OREANDA-NEWS. Toshiba Corporation announced that it will implement further structural reform of its LCD TV and PC businesses to accelerate profit-focused resource allocation and to establish an asset-light management strategy that reduces fixed costs, improves profitability and strengthens business foundations.

Toshiba will execute these measures immediately, and will also follow up with structural reforms in this fiscal year, including a review of production and a reform of sales operations in Japan and overseas.

Last year, Toshiba transferred the LCD TV design and development function from Fukaya Complex in Saitama prefecture to Ome Complex in western Tokyo, Toshiba's development hub for PC and tablets. Concurrently, Toshiba concentrated technical service operations for LCD TVs in Fukaya Complex to a group subsidiary.

Despite these efforts, Toshiba has recorded losses in the LCD TV business for 2 consecutive years, the result of continuing lower demand in Japan following the completion of the transition to terrestrial digital broadcasting, yen depreciation and price reductions in the global market, and lower demand in the sluggish economies of Europe. In addition, the PC market is expected to see lower demand, reflecting the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets.

In these circumstances, Toshiba will promote a new round and continuing structural reform of its LCD TV and PC businesses, aiming to see positive figure in the Digital Products business in the second half of 2013.

Toshiba plans to increase sales and profit by accelerating profit-focused resource allocation and establishing a business strategy to reduce fixed costs, improve profitability and strengthen the business foundations. It will also seek to promote sales in emerging markets, focusing on B2B business and developing high value-added products.

In order to accomplish these plans, Toshiba will reorganize its Digital Products & Services Company, aiming to speed up decision making, and concentrate human resources into selected businesses.

Through these measures, plus the structural reforms that it initiated last year, Toshiba plans to reduce fixed costs in the LCD TV and PC businesses by approximately 10 billion yen in FY 2013 and approximately 20 billion yen in FY 2014, against FY 2012, and by doing so establish the sound business foundations required to win against global competition.