|
| Konica Minolta Italia Managing Director Fabio De Martini |
|
When two giants within an industry merge, there are often internal struggles and a larger identity crisis that hinder success in the near term. This was not the case with Konica Minolta in Italy.
Following the global merger in 2004 of the two industry leaders, Konica Minolta Italia surged ahead of its other competitors and never looked back.
“When you merge two competitors like Konica and Minolta, it’s always difficult to find a common image and common brand awareness. But in this integration, I think our Japanese colleagues in Tokyo made the right decision to maintain the logo of the former Minolta. That logo helped us to maintain brand awareness in this market,” says Managing Director Fabio De Martini.
Konica Minolta’s brand awareness paid dividends immediately in 2004 when it took the lead in the industry pushing its competitive advantage in the color market.
Last year, Konica Minolta maintained its advantage in the color sector, gaining a local market share of 32 percent, or twice that of its nearest competitor.
“We have succeeded in moving the language of the industry from black and white to color, and this is our language. When we started to talk about color, no one was talking about it. Nowadays, if you look at our competitors’ advertising, everybody is talking about color,” says De Martini.
This success is not sufficient for Konica Minolta Italia though.
“We did color. But this is not enough,” says De Martini. “We must be ready for change. This year, we will push the production printing business, begin a solutions business and maintain our lead in the color market.”
Later this year, Konica Minolta Italia will host a kickoff meeting with all of its local dealers, the theme of which is “The Power of Change.”
Konica Minolta will also unveil new products into the color production printing arena and announce its plans to expand into the solutions business at Drupa, the world’s largest production printing fair held in Dussledorf in June.
With the big changes planned for the future, Konica Minolta Italia is poised to maintain its role as a leader in the industry.
www.konicaminolta.it |