Semiconductor
The seeds of the business Turning a crisis into an opportunity
"Demand creation capabilities"
OUTLINE
Macnica was in a difficult position due to the oligopoly in the semiconductor industry and the headwinds of Company A acquiring Company B, its business partner of approximately 15 years.
At a time when business was in turmoil, Macnica took advantage of its broad customer base and its strong mindset of turning a crisis into an opportunity, generously demonstrating its demand creation capabilities. It also carefully identified customer issues and promoted Macnica 's value with its strong sales and technical capabilities.
As a result, Macnica was highly evaluated, and in addition to continuing its business with Company A, it was awarded a global distributor contract including Asia and ASEAN, leading to business expansion overseas.
PROJECT MEMBER
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Takaki Miyamoto
Career hire
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Takamasa Horiuchi
New graduate hire
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Yosuke Haishima
Career hire
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Shigeru Ohinata
New graduate hire
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Nao Sato
Career hire
POINT
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Until the seeds are born
- Acquisition of Company B, a business partner of approximately 15 years
- Rapidly Advancing Oligopoly in the Semiconductor Industry
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Growing seeds
- Gathering information by utilizing a wide customer base
- Promoting Macnica 's value through demand creation capabilities
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Seed sprouts
- Evaluation of Macnica 's sales and demand creation capabilities
- Expanding into overseas business
What started the project
Shocking News That Shook the Company
One morning, surprise news spread throughout the company: a long-established semiconductor manufacturer (hereafter referred to as "Company A") was acquiring a Silicon Valley semiconductor manufacturer (hereafter referred to as "Company B") that had been doing business with Macnica for many years.
The semiconductor industry has recently become increasingly oligopolistic, and news of M&A among semiconductor suppliers is not uncommon. However, the acquisition of Company B, a partner with whom the Company have built business for approximately 15 years, means that the leadership of our business with them will be transferred to Company A, and this announcement of the acquisition had a significant impact, as it is likely to have a major impact on the future direction of our business.
Furthermore, just as Company A completed its acquisition of Company B and the Company were about to move forward with concluding a new business agreement, we received the shocking news that Company A was restructuring its domestic sales network. In most cases, sales network restructuring that occurs during an acquisition results in the trading companies that had been doing business with the acquired company having their contracts terminated, putting Macnica in a difficult position.
Project Challenges
High-quality demand creation
Seize the opportunity
Narrowing down the number of trading companies with which Company A does business means that business will be concentrated in the selected trading companies, and Ohinata and other team members thought that this was an opportunity to build an even stronger business foundation than before.
Furthermore, if we could handle Company A's products, we would be able to expand our business globally and deliver Macnica 's value to a wider audience. Company A's restructuring of its sales network is also aimed at expanding its business. If we can prove the benefits of becoming a business partner with Macnica, we can even reach a transaction agreement.
To achieve this, we first began activities to promote Macnica 's strength, its demand creation capabilities (the ability to create new businesses).
In the semiconductor business, a major added value is being able to accurately grasp customer needs and then provide optimal proposals and support to meet them. To do this, it is important not only to be thoroughly familiar with the products your company handles, but also to build relationships of trust with customers and get to know them deeply.
"Creating businesses is our specialty. When the acquisition was first completed, we lacked the information necessary to present to Company A to prove our strengths, but we still weren't in a hurry," says Horiuchi.
Leveraging its wide customer base, Macnica immediately began collecting useful information to demonstrate the value to Company A. In a short space of time, it gathered an unprecedented amount of important information, including information on the market and customers in need of Company A's products.
After organizing this information, a presentation was made to Company A. Company A appreciated Macnica 's strong sales capabilities and the resulting reliable demand creation capabilities, and decided to continue considering signing a contract. However, Macnica 's appeal to Company A's value did not end there.
Project Results
Macnica proves its value with overwhelming technological capabilities
Initially, Company A had a large share of the market for some products, but its share of analog products was small, and the company felt it had to somehow improve this situation. Macnica wanted to demonstrate its overwhelming technological capabilities, so it independently developed an IoT sensor board that combined multiple analog products developed by Company A.
When developing this IoT sensor board, they had not concluded a business contract with Company A, and therefore were unable to obtain any product datasheets, creating a mountain of challenges that had to be overcome.This was the kind of development that would have caused a normal developer to give up immediately, but they completed it in just two months and provided it to Company A.
"Macnica has many engineers with technical skills that are on par with those of our supplier manufacturers. We thought that words alone were not enough to prove this, so we decided to actually develop the board. Even I was amazed at the technical skills of Macnica 's engineers. Even the engineers at Company A said that it would be difficult to complete the development of this board in two months," says Horiuchi.
Through the development of this board, we were able to demonstrate that with our technological capabilities we could expand sales and support all analog products from a single company. Company A also highly valued Macnica 's overwhelming technological capabilities, and ultimately not only did we conclude a contract to continue doing business with Macnica, but we also concluded a contract to become the only domestic distributor covering ASIA and ASEAN as a global distributor.
Project Outlook
In times of crisis,
True Values Tested
Macnica, which contributes greatly to the development of society by providing semiconductor products to a wide range of customers in areas such as communications equipment, industrial machinery, and medical devices, has one thing that it has always valued in the course of its business. That is to turn a pinch into an opportunity.
In addition to M&As, the semiconductor industry is undergoing rapid changes, with delivery problems and price hikes due to the tight supply and demand of semiconductor products, and as a matter of course, pinch points occur frequently. Macnica In the rapidly changing semiconductor industry, pinch points occur frequently as a matter of course.
The true value of a company is demonstrated in times of crisis. Generally speaking, it is difficult for a trading company without a contract with a supplier manufacturer it has acquired to continue the contract, and the M&A would have resulted in the loss of Company A's product sales rights under normal circumstances. This is even more so in an environment where the sales network is being restructured.
Nevertheless, they did not give up and did their utmost to promote their value, aiming not only to conclude new contracts but also to acquire even more business sales channels than before. Macnica This overseas business expansion was made possible by the mindset of each and every one of the members of the "M&A" team to turn a pinch of trouble into an opportunity.
In the future, Macnica will provide Company A's products globally, not just in Japan. By leveraging its strengths in sales and technology to deliver Company A products as solutions, the company will work with its customers to contribute to enriching the lives of people around the world.
Macnica It may not be too long in the future before the time comes when "A" products are said to be indispensable not only in Japan but also in the lives of the entire world.
