After 35 years of doing business here, Japan’s Sharp Corp has set up in Thailand through the formation of a joint venture. Showing up at the press conference yesterday were, from left, Makoto Takahashi of Sharp Corp, Chittin Sibunruang of Sharp Thebnakorn

Sharp's products first became available in Thailand 35 years ago.

With registered capital of Bt490 million, the joint venture - Sharp Thai - will promote mutual collaboration among the three partners to serve the market better. The move will also allow Sharp as major shareholder to become directly involved in Thailand's competitive consumer electronics market against Japanese and South Korean competitors.

Sharp Thai will start operations on July 2.

Sharp will also raise investment in Thailand to expand local production facilities.

Sharp owns a 50-per-cent stake in the joint venture, while local distributors Bangkok Trading and Thai City Electric own equal stakes of 25 per cent.

Kazuo Sasaki from Sharp's headquarters in Japan will look after daily business operations. He has set a target for Sharp Thai to achieve sales of Bt4 billion this year and Bt5 billion in 2008. Major products are LCD televisions, solar modules and major electrical appliances.

He said that the company expected sales of LCD TVs to increase dramatically by 2.5 times this year, or from 7,000 units last year to 18,000 units. It also expects sales of solar modules to rise by between 30 per cent and 50 per cent.

Thai City Electric has been distributing Sharp's electrical appliances - including rice cookers, refrigerators, air-conditioners and water coolers - for almost 35 years.

Bangkok Trading has been a local partner of Sharp for 17 years. The company, together with Sharp, has formed a joint venture named Sharp Thebnakorn for distributing audio-visual products, office automation and solar systems in Thailand.

Both Sharp Thebnakorn and Thai City Electric previously carried out Sharp business separately.

"Thai City Electric will transfer four flagship products - microwave ovens, refrigerators, air-conditioners and air purifiers - as well as 90 sales and marketing staff to the new Sharp Thai," said Supachai Suthipongschai, managing director of Thai City Electric.

"We however will still take responsibility for local distribution of domestic appliances such as rice cookers and electric irons, with about 300 staff staying with the company."

Supachai will also become co-chairman at Sharp Thai and look after the policymaking of its consumer electronics business.

Chittin Sibunruang, executive chairman of Sharp Thebnakorn, will also be cochairman at Sharp Thai, in charge of the document products group. About 225 sales and marketing staff from Sharp Thebnakorn will be transferred to Sharp Thai, taking the company's total staffing to more than 300.

"The local competition in consumer electronics and appliances is quite intense," said Makoto Takahashi, CEO of Asian Operations, Sharp Corp. "And besides offering competitive prices, we would like to serve the market better with the introduction of more environmentally friendly products such as LCD TVs, solar modules and air purifiers." he said.

"And with two major manufacturing plants in Thailand - Sharp Appliances (Thailand) in Chachoengsao for microwave ovens, refrigerators, air-conditioners, dish washers and facsimile machines, and Sharp Manufacturing (Thailand) in Nakorn Chaisi for printers, colour televisions and solar modules - we would like to provide more value-added products."

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation