Almost a year ago I blogged about Murata (a Nagaokakyo based electronic components manufacturer), well it's seem that business has been going particular well for them over the last 12 months. At a time when many companies (especially some in Japan) seem to be experiencing a downturn in business, why is Murata doing so well? Firstly they are diversified in the industries which they make components for including wireless communications, automotive electrification, audio/visual, energy, and bio-electronics(1). Secondly they are geographically diversified so they supply components to companies in many countries(2). Thirdly they are a company is unafraid to spend on R&D including researching the downstream use of their components such as having a team which builds robots from their products, just to showcase what their products can do(3). Fourthly they have great customer support with teams supporting all aspects of the end use of their products(4). Fifthly they have operate with a matrix business structure allowing them to be very flexible in reacting to a changing business environment(5).
So even in a hard economic in environment the truly innovative businesses can survive, even thrive and Murata truly had a reason to celebrate with a bit of a light up.
1. http://www.murata.com/corporate/vision/enterprise/device.html
2. http://www.murata.com/corporate/network/index.html
3. http://www.murata.com/corporate/vision/system/technology.html
4. http://www.murata.com/corporate/vision/strategy.html
5. http://www.murata.com/corporate/vision/system/group.html#matrix