International. To cope with the difficult situation it faces, Asian manufacturer Sharp is studying an aggressive restructuring plan for its businesses, which includes the withdrawal of some of the areas in which it currently has a stake.
One of the main measures would be to focus its business on the manufacture of LCD screens for smartphones and tablets, for which it would seek to make divestments in the air conditioning and photocopier segments.
Restructuring also includes reducing the number of its employees. In total there will be 5,000 employees who will leave at the headquarters located around the world, through a plan that will go until 2013. Among those who will leave are candidates for early retirement.
In addition, the company will seek external capital and alliances that will allow it to modernize its production plant for LCD screens for smartphones and tablets, and thus be able to focus on this segment. Part of these alliances began at the beginning of the year after joining with a Taiwanese manufacturer for the manufacture of LCD screens for televisions.
All these changes seek to recover the good path of the company, which last year had losses close to 2,600 million euros. In the first months of this year the trend continued.
These are the measures taken by the new president of Sharp, Takashi Okuda, who took office on the first of April and has more than 30 years of experience in the company.
