Top industry executives set aside their holiday shopping when the Disti Blog questions landed on their desks so we can all learn about their views on just how bad it was in 2009 and whether there are any portents for fairer climes in 2010. I'll keep these on top of the posts right through the holiday until the New Year so you can dip in and out if you don't fancy reading them all in one go.
Neil Harrison, Managing Director, Farnell Europe
Review 2009 for us. As awful as it looked or not as bad as painted?
From the point-of-view of the whole electronics market it was undoubtedly a torrid and very difficult year. Many component manufacturers, suppliers and OEMs have had to take radical steps in order to keep their businesses viable.
Relative to the overall market, Farnell has had a comparatively good year. The cornerstones of our strategy have helped us offset the potentially damaging effects of the global downturn. Our innovative and continually evolving web model – something referenced when we received the European Distributor of the Year Award at the recent Elektra Awards - has helped us strengthen and add value to our existing customer relationships as well as win a greater market share.
We have also put a lot of effort into emerging markets such as India, China and Eastern Europe, supporting them with our online proposition plus both commercial and technical local language resource.
How do you view prospects for 2010? Do you foresee any hurdles to the potential growth next year e.g. a double dip recession, lengthening lead times?
Although it is hard to make predictions in the current climate, we don’t expect to see growth in the overall available market. However, with the continued momentum from the innovations and strategies we have implemented during 2009, we expect a positive if still challenging 2010. Tools such as element14, our online technology portal and ecommunity – recently enhanced by the launch of its very own iPhone and Google Android application, and the i-Buy eProcurement tool will continue to help us strengthen our relationships with both customers and suppliers. We will continue to innovate and take a leading position in order to achieve ongoing success and with the team of people we have at Farnell, I have every confidence we will do just that.
Investment in our inventory remains an important factor in ensuring we are a dependable supplier to our electronic design engineering customer base. In a challenging market it is especially important that we work closely with our suppliers.
On the question of whether we are facing a ‘W’ or an ‘L’ shaped downturn in the global market – it’s obviously tough for anyone to accurately predict. Our current take on the situation considering all indicators is that we are seeing more of an ‘L’ than a ‘W’ in the electronics sector.
What would make life easier in 2010?
The uncertainty of how things will develop in 2010 creates some serious challenges. Therefore, some clarity regarding how the market will go would make life easier for whole electronics sector.
The last 24 months or so has been about preparing the business for a range of possible market scenarios. Whilst this is difficult, it has also been healthy in that it has made us analyse more carefully what we do and how we do it. The result is a more efficient business that is able to better serve our customers and suppliers.
What will make 2010 exciting for your company?
Continuing to grow our share of the TAM will be exciting and challenging! Farnell has placed a lot of emphasis on being innovative and this has resulted in us offering a number of ‘firsts’ for the distribution market that enhance the proposition to our customers and has streamlined and strengthened our supplier relationships. This activity is set to continue and that too is exciting.
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