Abstract
The foundations for what was to become one of the world's biggest electronics companies were laid in 1891 when Gerard Philips established a company in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, to manufacture incandescent lamps and other electrical products. The company initially concentrated on making carbon-filament lamps and by the turn of the century it was one of the largest producers in Europe. Developments in new lighting technologies fuelled a steady program of expansion, and, in 1914, it established a research laboratory to study physical and chemical phenomena, so as to further stimulate product innovation.
Today, Royal Philips Electronics is one of the world's biggest electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales of 37.9 billion Euros in 2001. It is a global leader in color television sets, lighting, electric shavers, color picture tubes for televisions and monitors, and one-chip television products. Royal Philips Electronics is eighth on Fortune's list of global top 30 electronics corporations and quoted on the NYSE (symbol: PHG), London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and other stock exchanges.
Philips has 168,400 employees in more than 60 countries actively functioning in the areas of lighting, consumer electronics, domestic appliances, security systems, components, semiconductors, and medical systems (particularly scanning and other diagnostic systems). It is a world leader in digital technologies for television and displays, wireless communications, speech recognition, video compression, storage and optical products as well as the underlying semiconductor technology that makes these breakthroughs possible.
As a technology-driven company, Philips attaches great importance to protecting its innovations by intellectual property rights (IPRs) to secure its investments in research & development. The company's IPR portfolio currently includes about 70,000 patent rights, 22,000 trademark registrations and some 6,000 design rights.
Philips' brand name is the company's most important asset. It guides the direction and shapes the content of its activity, from R&D to the delivery of products to customer servicing. Philips has spent substantially on supporting its brand throughout the world promoting the company theme of ‘Let's Make Things Better'.
Philips has ensured that the campaign carries significant consumer relevance: before a campaign was devised, Philips talked to over 14,000 customers in 17 countries in personal 'one on one' home interviews, with a group of men and women, roughly aged between26-32 years, with a specific attitude and lifestyle exhibiting comfort in technology and its benefits.
