As Xerox and Fujifilm continue to battle it out, Fuji Xerox continues to collaborate with and develop products for Xerox.
(Editor’s note: This column was written in December 2018.)
On November 25, 2018, Fuji Xerox held a press conference to announce 16 new A3 color multifunction machines. The press conference marked the first for Kouichi Tamai, president and representative director, since being appointed to those positions at Fuji Xerox’s general shareholders meeting on June 20, 2018.
It has been a turbulent time for Fuji Xerox. Fuji Film Holdings, a 75% shareholder of Fuji Xerox, and Xerox, a 25% shareholder, had agreed to integrate their businesses in January 2018, but as readers of The Cannata Report are well aware, that agreement was subsequently suspended due to opposition from Xerox’s activist board members. At press time, the management teams of both companies continue to negotiate, although we have been told that Xerox’s new CEO, John Visentin, has no intention of renewing its territory agreement with Fuji Xerox, even though Xerox continues to sell products developed by Fuji Xerox in the United States and Europe.
The latest Fuji Xerox-developed products offer enhanced cloud and security functions. These new MFPs offer Cloud Service Hub for Concur. Cloud Service Hub integrates multiple cloud systems with a single sign-on feature so that users have a standard interface when collaborating and managing information.
To locate a file, all a user needs to do is enter a keyword instead of sifting through all their folders. Data can be scanned directly to the cloud, and printed from computers, laptops, mobile devices, and more. Concur is a business cloud service for expense reimbursement, and is widely used by large companies in Japan. Its use is not as widespread in the U.S. When receipts in the U.S. become eligible for the service, Japanese companies will be able to use it for expense reimbursements for traveling.
When I asked President Tamai if Fujifilm and Xerox remain in close contact at the development level despite the conflicting viewpoints about an acquisition, he reported the companies continue to collaborate closely on R&D.
“It has not changed from the past, and my impression is that our collaboration is even getting deeper,” he said.
Management integration for Fujifilm Holdings and Xerox remains a matter of management initiative, and neither company may be willing to compromise. However, the development of excellent new products will remain a shared initiative for the companies as they look to further expand their copy-machine sales business. Because of this, it is important for the stability of both companies’ business management teams that Xerox and Fuji Xerox continue to collaborate in product development.
Despite this collaboration, Xerox’s board of directors and CEO Visentin remain aligned with the activist board members in their steadfast opposition to an acquisition. It’s unclear how this may change now that Fuji Xerox has replaced its president and representative director Hiroshi Kurihara with Tamai, who also serves as director and senior vice president of Fujifilm Holdings, while serving concurrently as senior executive vice president of Fujifilm (Fuji Xerox’s brother company) as well.
While the management teams at Xerox and Fujifilm continue to feud, it will be interesting to see how this impacts their go-to-market strategies and development relationship in 2019 as they each continue to sell the same products.
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