Careers at Toshiba
Mission
Toshiba is a manufacturer and marketer of electrical and electronic products, including personal computers, electronic devices, medical equipment and home appliances.
History
Toshiba was founded in 1939 under the name Tokyo Shibaura Electric Co, by way of a merger between Shibaura Engineering Works and Tokyo Electric. The former – originally named Tanaka Engineering Works – was itself established in 1973 by Hisashige Tanaka, who had been commissioned by the Ministry of Engineering to develop telegraph equipment, while the latter – originally named Hakunetsu-sha Co – was founded by Ichisuke Fujioka as a manufacturer of lightbulbs.
The merged company was one of the major suppliers to the Japanese Government during World War Two, filling state contracts for radios, vacuum tubes, military supplies and generators. After the war, Toshiba continued to focus on producing heavy electrical machinery, later returning its attention to the production of smaller electrical equipment. The Company also began to establish new sales subsidiaries, opening channels to Southeast Asia.
Toshiba listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Osaka Securities Exchange in 1949. The Company continued to expand geographically throughout the mid-20th Century, developing new electrical products and pioneering electronic technology in Japan. In 1984 the Company assumed its current name, Toshiba, an abbreviation of Tokyo Shibaura Electric. Towards the end of the century, in response to economic stagnation across Japan, Toshiba concentrated its interests, focusing its resources primarily on its semiconductor and personal computing businesses, where it continues to be a major player.
Today Toshiba is one of the world’s largest and most recognized electronics brands. It has subsidiaries and manufacturing facilities across the world and boasts a market capitalisation of approximately JPY 1.13 trillion ($10.17 billion).
Business model of Toshiba
Customer Segments
As a diversified business, providing a range of products and services, Toshiba serves several different customer segments worldwide and across a number of sectors. This includes general consumers, who purchase Toshiba branded laptops, hard drives and accessories; businesses and enterprises, that purchase Toshiba’s business hardware and technical solutions; and healthcare bodies and facilities that purchase medical imaging equipment.
The Company also provides industrial products to a range of businesses from within the petrochemical, agribusiness, oil and gas, utilities, water and paper industries that purchase industrial products.
Toshiba also serves local and national government bodies. Notably, it is currently a supplier of telecoms equipment to the US Government.
Value Propositions
Toshiba provides value in the variety and quality of its products. The Company is a respected and well-known electrical and electronics brand, with a history of providing reliable and efficient products.
The Company has a wide network of partners, including tech industry leaders, that help it to provide a good service to its customers. Toshiba is constantly seeking to improve and enhance the performance of its products and manufactures hardware that is easy for consumers to use.
It also provides ongoing technical support to its customers, ensuring that its products perform to the best possible standard.
Channels
Toshiba products and services can be viewed at its mobile and desktop websites at www.toshiba.com. Consumers can buy Toshiba products, such as laptop computers and hard drives, can be purchased via the Company’s online stores, as well as through a network of approved third-party retailers, both online and in-store, and business resellers.
Toshiba’s more specialised products – such as security products, medical cameras, industrial equipment and electrical components – can be purchased by contacting the relevant Toshiba division directly, or by identifying an approved distributor.
Customer Relationships
For general consumers Toshiba’s products are available on a self-service basis, with customers able to purchase Toshiba branded products through online channels and retail outlets with no interaction with Toshiba sales representatives.
Customers of Toshiba’s more specialised industrial, medical and business products and services require a greater degree of personal attention, making purchases directly through the Company’s sales team and receiving a service tailored to their individual needs.
Toshiba provides technical assistance to its consumer, business and industrial customers through online guides, tutorials and direct personal assistance, and interacts with customers through its YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.
Key Activities
Toshiba manufactures, markets, and sells electrical and electronic products. This includes consumer-focused computer hardware products and home appliances, such as laptops, hard drives, televisions, washing machines and refrigerators; industrial products such as semiconductors, motors, and transformers; and medical imaging equipment for healthcare facilities.
Toshiba manufactures its own products via a network of manufacturing facilities in the US, Canada, Japan, Vietnam, Brazil and China.
The Company then sells products directly to customers via its online store and sales team, as well as indirectly through a global network of third-party retailers, distributors and authorised resellers. The Company also provides technical and business services, including cloud and client management solutions.
Key Partners
Toshiba manages a partner program named the Toshiba Commerce Alliance. This program divides the company’s partners into software partners, comprising independent software vendors who own applications deployed on the Toshiba product portfolio; innovation partners, for companies who have original equipment manufacturer solutions enabled on one or more Toshiba products; and authorised service partners who have signed a subcontractor agreement and are authorize to offer warranty services and maintenance to Toshiba customers.
Partners are also categorised into Business Partner, Gold Business Partner and Diamond Business Partner levels, dependent on performance and contribution to Toshiba revenue. Among Toshiba’s partners are Mekano, RetailPro, and Siatec Systems as software partners; IBM, Microsoft, Cognizant and Verifone as innovation partners; and Informatica, Dacoll and Warpol as authorised service partners.
Key Resources
Toshiba’s key resources are its products and technology, its manufacturing facilities, its sales and distribution networks – including warehousing and logistics facilities, and its personnel.
Toshiba has numerous patent applications filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office, including applications entitled ‘Voltage controlled oscillator circuit and frequency synthesizer’, ‘Semiconductor memory device’, and ‘Quantum key distribution device, quantum key distribution system, and quantum key distribution method’.
Toshiba’s network of partners also contributes significantly to the Company’s business and revenue models.
Cost Structure
Toshiba incurs costs in relation to research and development, the manufacture of its products – including the operation of manufacturing facilities and purchase of supplies, the transport, warehousing and distribution of its products and the retention of its personnel.
The Company was reported to employ more than 215,000 workers worldwide in 2015 but plans to reduce this number to around 180,000 by March 2017, as part of a structural reform triggered by an accounting scandal. A workforce this large generates significant costs in terms of salaries and benefits.
The Company also operates a broad network of offices and facilities across the world, which accrue costs in the form of utilities and rent.
Revenue Streams
Toshiba generates revenue through the manufacture and sale of electric and electronic products. The Company’s revenue is divided into five principal segments: Energy and Infrastructure, Community Solutions, Healthcare Systems and Devices, Electronic Devices and Components, and Lifestyle Products and Services.
In 2015 Toshiba’s Energy and Infrastructure segment – including the manufacture and sale of industrial products such as generators, power systems and energy storage systems – accounted for 28% of total sales, the Company’s largest single segment.
Electronic Devices and Components accounted for 24%, Community Solutions accounted for 19%, Lifestyle Products accounted for 16% and Healthcare Systems and Services accounted for 6%. The remaining 7% was attributed to other products and services that do not fit into one of the Company’s product segments, such as cloud and network solutions.
In 2015 Toshiba generated JPY 6.7 trillion (approximately $60.3 billion) in annual revenue.
Our team
info: Masahi has served as Toshiba’s President and Chief Executive Officer since 2015. According to his corporate biography, Muromachi also serves as an Outside Corporate Auditor at H2O Retailing Corporation. Muromachi is a long-serving Toshiba employee, having joined the Company in 1975 as a general manager, shortly after completing his master’s degree in Science and Engineering from Waseda University. He has since held numerous roles within the Toshiba group of companies, including President and Chief Executive Officer of Semiconductor Company, Group Chief Executive Officer of Electronic Devices & Components Group, and Corporate Senior Executive Vice President.
info: Shigenori has been Corporate Senior Executive Vice President at Toshiba since 2015. He also serves as Executive Vice President of Toshiba’s Power Systems Company, and as Chairman of both Westinghouse Electric and Elster Electricity. Prior to assuming his current position, Shiga held a number of roles within Toshiba’s various companies, where he has worked for more than 26 years. This includes positions such as Senior Manager of Nuclear Business Development in the Plant Project Engineering Department and Vice President of Electricity System Company.
info: Yasuo has served as Corporate Senior Executive Vice President at Toshiba 2015. Naruke has climbed the ranks of the Toshiba’s executive management structure, having previously served as Corporate Executive Vice President, Corporate Senior Vice President and Corporate Vice President of the Company. He is also a former Managing Executive Officer of Toshiba’s Semi-Conductor Company.