[Company analysis] Sharp Corporation (シャープ)

「Sharp Corporation (シャープ)」manufactures communication equipment, electronic devices, electronic components. This company is known for the world's first company to develop "Calculator". In 2016, it was bought by「Foxconn」in Taiwan, due to a long-term poor performance, and it is currently conducting management restructuring and withdrawal from the deficit business. This company has high leveled technology in the liquid crystal display field and also have the world's top share in the residential solar power generation field. The number of consolidated employees is approximately 53,939.

 

1. Company Profile

2. Summary and Features

3. Major Business

4. Financial Information

 

 

 

1. Company Profile

 

※Unit is JPY million, as of 2019

Company name	Sharp Corporation
Company name (Japanese)	シャープ
Date of establishment	Wednesday, May 1, 1935
Headquarters location	〒590-8522 大阪府堺市堺区匠町1番地
Capital	5,000
Consolidated sales	2,400,072
Consolidated operating profit	84,140
Consolidated total assets	1,866,349
Consolidated capital	372,471
Capital adequacy ratio	20.0%
Consolidated number of employees	53,939

 

 

 

2. Summary and Features

 
Originally this company was founded in 1912, under the name of「Hayakawa Electric Industry(早川電機工業)」. Since they had released improved metallic sharp pencil that became a big hit in 1915, they decided to change company name to「Sharp」. In 1963, this company succeeded in mass production of solar cells, and the following year, the world's first calculator was developed. Then they released the world's first calculator with display in 1973. Like above examples,「Sharp」has strong technological development capabilities to produce many world-first inventions.

 

「Sharp」mainly uses "Selection and concentration strategy", and tends to concentrate its management resources in a specific and differentiated market where「Sharp」can utilize its own technical strength, and build a high competitive advantage. A typical example is the LCD(Liquid Crystal Display) field. Especially for 8K, this company has the world's highest technology level. Still, under the current market situation, there are many uncertainties that 8K technology trully contributes long term profits to「Sharp」 or not.

Frankly speaking, the "Selection and concentration strategy" is a double-edged sword, so it sometimes is connected to the disadvantage. For example, in the 2000s,「Sharp」built a large-scale LCD factory, in order to enhance production capability. But due to the global recession, the production utilization rate of large panels dropped significantly, eventually「Sharp」confronted overinvestment. This turned out to be a terrible deficit and this is one of the reasons why「Sharp」was bought by Taiwan's「Foxconn」in 2016.

In addition, although it is clear that「Sharp」has very high technological level, they have been struggling to build a brand image and secure excellent human resources since they were in a long-term poor performance in the 2000s. However, after being incorporated into「Foxconn」, they can utilize sales network and production capacity of 「Foxconn」and this is regarded as a merit. In addition, since the release of the "AQUOS phone",「Sharp」acheived the sencond largest smartphone sales in Japan after「Apple」, surpassing「Sony Corporation」.

 

 

 

3. Major Business

 

■ Smart Home
Home appliances, smartphones, smart systems, etc.

■ Smart Business Solution
Printers, retail products, unmanned robots, etc.

■ IoT Electronics
Electronic devices such as CMOS sensor and 8K storage laser device

■ Advanced Display System business
8K and LCD, automatic / medical liquid display 

 

 

 

4. Financial information

 

※Unit is JPY million

		2016	2017	2018
Consolidated sales		2,050,639	2,427,271	2,400,072
Consolidated operating profit		62,454	90,125	84,140
Consolidated total assets		1,773,682	1,908,660	1,866,349
Consolidated net assets		307,801	401,713	372,471
Breakdown of sales	Smart Home business	550,624	607,990	696,936
	Smart Business Solution business	317,780	318,084	320,403
	IoT Electronics business	413,639	504,566	499,094
	Advanced Display System business	842,010	1,086,570	959,689
	Adjustments	-73,415	-89,940	-76,051