Taiwan's world beater
CEO Peter Chou adds that many firms overemphasize market share, and in their rush to expand lose corporate reputation and value. But HTC has never consciously pursued market share, and, regardless of whether following the OEM/ODM model or operating its own brand, has always had a similar goal: to realize its own core value.
"HTC's present core value is 'quietly brilliant.' The people who work here don't go around blowing their own horns, but pay attention to doing things well, to doing them with attention to detail." Through one product release after another, and one report after another in the world's mainstream media, the dream shared by company employees of bringing HTC to the global stage has come ever closer, and their potential has been ever more stimulated and brought into play.
"We not only want to develop a brand name that is known around the world, our real ambition is to become a 'global brand,' a brand name that can represent Taiwan." What's the difference? John C. Wang explains that the US auto firm General Motors has many well-known brand names, such as Buick, Cadillac, and so on. But there is still a big gap between their brand value and that of Germany's BMW. Similarly, while Taiwan has many brand names, which can claim to be a "global brand" that sets the international standard? That's a lot harder. What HTC expects of itself is to become "the BMW of Taiwan."
Ahead of it, the vision of becoming a global brand draws HTC boldly forward, but you shouldn't overlook the impetus coming from the people doing the work behind the scenes.
Many industry analysts opine that when HTC first entered the fray, the market for smartphones was virgin territory, which is the main reason why HTC was able to grow so quickly and become one of Taiwan's top 10 international brand names in such a short time. But these days all the world's information and telecom companies are fighting for a share of the smart cell phone market. Not only the leaders in the field like Nokia, Apple, and RIM, but also Samsung and LG of Korea, Acer of Taiwan, and even Mediatek (the IC design leader that mainly works with low-priced "knock-off phone" factories), are all aiming to stake their claims. Will the presence of all these "great white sharks" in the water threaten HTC's profitability? Everyone is following the action closely.
Wang clearly knows what HTC's future posture will be, but he isn't saying much right now. He only hopes that they can stay in step with the trends as they go, handle things properly, and make their products the best they possibly can, so that HTC will become every consumer's "perfect match" and every new product release will be astonishing. This is the best possible response they can give to outsiders who are skeptical about their prospects.
HTC, which previously had "Innovation" as its catchword, has changed over to "quietly brilliant" since advancing to the second stage of branding. It aims to accompany consumers in a low-key, modest way to create a beautiful life together.
HTC CEO Peter Chou states that a brand name represents trust, and must pass many tests over a long period of time to win the hearts of consumers. At left is Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.