Kyocera Mita Corporation - Marketing Mix in Uzbekistan

1. 1. Executive summary
The market of the printer products for office using of Uzbekistan is an important market for
many manufactures. Kyocera Mita has some advantages over the competitors, such as Hewlett-
Packard and Cannon Company. These advantages include the lower total cost of ownership, the
quality of the products and their printing, and powers of endurance. However, the promotion
strategy requires some changes, because many businesspersons are not aware of the
advantages of Kyocera’s products. In addition, the strategies of distribution should be changed,
so all the other suggestions related to distribution and other elements of marketing mix can be
found in recommendatory part.
2. Company overview
Kyocera Mita Corporation as a multinational company that was created with the acquisition of
Japanese photocopier manufacturer Mita Industrial by Kyocera Co in 2000. The headquarters
are situated in Japan, but the representative offices in more that 25 other countries accumulate
the majority of the profit.
The Kyocera Corporation is the owner of Kyocera Mita Corporation; it was founded in 1959 and
renamed into Kyocera in 1982. Kyocera is the manufacturer of the range of products, such as
industrial ceramics, telecommunication equipment, electronic components, semiconductor
packages, cutting tools, components for medical and dental implant systems, etc. The
knowledge and research made in these fields helps to maintain high competitiveness in the
segment of office printer equipment.
The representative office of Kyocera Mita is a distributor of multifunction printing devices for
the office work. It sells monochrome and color network printers, multifunctional products (or
so-called "print, copy, scan, fax) and other printing products.
3. Introduction

2. The aim of the report is the analysis of marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) of
Kyocera Mita Company, the representative office of the company of Uzbekistan. Thus, the
report will mainly study the activities taken by Kyocera Mita in Uzbekistan.
3.1 Methods of collecting data
There were several ways of collecting data and information for the report. The public sources,
including the advertisements, internet sources, the reviews in special magazines were used for
the depiction of all the aspects Kyocera Mita’s marketing mix. Furthermore, the management
of the representative office agreed to share their information about these areas, so that the
report would be more precise and truthful.
4. Marketing mix
In this part the product line, subsequent service equipment, price and promotion issues will be
discussed, as well as the appropriateness of current distribution channels
4.1 Products
There are two ways of the division of Kyocera Mita products that are sold in Uzbekistan. First
method of differentiation is the division on the type of the product. Specifically, the printers,
tracer equipment multifunction devices, and large-format printing devices are offered by the
representative office. Accordingly, the second way of diving products is distinguishing them
because of their main features or purposes. So, each of the type can be divided on the desk for
individual using, network printers for the purposes of collective, for the whole department and
simply color printers. All the products are focused on the office using, which means that the
products are ready for continuity and heavy intensity of the usage.
Kyocera Mita also follows "ECOSYS" policy that was adopted in early 90s. The policy consists of
the elements of EConomy, ECology and SYStem of printing. The mix of these elements means
the focus of the company on economizing, ecological issues, while it is not forgetting about the
quality of the printing.

3. The sales representative of the company exposed his own observation, according to which the
copying monochrome machine are the most popular product of Kyocera Mita Uzbekistan.
But, it ought to be noted that the products are produced and imported from Japan, but the
discussion of the “product” element of the representative office should also include the quality
of the service before, during and after the purchase of the products.
Besides the meeting at the office at 37 Vahidova Street, the methods of cooperation with the
customers also include making phone calls, writing electronic mails and visiting their web site.
Special substantial efforts were made to test the quality of this element. Firstly, the worker of
IT department in one of the companies that purchased the products of Kyocera was asked
about the quality of Kyocera’s support. He said that he is quite satisfied with the operability and
grade of the support service. But, the worker also noted that the prohibition to use the support
of outside services (otherwise, Kyocera can refuse to support the product or charge the
additional fee for the services) is conditioned not because of the safety, but other reasons. So,
this prohibition is inconvenient for the customers.
Also, according to the words of Kyocera Mita Uzbekistan employees, the policy of the after-
sales services comprises different approaches to the support of the products. For instance,
Kyocera makes a free diagnostics of the sold products from time to time. The additional
services are also given to the large-scale companies, such as the educating the specialists of
running and maintaining the products of Kyocera.
Secondly, the electronic mail was send as if one of the Uzbek companies decided to purchase
their production and the message contained the request to expose the details about the
products, their prices, etc. The representatives of Kyocera responded next day, giving the
information and asking for contact information. So, this part of the services is estimated as
valuable.
Thirdly, the web site of the representative office was examined too. It has a fine and usable
design; however the design of www.kyocera.uz is the tracing copy of www.kycera.ru.
Thus, the representative office of Kyocera Mita in Tashkent offers the products that are
attractive for the particular niche of users, covering their needs. Furthermore, their quality of
the service of purchasing, supporting and maintaining products is quite suitable for the needs
of the customers.

4. 4.2 Price
The management of the company noticed that notwithstanding the fact that the prices for all
the products can be higher by scores of percents than their counterparts, mainly produced by
Canon and HP, products of Kyocera Mita find a ready market in the field of the office
equipments. The reason is their special philosophy and approach to the development of
printing product. As equally important as the concentration of the product developers on the
products, they also make an emphasis on the reduction of the total cost of ownership (TCO).
Thus, the total cost of ownership is discussed in the “price” part of the report.
The representatives of Kyocera Mita says that nowadays spending on the maintenance and
supporting office production, especially printing, became a foundation stone in the process of
selecting an appropriate printer. Indeed, the expenditures on the maintenance and expendable
materials can exceed the price of the equipment bought in several times, especially in active
office using, as Nifty-stuff.com (2004) suggests. Kyocera Mita UK (2008) notes that the policy of
decreasing the total cost of ownership dominates in the minds of the designer developers of
Kyocera Mita.
The analysis of “price” element also means the study of the prices for maintenance servicing. In
contrast to the quality of this servicing, the company where the preceding interviewed IT
supporter worked was not really glad with the prices for the technical support of Kyocera Mita.
Indeed, the management of the representative office says that they are not economizing on the
quality of the maintenance work, because they believe that qualified and competent products
support do not cover the demands of Uzbekistan market.
Also, Kyocera Mita uses price promotions for the regular customers in purchasing products and
their after-sales service in order to increase the loyalty of clients.

5. 4.3 Place
According to the words of Kyocera workers, the production is usually sold in bulk. The
transportation and storehouse costs are moderate, they are proud of their well-considered
logistical system. However, the market coverage is mainly limited to Tashkent; the regions are
still weak point for the representative office. The main feature of the distribution channel of
Kyocera Mita Uzbekistan is that they are mainly selling their products to large-scale enterprises;
the stores are the secondary way of distributing production.
4.4 Promotion
The products of Kyocera Mita are less known to common
people, because of their focus on the suctions offered to
business. On the contrary, the people for the business
sphere are well-acquainted with the production of the
company. Evidently, it is known for its economizing policy,
the powers of the endurance of the products, as well as
for TCO and ECOSYS policy.

6. The representative office in Uzbekistan is using periodicals, newspapers, magazines, together
with the brochures distributing during different expositions or at the office, to promote the
products of Kyocera Mita. Specifically, the advertisements of Kyocera products can be found in
the “Prestige” newspaper and “Golden pages” reference book.
5. Suggestions
The product line should not be change, but new products should be introduced in Uzbekistan
market too. For example, some of those units which are already available at UK or Japanese
divisions are still not in the Uzbekistan.
Of course, the information about the process of forming price promotions and discounts should
be exposed, because it will encourage Uzbek companies to buy products under special
conditions. Now, this information is closed for the customers.
In addition, the price for servicing should be reduced, there are some evidences that companies
that bought equipment in Kyocera Mita tend to use unofficial support centers because of the
high prices of the authorized services.
Evidently, the promotion and distribution policy of the company should be also changed. For
example, the active promotion of the fact about the TCO of Kyocera’s products and their
counterparts is not made, in contrast to some European countries and Russia. For example,
there is no even the calculator of total cost of ownership, as UK web site has. Kyocera Mita
should also use push strategies of selling products, for example it should hire sales
representative that would do door-to-door promotion and selling of the products for the offices
of different companies.
Also, the distribution channel should also be altered to succeed on the Uzbek market. For
instance, the sales and promotion activities should be strengthening in regions. In spite of some
economical and administrative barriers on entering many regions of Uzbekistan, Kyocera may
become a prominent player on those underdeveloped markets.
Thus, as the result of all these actions Kyocera can increase the awareness of the possible
customers about the strong points and advantages of the products of Kyocera. This, together

7. with the active introduction of the new markets and distribution channels would obviously
increase the level of the sales in a relatively little interval.
6. Conclusion
In conclusion, Kyocera Mita is a good example of how the representative office should be
arranged in Uzbekistan. But, it is also a good example of the mistakes and imperfections that
are usually made on Uzbekistan. Of course, following the previous suggestions would favorably
affect the revenues and profit of Kyocera Mita Uzbekistan.

8. Bibliography
The information was used from the following sources:
Kyocera Mita, 2008.Kyocera Mita. The main page – print, copy, scan, fax. [Online]. Available at:
http://www.kyocera.ru/ [Accessed 4 April 2010].
Kyocera Mita Russia, 2008.Kyocera Mita. The main page – print, copy, scan, fax. [Online].
Available at: http://www.kyocera.ru/ [Accessed 4 April 2010].
Kyocera Mita UK, 2010. Total cost calculator? . [Online]. Available at:
http://www.kyoceramita.com.au/tco/ [Accessed 4 April 2010].
Kyocera Mita UK, 2010. Why Kyocera Mita? . [Online]. Available at:
http://www.xma4education.co.uk/manufacturer/kyocera/Why_Kyocera.aspx [Accessed 4 April
2010].
Kyocera Mita Uzbekistan, 2008.Kyocera Mita. The main page – print, copy, scan, fax. [Online].
Available at: http://www.kyocera.uz/ [Accessed 4 April 2010].
Nifty-stuff.com, 2004. Inkjet Printer-Total Cost of Ownership. [Online]. Available at:
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/inkjet-printer-tco.php [Accessed 4 April 2010].
XMA4Education, 2010. Why Kyocera Mita? . [Online]. Available at:
http://www.xma4education.co.uk/manufacturer/kyocera/Why_Kyocera.aspx [Accessed 4 April
2010].