Best in France Case Study

1
EPSON in France

• Best in France Case Study
• December 2004
• Alain-Gabriel Gomane
• Tamás András Hofer
• Yoko Nagai
• Altaf Pataf

2
Origin of Epson

• Epson part of the SEIKO Group
• developed a printing timer that was chosen for
  the official timekeeping at the 1964 Tokyo
  Olympics.
• Launched of the world's first electronic printer,
  the Epson EP-101 in 1968.
• The name Epson is a combination of the EP-101 and
  SON.

EP-101
3
Epson Milestones

• 1881 K Hattori Co Ltd (now SEIKO Corporation)
  is inaugurated.
• 1964 The SEIKO Group is selected as the official
  timekeeper for the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
• 1968 The world's first mini-printer, the Epson
  EP-101, is launched
• 1975 The Epson brand is established.
• 1994 The Epson Stylus Color pioneers Epson's
  worldwide range of desktop colour inkjet
  printers.
• 1995 The world's smallest, lightest and brightest
  multi-media projector, the Epson EMP-3000, is
  launched.
• 2002 More than 9,500 patents claimed for Epson
  technologies.

4
Corporate data

• Founded May 18, 1942Net sales 1,413,243
  million yen lt10 100 Millions of eurosgt(As of
  March 31, 2004)  Head Office 3-3-5 Owa, Suwa,
  NaganoNumber of Employees Epson Group
  (Consolidated)84,899, Parent Company 12,839 (As
  of Mar. 31, 2004)Main Business Development,
  manufacturing, sales, marketing and servicing of
  information-related equipment (computers and
  peripherals, including PCs, printers, scanners
  and projectors), electronic devices
  (semiconductors, displays, and quartz devices),
  precision products (watches, plastic corrective
  lenses, and factory automation equipment) and
  other productsGroup Companies 110 (Japan 36,
  Overseas 74)(As of March 31, 2004)

5
Epson's corporate vision and strategy

• Epson brings Digital Image Innovation to
  LifeEpson will provide cutting-edge imaging
  solutions, focusing on the fields of imaging on
  paper, imaging on screen, and imaging on glass

Epson has established SE07 as its
medium-to-long-term corporate vision. SE07 sets
out where we plan to be in 2007 by clearly
defining the fields in which we will develop our
business based on the concept of Digital Image
Innovation. We set SE07 as our compass, linking
to it the goals of each employee, operations
division and the corporation as a whole. We
remain committed to strengthening our corporate
character through continuous reform of our
business processes and through innovative
management.Forming the base of Epson's business
is its Management Philosophy, Quality Philosophy
and Environmental Philosophy. What we desire
above all is to see every one of our employees
worldwide continually striving to provide goods
and services that bring satisfaction to
consumers. From a corporate point-of-view, we
will work to maintain high transparency and sound
fiscal policies, serving as an example of
trustworthy management and good corporate
governance.Based on its commitment to quality
and trustworthy management, the Epson Group as a
whole is dedicated to bringing Digital Image
Innovation to life. Saburo Kusama, President
CEO
Saburo Kusama
6
Epson Philosophy

• Commitment to Innovation 
• The philosophy of Epson employees is to
• Start Together Achieve Together, which helps us
  develop and implement forward-thinking products
  and approaches

7
Epson main products

• "3i" strategy
• i1 imaging on paper (developments in printers
  and other imaging products)
• i2 imaging on screen (developments in
  projectors)
• i3 imaging on glass (developments in mobile
  displays)

8
Epson main products

• Printers
• Ink jet printers
• Laser printers
• Dot matrix printers
• Large Format Printers (Graphic Arts)
• Image capture
• Scanners
• Digital Still camera
• Projectors
• Point of Sales Printers / Solution and systems
  for retail

9
Epson in Europe (EMEA)

• - 1,500 employees from manufacturing and
  services
• - 1,500 employees in sales
• - EMEA Covers Western and Eastern Europe,
  Russia, Middle East, Russia, Africa
• - Headquarters in Amsterdam (Netherlands),
  founded in 1991
• - European Marketing is split between France and
  UK
• - European 3rd level support in France (Créteil)

European management
HR
Service
Marketing
Sales
Finance
European 3rd level Support (France)
Consumer (UK)
Business (France)
10
Epson in France

• In France, Epson has 2 entities
• Epson France SA
• Located in Levallois-Perret
• created in 1983
• Sales
• Epson Engineering Europe
• Located in Créteil
• Created in 1988 and became a European structure
  in 2002
• European 3rd level support

11
Epson France SA

• Number of employees 260
• Sales 442 Millions Euros (31st March 2003)
• Before 1983, Epson was distributed through a
  local dealer called Technology ressource.
• In 1983, Epson absorbed this company and kept the
  employees
• Cultural change dealer to manufacturer
  philosophy
• Matrix organization

General Management France
POS/ Graphic Arts / Projectors
Marketing / Sales
Service
Finance/administration
12
Epson France SA Market share

• Number one in (2003 figures)
• dot matrix printers market (market share 70)
• scanners,
• point of sales printers with 70 of market share
• sales of projectors (For the sixth consecutive
  year), 18 of Market share
• Number two in
• Colour laser printers with18.1 market share in
  2002 (source GFK)
• Ink jet printers with 29.8 of market share in
  2002 (source GFK)
• More than 860,000 printers, 200,000 scanners,
  21,000 projectors, 46,000 point of sales printers
  et 2,500 solutions and systems for retail sold in
  2003 in France.

13
European Marketing in Epson France SA

• European Marketing reorganization in 2001
• Epson France responsible for the Business
  market(B to B) in Europe
• Epson UK responsible for the consumer market (B
  to C) in Europe
• France was chosen to be in charge of the business
  market because of a very good market share in
  this area.
• In France, the European marketing team represents
  20 employees, including 2 Japanese, 1 English, 1
  Spanish, 1 German, 1 Canadian.
• For the European Marketing, Epson France SA
  prefers to hire someone who already lives in
  France or takes part in the group (Otherwise, it
  is not only too costly, but also hard to explain
  both French culture and the corporate culture to
  a new employee).

14
Epson Engineering Europe

• Located in Créteil
• Created in 1988, became a European structure in
  2002
• 3rd level support structure (software and
  hardware) for Europe, Middle East and Africa
• Sales 11.8 Millions euros
• 100 employees
• Inaugurated in 2002 by Saburo Kusama (Epson CEO)
  in presence of Laurent Cathala, mayor of Créteil
  (pictures below)

15
Epson Engineering Europe

• The site had been chosen to be located in France
•  UK too north, Spain, Italy too south  France
  is in the center
• Square meters available in France
• Infrastructures available in France
• In 2002, 40 workshop workers were laid off and 40
  engineers were hired instead.
• 18 different nationalities in Créteil
• European entity with European consumers
• Relocation issues
• An external company has been hired to train new
  expats, find an apartment, organize the removal.
• This company saved Epson a lot of time.
• In particular, explaining Payroll, taxes,
  healthcare. For example, taxes have to be
  deducted in France to the opposite of the UK or
  Spain.

16
Assessment system in Epson

• European perfomance management system put in
  place in April 2004
• Based on S.M.A.R.T. objectives (Specific,
  Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound
  objectives)
• Limited on time
• Interim interviews between managers and employees
  every 6 months
• Final assessment in March at the end of the
  fiscal year (FY April to March).
• Grading from 1 to 5
• Before Self assessment. Self assessment differed
  according to national cultures. E.g a Japanese
  tended to give himself a bad grade.

17
Why France?

• Epson France SA
• Business opportunity (France is a big market in
  Europe)
• Strategy First contracted with a distributor to
  test business in France and then implemented.
• Epson Engineering Europe
• Geographical location
• France is in the center of Europe easy access
  to UK, Germany and Italy. UK was too north and
  Italy was too South to have a support center for
  Europe.
• Infrastructure is well equipped
• Space available

18
Difficulties in coming to France

• Social protection Employee protective labour
  law
• Compare to other countries, labour law in France
  gives more priority on protecting an employee.
• High Tax
• Need to explain to an employee who came from
  different countries
• Charging system of tax is different among
  countries
• In France, tax will be paid a year after an
  employee gets his/her payment. When an employee
  comes from different country, the firm have to
  explain the difference.
• Administration system in France is sometimes
  difficult
• Eg get an ID, work permit...

19
Advantages of coming to France
We saw that the main 2 reasons EPSON choose
France is that the geographical location and the
quality of the infrastructure. In addition to
that, there is very significant advantage of
having a office in France.

• Quality of life
• General standard of life is high. Life style is
  more enjoyable in France than in some of the
  other European countries.
• Nice weather
• Rich culture

20
Essential Advice and Notice

• A particular attention has to be given to
  salaries, tax and social charges different
• Very strong social law protection for employees
• Have a specialist for a labour law
• Labour law in France is very complicated.
• Make a comprehensive contract
• Make sure to make the condition of the contract
  very clear in official documents
• Hard to fire employees in France
• No unions, if possible
• Ironically, union often makes hard for a firm to
  have a communication with employees (Epson has no
  unions).

21
Special thanks to

• Thérèse Gratia, HR Manager Epson France SA, BP
  320, 68bis rue Marjolin, 92305 Levallois-Perret
  cedex, email gratia_at_epson.fr, tel [phone]
  91
• Veronica Johnson, HR Manager Epson Engineering
  Europe, 60 Rue Auguste Perret, 94000 Créteil ,
  tel [phone]
• Gilles Beaumont, Knowledge author (technical
  support specialist) , Epson Engineering Europe,
  60 Rue Auguste Perret, 94000 Créteil , tel 01
  56 71 57 36

22
Our team

• Gomane, Alain-Gabriel alain-gabriel.gomane_at_mailh
  ec.net
• Hofer, Tamás András tamas.hofer_at_mailhec.net
• Nagai, Yoko yoko.nagai_at_mailhec.net
• Patel, Altaf altaf.patel_at_mailhec.net