Acer: A decade old and on top

THE MANAGEMENT group of Acer Philippines

Acer Philippines just turned 10 last May, and in the last three years or so, it maintained its top position in the PC notebook and netbook market in the country.

Acer survived the first 10 years, and even fared quite well during the period. Looking at the company track record, Acer general manager Manuel Wong   is confident that it will go on to establish new milestones in the coming years.

The lessons learned, particularly in the first few years of the company, better equipped the management team to face future challenges, Wong says.

COMPANY executive Manuel Wong holds up a finger to say that Acer is now No. 1.

The early years were not easy for Acer, Wong recalls. Although the mother company in Taiwan was established in 1976, and the brand has been around for some time now, the team that put up the Philippine subsidiary in the early 2000s had to start from scratch.

“There was no brand recognition (in the Philippines) at that time. Market share was so low and our channel was very limited. There was no organization to speak of. We had to organize the whole setup,” he says.

The biggest challenge to Acer back then was how to break into and get accepted by a market that strongly favored established western brands. The Acer team, led by Wong, immediately tackled that challenge head-on.

While the corporate structure was being built, Acer Philippines was also putting up its marketing channel—a network of distributors and retailers—to establish a permanent footprint in the domestic market.

On its third year in the business, a nationwide network of distributors, retailers and service centers was already in place, assuring clients that Acer Philippines will always be there to meet their needs and support their after-sale service requirements.

Confidence building

“We have to win the confidence of the market,” Wong says. “To earn the customers’ trust, we should be true to them. There should be no shortcuts. We should not promise things that we could not deliver. At the same time, we find out and understand what the market needs, and address them with the products and services we have.”

The same holds true with the marketing channels—the distributors and retailers who represent Acer in the market. Wong says Acer works hard to establish a relationship with them and make them part of the Acer family.

“Acer is committed to help them grow as the company grows. We will grow together. We are not just pushing our products to them and let them take care of the rest.”

Wong and other members of the Acer management team see to it that they meet with the distributors and resellers for regular updates and to address their possible concerns.

“It’s much more than just accommodating their needs. We make sure we listen to them and find out what the problems are and we help resolve those problems. Sometimes, we provide certain solutions even before they realize they need them to grow their businesses, like their expansion to other markets,” he adds.

Expanding the market

Acer’s strategy, according to Wong, is to explore all opportunities to expand the market and not just to eat up the market share of competitors.

Most of Acer’s distributors and retailers carry different brands of similar products—PC notebooks, netbooks, desktops and projectors. And Wong says it is never the intention of Acer to replace the other products in their portfolios with those of Acer.

“We want the market to grow so everybody will have the chance to grow. There is no sense in just eating up a competitor’s market share for that can easily be taken away from us, too,” he explains.

Growing the market has become more important now that competition comes from different directions and in various forms—especially smartphones and tablets that also perform some of the functions of personal computers.

For instance, while everybody focused on Metro Manila where demand was really strong, Acer convinced its distributors to explore and establish their presence in key cities outside the metropolis and even outside Luzon. Some distributors were initially hesitant, but they were later convinced that the potential in those areas was huge.

True to its promise, Acer assists distributors and resellers in strategizing for the business, and supports their nationwide marketing activities and promotion. Regular training programs are conducted for them and incentives are given to top performers.

Acer succeeded in expanding its distribution and retail network throughout the country. Its growth areas now include places like Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Bacolod and Iloilo.

“Now we are looking at places farther down, including very small towns that may soon become cities,” Wong says.

Such a move not only expands the market for Acer, it also prevents situations where one distributor or retailer is pitted against another, which may only lead to cutthroat competition.

Marketing tools

Wong says Acer also encourages distributors to focus on their strengths, as some can be good in the commercial line while others do better in the mobile line.

Developing new computer users, including students and home users, is another strategy to expand the market.

“We do nationwide promotional offerings aimed at specific target markets.”

Earlier this year, the company launched Acer Academy, a training program for school administrators and teachers. The academy will enable schools to deliver the right response by promoting a digital classroom framework that makes use of Acer’s suite of products and services.

While its main objective is to help schools and educators adapt to new technologies, the program also provides opportunities to develop new computer users and, therefore, further expand the market.

New challenges

The strength of Acer’s operations in the country is its people, according to Wong. From less than 50 when it started operations in 2003, Acer now has 100 direct employees—half are in customer service and the others are in sales, marketing, accounting and others.

“Because our people are our most important asset, they are also my biggest challenge,” he says.

Wong says the challenge is to continuously develop them, keep them engaged and make them adopt a proactive stance.

“That is a continuing process. The world is changing fast and new challenges are coming. They should always be ready for everything, and we should be ahead of competition.”

He says members of the Acer family undergo regular training.

“They should be able to anticipate changes and ready to embrace them.”

But apart from structured training programs, Wong says people also learn more from their day-to-day activities. They are an empowered bunch.

“I am a hands-on manager but not to the point of watching them every step of the way. I let them and myself commit mistakes once in a while for as long as we learn from those mistakes.”

He says that when new employees walk in, “I give detailed instructions, otherwise I just monitor their performance, check the turnaround time and the costs. I believe many people are better than me in their respective fields, so I let them do  their work. As a manager, I am not perfect, that’s why I keep learning, even from my own mistakes.”

The Acer GM, who took up chemical engineering in college, has no formal education in computers and technology. What he knows about the business he learned through hands-on experiences.

Wong’s relationship with Acer dates back long before the Philippine subsidiary was born.

After graduating from college, he became part of a company that distributed computers, including Acer products, in the country.

He says the setup and the market then were so different from what they are now. His  involvement in the business long before Acer Philippines exposed him to, and prepared him for, the rapid changes in technology and market environment.

Bright prospects

These strategies of Acer seem to be working well. Despite the emergence of several other brands and models of computers and the proliferation of phones and tablets, Acer managed to maintain its leadership position in the notebook and netbook market with a share of 33 to 37 percent.

Wong also takes pride in being No. 1 in the projector market in the country and this was achieved by starting early in the game. He, however, admits Acer still lags behind certain competitors in the commercial (desktop) segment which, he says, is a growth opportunity for Acer.

The Acer executive is upbeat on the Philippine market, given recent growth rates posted by the economy. He believes personal computers are here to stay and markets will continue to grow despite the competition brought on by other brands foisting all types of gadgets.