TOPPAN INC. -
Overall performance and future strategy
Q: What fields are you planning to focus on to generate profits to achieve the targets of operating income of 70 billion JPY and an ROE of 5% in the fiscal year ending March 2018?
A: The Information & Communication Division will be the main driver of profit generation. We will also channel efforts into the barrier film business in the Living & Industry segment. In addition to barrier film materials themselves, we are planning significant growth driven by the Cartocan and other composite containers that make use of those materials. In the Electronics business, we will focus on areas in which we can achieve steady growth, including niche markets in new fields.
-
Information & Communication
Q: What are the sources of your competitive advantages in the Information & Communication business, and can they be maintained?
A: In the 1990s Toppan forecast that demand for paper media would decline in the future and business models would be transformed. Since then, digitization has advanced, and in order to shift from taking single product orders to taking ones that are comprehensive, we have focused on fusing marketing, creative, and IT functions by developing talent (producers) well-versed in these three disciplines. Since 2000 the Toppan Idea Center (TIC), our primary planning and design section, has been a nationwide organization, and today we have the capability to exploit the functions of the TIC to provide sophisticated planning and proposals even at regional sales offices. This is one example of how we feel initiatives implemented over a ten-year period have borne fruit. We believe that from here on, the companies that will win out are those that can effectively coordinate all types of media, including paper, websites, and social networking services. Toppan will therefore be further strengthening its initiatives in these fields.
Q: What is the situation with regards to inbound tourism-related business?
A: We see demand growing rapidly. We are receiving all kinds of inquiries but the key point is being able to handle multiple languages. Toppan has translation operations that can handle languages from more than 13 countries, and we are channeling efforts into the development of applications for tablets and smartphones. Based on this, we will work on applying such capabilities to in-store sales promotion-related activities.
Q: What kind of sales revenue can be expected for inbound tourism-related business?
A: At the moment it is difficult to pinpoint figures for inbound tourism-related revenue as a standalone business because in many cases it is an add-on to traditional business. In addition to signage and multi-language services, from here on we will also focus efforts on businesses such as providing visitors with useful information on Japanese food, tourism, and other aspects of the country before they come.
Q: What is the reason for the strong performance of the e-book business and what fields have seen growth?
A: The e-book market is forecast to grow 126% compared with 2014 (estimate by outside organization) but Toppan has achieved growth that exceeds that. Comics make up the majority of sales, accounting for about 80%. In the recent period, original content produced by Toppan contributed to both sales and profit. Costs were also reduced due to efficient sales promotion strategies based on data analysis. We will invest the funds that this has generated to push forward with further measures for the next two years. We plan to engage in a wide range of activities, including the development of services linked to other digital media that Toppan handles.
Q: What is the size of Toppan's digital content business?
A: The combined businesses of Shufoo!, BookLive, Mapion, and other related services have grown approximately 120% and are now able to contribute to earnings.
- Living & Industry
Q: When will the barrier film plant in North America launch full operations?
A: We are envisaging full-scale operations eighteen months to two years after the startup of the plant. Consideration of additional investment after the commencement of full-scale operations will start before that point and be based on the circumstances. At the current time we have formulated strategies that include front- and back-end processes. In addition to the impact they have, we believe that growing sales of barrier film itself will enable a four- to fivefold increase in overall sales. We are therefore strengthening the sales force and taking various other measures in terms of both manufacturing and sales to achieve targets.
Q: What added value are you specifically planning to create?
A: We are aiming to achieve maximum efficiency by combining fields that we can handle alone with those in which we form alliances with other companies. Toppan will exploit its strengths in materials and converting while forming alliances with local companies in laminating and back-end processing to achieve an optimal model for securing regional demand.
|
distributed by
|
