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In the realm of home entertainment, high definition (HD) is anticipated new feature. This is true of televisions and DVDs alike. As many companies that deal in consumer electronics embrace the HD fad in their products, one corporation is left behind. Toshiba executives have lost the race for high definition DVD formats and canceled their plans to move forward in the HD DVD market. Chief Executive Atsutoshi Nishida made this decision startling decision after Time Warner Inc. announced its support for Blu-ray. Later this year, Time Warner’s subsidiary Warner Brothers will be releasing all high definition DVDs exclusively in the Blu-ray format. According to a press release from Time Warner, they had been working very closely with Toshiba, but acknowledge that they are moving in a different direction.

So, where does this leave Toshiba? Will they be abandoning their consumer electronics market? Far from it. According to an interview with Mr. Nishida, Toshiba will be re-focusing its efforts. First and foremost, this will begin with their computer market. They are currently working on developing technology that would allow customers to wirelessly connect their PCs to their televisions. This will mean users will be able to use the DVD player on their computers to watch DVDs on their televisions. Toshiba is also working on improving the quality of the “upconverting” feature of their current DVD players. According to Mr. Nishida, this will improve the image quality to the point where “consumers won’t be able to tell the difference from HD DVD images. The players would be much cheaper than Blu-ray players too.” While there are many out there willing to pay top dollar for the latest technological advancements, those of us living on a budget always appreciate a good bargain. Comparatively speaking, this would position the new Toshiba DVD players as a major competitor in the market.

According to Rueters, Toshiba has tried to make concessions to those effected by this fallout by slashing the price of their current DVD players. However, the company is still expected to suffer a major hit, as experts predict that hundreds of millions of dollars will be lost from these happenings. As far as consumers who have already bought HD DVD players which will not be compatible with Blu-ray disks, Toshiba has yet to address if it will offer trade-ins, rebates, etc. to compensate for this loss. However, electronics retailers such as Circuit City have offered trade-ins to HD DVD player owners.

Mr. Nishida also makes a point about the failure of the HD DVD plan. Failures need to be taken in stride, and the recent experience with Time Warner is no different. He offers five very useful tips on overcoming a crisis. They are:

• Keep in mind that business without risk is business without growth.
• Work with the facts. Listen to the market, not your ego.
• Act quickly and decisively. Delay makes things worse, not better.
• Be a proactive leader and clearly communicate your decisions.
• Be resilient and continue to innovate. Success is not forever, nor is failure.

Only time will tell if Toshiba’s new development goals will be successful in such a competitive market. However, if the general outlook and attitude of the top executives is anything like Mr. Nishida, then it certainly seems as though the company is on level ground. This is an important starting point for any successful venture, and Toshiba will want to remain optimistic and grounded to overcome this setback.

Thursday, March 27th, 2008 You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

By Michael Gorvin