSTS

The government of the Philippines plans to use state funds to address high power rates. Acknowledging it must do something about the rising cost of energy, the government announced that it intends to use more of the state’s gas royalties, National Power Corp. (Napocor) profits and Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) fees to reduce electricity charges.

RISING GDP

The Philippines’ robust economy continues to perform well, achieving a GDP growth of 6.6 percent in the third quarter of this year.

Brotherly love

Brother International Philippines believes competition makes business more exciting. And the company thinks there is still a space for one more player in the document-printing market in the country that can provide an alternative.

Winning: Breaking Through Bureaucracy

Q: How do you break through the bureaucracy that damages so many organizations? James Moss-Solomon, Bridgetown, Barbados                 

A: Damages? How about deadens?

PLAYING ALONG

TO many children, Elmo, the much-loved furry red monster from Sesame Street, is more than just a plaything. To children ages two to five years old, Elmo is a trusty playmate—a friend to lug around the playground; one who won’t complain when hugged, pinched or smothered with kisses. For parents, Elmo even makes a good teacher.

TOY TEST 2007

The holidays are just about here, and the toys are piling up in stores, waiting for you to make your list. Of course, even if your wish does come true, you have to hope for the best: That really great-sounding toy might be a piece of junk.

CONSUMER CONFIDENTIAL

This should be the time of year when Santa’s wholesale elves in the toy district in downtown Los Angeles are busy delivering cheap, Chinese-made playthings to consumers and retailers.

Lumads in the new world

It was a minifair compared with the grand bacchanalia that is the Kadayawan Festival that Davao City has come to be known for.

Mission: global customs service

Del Castillo: From what I have gathered, Commissioner Morales is a self-made man in this career; he supported himself through college while working at the Bureau of Customs as a utility man.

No run of the mill success

Management is a practical discipline measured by financial returns and competitive position. But it is easy to forget that success in business ultimately comes from a commitment to personal values. When you look at Metrobank today, the tendency is to focus on its results, its size and its position. It is easy to overlook the elements that shaped its character.

Winning: Private equity’s very public problems

Q: Why are so many private-equity deals blowing up? Alan Engle, Great Neck, New York                 

A: The short answer is that the world has changed (read: the US sub-prime-mortgage mess has erupted). A lot of companies that were once hell-bent on acquiring hot new properties suddenly want out of deals that are starting to look too cold for comfort.

A Queen Stumbles

HIS eyes stared upward as he started with that familiar tuneful articulation about Iloilo at the peak of its grandeur. A few minutes later, his voice turned wobbly as he recounted how the province slipped from prominence. “So we lost our label being the country’s Queen City of the South.”

Teacher’s pet

WHY am I passionate about Vietnam? Because Vietnam has proven to the world that it is possible to simultaneously achieve robust and sustained economic growth with equitable income distribution. 

Putting imagination to work

SOON after World War II, from 1941 to 1945, the Philippines experienced a decade of unprecedented growth in the 1950s, with Manila—despite being the most devastated city during the climactic battle era—slowly regaining its vigor to once again become a center of industrial progress.

Five steps to building your personal leadership brand

You have a personal leadership brand. But do you have the right one?

A leadership brand conveys your identity and distinctiveness as a leader. If you have the wrong leadership brand for the position you have or the position you want, then your work is not having the impact it could.

What Health Consumers Want

Consumers of health care constitute a market that is as diverse as a market can be, yet the idea that companies might profit by segmenting customers to address their varied needs seems almost foreign to the health industry, despite the billions of dollars at stake.

How Bayan got its voice back

Bayan Telecommunications’ Tunde Fafunwa is very enthusiastic nowadays because the Lopez-controlled company has risen from its low point. And the source of his excitement is largely due to the recent introduction of Span, Bayan’s wireless landline service.

Winning: Managing shooting stars

Q: How far should I go to keep a star performer who has an offer to work at a competitor? Hymie Betesh, New York                 

A: Not as far as you’re probably considering, we imagine, given the panic that strikes most managers when a star threatens to shoot out the door.

Lighting the way

Dutch electronics and lighting giant Philips Electronics has been continuously doing business in the Philippines for the past 50 years.

In the name of the people

THIS time around, former Navy officer and neophyte Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV left no room for ambiguity.

In his 2003 debut at the Oakwood mutiny, then-Lt. Senior Grade Trillanes hemmed and hawed about his intentions.

Water Is Life

FOR corporate do-gooders, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is just the start. The new trend among large and well-established corporate organizations is to integrate sustainable-development programs—not just mere philanthropic activities—to their core businesses.

Give your team a challenge they can’t resist

It’s not easy pulling a group of diverse individuals together to work as a team. Barriers abound in the form of fierce territoriality, incentive systems that reward individual rather than collective achievement, and mistrust spawned by an acquisition, merger or major internal restructuring.

Improve your return on returns

Competitive pressures have forced many retailers and manufacturers to liberalize their returns policies in recent years and gladly accept for a refund just about anything customers regret having bought.

A staged solution to the catch-22

Companies launching two-sided platforms—businesses that connect two groups of users, as credit-card companies do—have often subsidized one group to get it to use the platform. This is a risky approach, because it requires a big upfront investment.

Ship shape

For an employee, a company-sponsored overseas trip could mean mostly fun, with, of course, some work in between. For a chief executive of a company, however, it would be the opposite, and most of the time the fun part takes place in between working or not at all.

Winning: Stay the course…especially if it’s a new one

Q: Sometimes companies need to change even when there is not a crisis forcing the issue. In such cases, how do you keep your people excited about a change initiative after its newness has worn off? Trevor Smith, Singapore

A: You have to stay excited yourself. And not just excited, but obsessed.

If I had a hammer

HASHIM squinted before pulling the trigger. Although the 19-year-old is used to holding Soviet-made AK-47 assault rifles in the deep jungles of Mindanao three years back, this particularly weapon was new to him.

Big failure, little dreams

CASTELLANA, Negros Occidental—It is already past noon and yet Edelyn Pineda is still lazing around Sitio Odiong here along with her little friends.

The Morning Meeting: Best-practice communication for executive teams

Does your company’s executive team struggle with chronic communication problems and a lack of shared accountability? Many times when my colleagues and I are called in to help out an organization, we find that these two core issues underlie their problems.

Lessons from the leaders of retail loss prevention

Preventing theft, damage and errors such as food spoilage has long been an unyielding and poorly understood problem for retailers. But a few companies stand out in their ability to limit losses, and if every retailer were as successful as they are, the sector could save billions of dollars annually—as much as $27 billion in the United States alone.

The Jock Correlation in business

WITH many sports headlines today trumpeting organizational and solvency issues with various teams and sports associations across the world, there is often an almost missionary zeal to bring to sports a more “business approach.”

Winning: Developing a successful succession plan

Q: What companies would you hold up as examples of succession planning done right? Robert Handfield, Raleigh, North Carolina 

A: It’s sad to say, but your question would be a heck of a lot easier to answer if you had asked for examples of succession planning done wrong. That trend is gaining such ground these days it’s alarming.