Rivals look to Videocon’s revival of Daewoo
Videocon’s competitors on the home turf were eager to see how the company would leverage its global manufacturing facilities to revive the Daewoo brand in India.
LG Electronics India, head – CTVs, Amitabh Tiwari said, “Videocon will now be able to leverage the manufacturing facilities of Daewoo in the European markets. Videocon has, in a similar way, taken advantage of Thomson facilities in Europe for CRT (cathode ray tubes) TVs production.”
Videocon acquired Thomson SA’s global picture tube manufacturing facilities in July 2005.
Samsung India Electronics is also waiting and watching. Its deputy managing director Ravinder Zutshi said, “Videocon’s new thrust on Daewoo will open up the European durables market for the Indian company. The impact of the acquisition will be minimal as Videocon has already leveraged the European market through Thomson.”
Gulu Mirchandani, chairman and managing director, Mirc Electronics Ltd, said, “There are already brands such as Hyundai and Akai in Videocon’s kitty. Hence, adding one more brand – Daewoo – will not have any significant impact on their market share. Although sales will go up, only time will tell whether Videocon will be able to leverage Daewoo’s strong positioning in white goods.” Market research agencies and analysts are of the view that the Videocon-Daewoo deal will produce competition in the low end of the consumer durables segment in India. All eyes are also on Videocon as it gets into the marketing game, armed with the Daewoo brand.
According to Deepak Jassani, head – retail, HDFC Securities, “The deal will increase the sales potential for the Videocon group across the world, especially in the Korean, US and UK markets.”
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