Rico A. Gonzales, Chief executive, Philips Electronics and Lighting Inc.

HOW MANY GUYS DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A LIGHT BULB? WITH PHILIPS’ TOP HONCHO, YOU NEED ONLY ONE.

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

For Rico A. Gonzales, chief executive of Philips Electronics and Lighting Inc., the company’s staying power can be attributed to its European heritage and, more important, for producing quality consumer electronic products such as light bulbs.

“Doing business for 50 years in the Philippines is a long legacy. If you remember, our commercial’s tagline ‘Basta Ilaw Philips’ in the past has created an excellent reputation for the company,” he said.

“Even though that commercial is no longer airing, Filipino consumers still have inculcated that into to their minds,” added Gonzales, who is also the general manager of Philips Consumer Lifestyle.

At present, Philips has the lion’s share of the electronics and lighting market. According to Gonzales, the typical Filipino consumer has developed an attachment to Philips because he associates it with quality products. “That’s what Philips stands for. We want to introduce innovative products per needs and requirements,” Gonzales pointed out.

Gonzales started his career in Philips in 2001 as a sales and marketing “black belt” and tasked to introduce changes in the division’s distribution strategy. This “black belt” program is designed on getting a certain number of people for special projects aimed at creating a major effect on the company’s business in the Southeast Asian region.

“Globally, it’s a program where the top 30 percent of the management engage in high-impact projects. For me it’s the entry point to Philips and the project was our distribution,” said Gonzales.

Gonzales later on moved up to channel marketing director where he handled channel development managers for various distribution avenues across the region.

In 2004 Gonzales was transferred to Philips Lighting Singapore as general manager and also had a short stint with Philips Lighting operations.

Holding two jobs is not easy. Asked how he juggles the two, he says: “I balance it in a challenging way.”

Gonzales pointed out that 70 percent of his time is focused on building business, while the remaining 30 percent is earmarked for building long-term strategies. Moreover, he is also responsible in promoting the company internally and externally. “This aims for sustainability, which will impact the direction of the company,” says Gonzales.

Like an able general, Gonzales is also responsible in instilling values to the employees of the company.

LED technology

One of the tasks of Gonzales as Philips’ top honcho is to keep in touch with the market. This means focusing on the distribution, marketing the product and listening to the consumer. Gonzales believes that the company’s commitment to deliver quality products to the consumer has enabled Philips to withstand the onslaught of competition mainly from made-in-China products that are much cheaper.

“What keeps us alive is consistency of the products and solutions we delivered. We also invest a lot in research and development,” said Gonzales.

Being a consistent leader in innovation, Gonzales said people have already ingrained the fact that Philips has been behind the key breakthroughs in this category, and thus it is their responsibility to continue this tradition of innovation.

Aside from introducing the compact fluorescent, Philips is now using the light-emitting diode (LED) technology in some of its products. However, the LED-based products are only available in certain markets such as Europe, Gonzales noted. At present, LED-based products are only produced in Europe in a small scale that makes the product expensive at this time. 

But he is excited with this development nonetheless.

“LED is one of the exciting things being developed by Philips. And Philips controls around 80 percent of the LED market. Being the leader of innovation in lighting, Philip has the technology now that can replace the current lighting systems,” Gonzales reported.

“We make sure that we are relevant in the market by introducing new products and technologies that would be addressing consumer needs,” he added.

Once Philips reaches the economies of scale in producing LED lamps, consumers can expect their lighting devices to last up to 60,000 hours, or equivalent to 15 years.

Philips is also eyeing a bigger share in professional lighting that covers large-scale users such as airports, highways and factories.

Lifestyle products

For next year, Philips will be also giving emphasis in marketing lifestyle products. This means consumers will expect high-quality liquid-crystal display (LCD) televisions or even high-digital televisions.

“For next year, our products will be focused on lifestyle. Consumers want to bring the cinema into their houses. You now create products that produce that experience because people want personal listening solutions,” said Gonzales.

For instance, Philips has developed an affordable MP3 player that is more affordable than the ubiquitous iPod from Apple Inc. but more superior than the Chinese-made devices.

“Not everybody can buy an iPod. We positioned ourselves in the middle of the market. We have the solution and the name that will address the personal listening requirements of the consumer,” he said.

Just like any respectable corporate citizen, Philips has introduced green solutions to its products to help save the environment.

“Going green is something the company takes seriously. The company has committed in producing green solutions in every market we commit,” he said.

Gonzales noted that only 15 percent of Philips products’ components used to contain green solutions. Last year this has grown to 30 percent.

“As a company, we want to introduce more and more green solutions to the market. We want to reduce our carbon footprint to another 25 percent in the next three years in support of this particular initiative,” he pointed out.

SWITCH OFF 

PHILIPS JOINS THE CAMPAIGN TO REPLACE TRADITIONAL LIGHT BULBS AND HELP SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT 

Netherlands-based Philips Electronics and Lighting Inc. formed recently partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature-Philippines (WWF) in hosting “Wardens of the World.”

Wee Shiang Ning, general manager of Philips Lighting Philippines, said the program is part of Philips and the WWF’s campaign to educate the public on the benefits of energy-efficient lighting and other simple energy-conservation practices.          

“It might seem trivial to some people, but the reality of the matter is that switching from incandescent to compact fluorescent translates not only to considerable peso savings, but also to a more sustainable future for everyone,” Wee said.

In the Philippines a household that switches from an ordinary 100-watt incandescent lamp to an 18-watt Philips energy-saving compact fluorescent (CFL), and uses it for 12 hours a day, can save up to P4,686 in just one-and-a-half years (based on P9.50 kilowatt per hour).

Meanwhile, studies point out that cutting energy currently spent on lighting by 40 percent would keep 555 million tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere—that’s equivalent to saving 1,560 million barrels of oil a year, the annual energy output of 530 power stations.

“At Philips, we recognize the need to take the lead in revolutionizing the lighting industry,” said Wee.

In response to the green agenda, Philips has introduced its CFL lighting products. It has also made available this year, in some parts of the world, new halogen bulbs that can be retrofitted into normal fittings to provide savings of 50 percent over traditional household bulbs.

Furthermore, Philips has partnered with the Alliance for Climate Protection and the global Live Earth concerts in inviting people to take a “simple [light bulb] switch” pledge, while also investing over $552 million worldwide to develop energy-saving alternatives that cut greenhouse-gas emissions.

“Global warming is one of the most important issues we face as a global community,” said Wee.

Wee said energy-efficient bulbs use less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs and thus reduce carbon-dioxide emissions resulting from burning fossil fuels for electricity generation.

Greenhouse-gas emissions contribute to global warming, which in turn results in catastrophes such as shrinking Arctic ice caps, accelerating sea-level rise, receding glaciers, more violent tropical storms, and altered growing seasons.

“Philips is excited to work hand-in-hand with WWF to create more awareness on climate change and to provide simple solutions that will stabilize, or even reverse, this trend,” Wee said.  (R.R. Reyes)

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

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