What it will be?

“ONKYO” on the brink, March 3, 17:23

A speaker that plays a delicate and clear high range.

Onkyo, a prestigious company that has been captivated by audiophiles, is now suffering from poor business performance.

The largest deficit ever.

And it is in a state of insolvency, and if it is not resolved by the end of this month, there is a risk that the stock will be delisted at worst.

Why have you been driven so far, and what is your current strategy?

I would like to listen carefully.

(Osaka Broadcasting Station reporter Kotaro Tanikawa)

Age of glory

Yoko Minamino, an idol, speaks in a moist voice,

"I want you to like it slowly

."

This is a scene from the commercial of "Radian", a popular mini component system of "Onkyo" in 1986.

At that time, this mini component system became popular because the younger generation wanted to get it when they went on to school or got a job, and it was a representative product of Onkyo.

In 1991, the high-end speaker "Grand Scepter GS-1", which costs 2.4 million yen as a pair, won the prestigious award in France.

It is still talked about as a legendary machine.

The company was founded in Osaka.

Mr. Takeshi Godai, who was the factory manager of the speaker manufacturing factory of the former Panasonic, former Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., started the business in 1946 as "Osaka Electric Sound".

We have released products that are particular about sound to the world one after another, and have grown into a leading audio brand in Japan.

Insolvency for 5 consecutive years in deficit

However, management has been in a difficult situation these days.

The final deficit for the fifth consecutive term from the settlement of accounts for the fiscal year ended March 2014.

In the fiscal year ended March 2020, we recorded a record deficit of over 9.8 billion yen, resulting in an insolvency of 3.3 billion yen.

According to the original rules of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, insolvency for the second consecutive year can be delisted.

Now that we have special measures for the new Corona, the grace period may be extended, but the situation remains tough.

Black Ships attack called Apple

Why did the prestigious audio brand fall so far?

One of the factors was the invasion of a black ship called Apple.

In 2003, Apple launched an iTunes service in the United States to download and enjoy music via the Internet.

It unleashed the music that was previously taken for granted by purchasing and listening to CDs into the world of the Internet.

The iPhone was released in 2007.

Music was taken into smartphones, and the digitization of music accelerated rapidly.

Can't keep up with changes in the market

Onkyo wasn't looking at it with his fingers.

I was trying to support digitalization, such as by acquiring a personal computer maker.

However, the company said that the change in the market was faster than expected, and above all, the fact that music was incorporated into smartphones caused the significance of the existence of audio equipment that reproduces sound to diminish rapidly. Mr. Toru Hayashi, a senior executive of the company, looks back.

Director Hayashi

"There was a misunderstanding that the market was moving much faster than expected and digital technology was evolving. Since it is a company that only does audio, it is affected by that and the speed to catch up with the market Was not enough "

How is it different from other companies?

Of course, Onkyo is not the only manufacturer that struggled with rapid changes in the environment.

Denon and Marantz had merged and rationalized as early as 2002.

Kenwood also merged with JVC in 2008 to strengthen its strengths in car-related equipment such as car audio and drive recorders.

And Sony, a large company, has profitability other than audio and has the capacity to invest in development.

Common in the Japanese manufacturing industry ...

Onkyo is also embarking on a corporate acquisition.

In 2015, we acquired the AV equipment business division of Pioneer, a manufacturer that was once higher than Onkyo and was also called the audio-visual equipment.

We tried to make a leap forward by standardizing product development and increasing profitability.

However, I was too particular about maintaining the size of the company.

Despite the shrinking market, we focused only on maintaining sales and continued to sell a large number of products in a wide range of prices such as mini components.

On the contrary, it is said that the development cost has increased and the profit has deteriorated.

Company executives regret that management has been weakened faster than the benefits of the integration.

Others, although often thought of as small, have pointed out that they neglected to explain the product carefully and aftercare.

It is said that the fans were disappointed because there were few people in charge of giving detailed explanations at the store.

Professor Atsushi Osanai of Waseda Business School, who is familiar with corporate management, sees the deterioration of Onkyo's business performance as a common case in the Japanese manufacturing industry.

Professor Nagauchi

"Most Japanese electronics manufacturers in the 20th century have made a difference in technology. Therefore, the idea was that if you develop a product with high performance, you can do anything else. Onkyo was, so to speak, "keeping making" that customers would understand if they made good products. The problem was that they didn't attach much importance to the process of selling, so Japanese manufacturing It can be said that it is a typical failure example of the industry. "

Will it recover?

Onkyo was driven to the brink.

What kind of strategy are you taking now?

First, I abandoned the idea of ​​maintaining the size of the company.

Moved the head office from the center of Osaka to Higashi-Osaka for thorough cost reduction.

We have also taken bold steps to reduce personnel.

The number of employees, which was 4,600 at its peak, is now reduced to more than 1,200, which is about a quarter.

We are working on the obvious thing of creating products that meet our needs.

We are focusing on selling hearing aids and sound collectors.

In anticipation of an aging society, the company intends to use the technological capabilities it has trained through audio to create products that "hear well."

With the new corona, conversations through masks have increased, and elderly people are increasingly demanding hearing aids and sound collectors that are easy to hear.

The number of hearing aids sold for the year to January has quadrupled from the previous year, and it is an area that we would like to continue to strengthen.

I stopped the principle of making finished products on my own.

We are now strengthening OEM production of speakers to be incorporated into laptops and TVs from other manufacturers.

However, some of the products we deliver have the "ONKYO" logo on them, and we continue to have a small pride in the brand.

In addition, we are trying to rebuild the company steadily by dividing the company into three parts and creating an environment where it is easy to raise funds.

The words that Director Hayashi said in the interview left an impression on me.

"

Making

new sounds in new places" A

strategy to abandon the glory of the past, utilize our technology, and flexibly respond to fields of need.

I think this is how to survive in this era, regardless of whether it is with corona or after corona.

For the time being, the search for new sounds in Onkyo's new market is likely to continue.

Reporter

Kotaro Tanigawa

, NHK

Osaka Broadcasting Station

Joined in 2013

After working at the Okinawa station, was in charge of economic coverage in his hometown of Osaka.