Confronted with unexpected great losses in the European market, TCL Mul- timedia Technology Holdings Ltd. an- nounced a major restructuring of its fail- ing European operations on October 31, 2006. It has decided to s...Confronted with unexpected great losses in the European market, TCL Mul- timedia Technology Holdings Ltd. an- nounced a major restructuring of its fail- ing European operations on October 31, 2006. It has decided to slow down its joint venture with Thomson Corporation - TTE’s business in Europe. Over the last few years, TCL has devoted so much to cultivating the North American market, which had bad records when TCL took over Thomson’s TV business, that it has ignored its ever- declining Europeanoperations. Until the second half of 2005, TCL suddenly realized its great losses in Europe. Though unexpected, the fail- ing operations are traceable. For one thing, without a clear positioning, TTE’s headquarter had an ineffective and inef- ficient control over the European division. The marriage has not bound up TCL and Thomson’s op- erations and management in a real sense. Besides, TCL failed to anticipate how quickly people would switch to flat-panel TVs. Their catch-up later made the situation even worse due to slow re-sponses from their management team and marketing system. Under these circumstances, TTE’s se- nior management proposed the first re- structuring plan last September, but it was never put into operation. Until recently, TTE has finally launched this large-scale restructuring of sales and marketing in Europe, with dramatic reduction in opera- tion procedure and employees. Although it’s not certain how effec- tive the reform will be, Shi Wanwen, Vice President of TCL, is optimistic about it, saying "the business will at least become controllable after it is restructured". Perhaps, TCL is moving back on track.展开更多
文摘Confronted with unexpected great losses in the European market, TCL Mul- timedia Technology Holdings Ltd. an- nounced a major restructuring of its fail- ing European operations on October 31, 2006. It has decided to slow down its joint venture with Thomson Corporation - TTE’s business in Europe. Over the last few years, TCL has devoted so much to cultivating the North American market, which had bad records when TCL took over Thomson’s TV business, that it has ignored its ever- declining Europeanoperations. Until the second half of 2005, TCL suddenly realized its great losses in Europe. Though unexpected, the fail- ing operations are traceable. For one thing, without a clear positioning, TTE’s headquarter had an ineffective and inef- ficient control over the European division. The marriage has not bound up TCL and Thomson’s op- erations and management in a real sense. Besides, TCL failed to anticipate how quickly people would switch to flat-panel TVs. Their catch-up later made the situation even worse due to slow re-sponses from their management team and marketing system. Under these circumstances, TTE’s se- nior management proposed the first re- structuring plan last September, but it was never put into operation. Until recently, TTE has finally launched this large-scale restructuring of sales and marketing in Europe, with dramatic reduction in opera- tion procedure and employees. Although it’s not certain how effec- tive the reform will be, Shi Wanwen, Vice President of TCL, is optimistic about it, saying "the business will at least become controllable after it is restructured". Perhaps, TCL is moving back on track.
