Casio Computer Co., Ltd.

6-1, Nishi-shinjuku 2-chome
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163
Japan
(03)3347-4811
Fax: (03) 3348-3629

Public Company
Incorporated: 1957
Employees: 3,614
Sales: ¥304.83 billion (US$2.12 billion)
Stock Exchanges: Tokyo Osaka Amsterdam Frankfurt

Casio Computer Co., Ltd. manufacturers desktop electronic calculators, digital and analog timepieces, digital notebooks and diaries, electronic musical instruments, audiovisual products, computers, and other consumer and industrial electronic products. Casio has developed a number of electronic products for consumers and businesses based on digital technology and the use of integrated circuits. During the late 1980s, however, the company expanded its technological base to include such things as liquid crystal display, optics, and electro-photography technology.

In 1969 Casio was among the first Japanese manufacturers to fully automate an assembly plant, and this sort of innovation has allowed the firm to remain cost-competitive with other larger electronic manufacturers. Much of Casio’s success has been based not only on its technological and assembly innovations but also on its aggressive marketing and sales strategies. As a result of its assertive marketing, the company sells its diverse products in over 140 countries. By 1990 Casio planned to diversify its markets further by expanding its manufacturing facilities and subsidiary operations in Asia, North America, and Europe.

Casio Computer Company was founded in Tokyo in 1946 by the Kashio family. Four Kashio brothers—Toshio, Kazuo, Tadao, and Yukio—and their father founded a company that was to be managed under a “spirit of creation”; the company philosophy remains “creativity and contribution.” As of 1989, the Kashio brothers still owned about 10% of all outstanding Casio stock. The Kashio family retains effective financial control of the company. Other major holders of Casio stock are Japanese financial companies, none of which owns more than 4.29%. The four Kashio brothers remain active in the management and operation of the company. Toshio Kashio serves as chairman, Kazuo Kashio is president, Tadao Kashio is a senior advisor, and Yukio Kashio is the senior managing director.

The name Casio is an anglicized version of Kashio, demonstrating that from the beginning the company was acutely aware of the economic significance of international marketing. The Kashios felt that in the post-World War II environment a westernized name would help the company make its consumer and business products more marketable, both domestically and internationally.

Casio was incorporated in 1957, following Toshio Kashio’s invention of the first purely electric—as opposed to electromechanical—small calculator. The company capitalized on this invention and became the only Japanese manufacturer to specialize in electric calculators. Over the years Casio has used its calculator sales to foster its continuing research-and-development programs and to finance new product lines.

After the introduction of semiconductors in the mid-1960s, electromechanical technology was replaced with electronic technology, and in 1965 Casio introduced the world’s first desktop electronic calculator with a memory. Casio has consistently sought to expand its product line while relying upon calculators as its primary base of operations.

Prior to 1965 electromechanical calculators were large and expensive. Electromechanical calculators were literally desktop size, ranged in price from $400 to $1,000, and could complete only four functions—addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. These earlier devices, limited in function and speed, were also prone to mechanical failure. The development of semiconductor and integrated-circuit technologies during the 1960s began to reduce the size and cost of electronic calculators dramatically and simultaneously enhanced their reliability. Electronic calculators were also easier to read, despite their smaller size, due to technical breakthroughs in light-emitting diodes (LED) and liquid crystal displays (LCD), and these new technologies required significantly less power to operate. Casio helped to develop LED and LCD technologies, and by the 1980s these technologies played an increasingly important role in the development of Casio’s digital-timepiece and LCD-television markets.

In 1964 the first transistorized, programmable, desktop calculators were introduced, and Japanese manufacturers, including Casio, began to assemble electronic calculators. The entire output from all Japanese electronic manufacturers in 1965 was only about 5,000 units. In 1969 Casio’s Kofu factory became the first Japanese plant to mass produce electronic calculators. Very few of these early Japanese electronic calculators were destined for the U.S. market. In 1965 the United States imported just 69 electronic calculators from Japan, and in 1966 Japanese calculators accounted for less than 1% of the U.S. market. Casio did not begin to market its own products in the United States until 1970.

In the 1970s Japanese electronic products, particularly consumer electronics, began to capture a larger share of the ever-expanding U.S. market. By the mid-1970s Japanese electronic manufacturers came to dominate the U.S. electronic-calculator market.

By the 1980s Japan had become the world’s leading electronics exporter while the United States was the largest consumer of electronic products. While U.S. firms have concentrated on military, industrial, and commercial products, Japanese firms have emphasized consumer products.

Casio is organized into four operating divisions: electronic calculators, electronic timepieces, electronic musical instruments, and electronic office equipment and other sectors. In the Japanese market Casio has 35% of the calculator market, 25% of the timepiece market, and 38% of the office-equipment market. By 1989, desktop electronic calculators accounted for roughly 42% of the company’s annual sales. Casio also held the largest market share of the world calculator market. By 1989 exports, primarily to Europe and the United States, accounted for about 62% of Casio’s annual sales.

The calculator division grew steadily, manufacturing standard electronic calculators, high-performance scientific calculators, pocket computers, and digital diary systems. Electronic notepads and digital diaries greatly expanded Casio’s markets, particularly its domestic sales. The electronic-timepiece division also prospered, making a variety of digital and analog watches, many with built-in memory and storage features.

After years of market expansion during the 1970s and 1980s, however, Casio found that market demand in timepieces became stagnant. As a result of market saturation, Casio introduced a number of new timepieces to maintain market demand during the late 1980s, including such products as watches that measure altitude, depth, and barometric pressure; phone-dialing watches; and watches that can record caloric consumption or serve as a pedometer.

The electronic-musical-instrument division manufactures such products as electronic keyboards and digital synthesizers, guitar synthesizers, digital horns, and other sound generators. Casio introduced electronic keyboards into the U.S. market in 1980, and has since come to dominate that market. Like its electronic-timepiece division, musical products suffer from potential market saturation. After an initial surge in sales, the company began to market enhanced or new lines of products to maintain market demand. During the late 1980s Casio began working to expand its musical markets by appealing to professional musicians and by developing sound products for use in live performances.

The electronic-office-equipment division manufacturers such products as LCD televisions, TV/VCR combination units, office computers, electronic cash registers, point-of-sale scanning systems, and other audiovisual products. Casio hopes to build on its LCD technology to further expand its product lines and ensure future growth and development.

In 1988 Casio introduced a new automated data-processing product line. An integrated business system designed to be used without costly programming, Casio refers to the product as an Active Data Processing System (ADPS). It includes a processing unit which Casio hoped would create a universal business data format and a data-management system. Casio planned full-scale marketing of this new computer in early 1991 and strengthened its sales network. Casio hoped to use ADPS to strengthen and expand its role in business markets.

Since research and development plays a crucial role in the long-term viability of electronic manufacturers, Casio has consistently devoted about 4% of its annual sales revenues to research and development. Among the more promising technologies being pursued by Casio is COF (chip on film) technology. COF technology is a method of mounting information on a computer chip that allows increased functional capabilities in lighter and thinner settings. The company has already adapted COF technology for use in electronic calculators, digital diaries, and printers. Moreover, Casio intends to incorporate this technology in smaller and lighter watches, LCD televisions, computers, and memory cards.

Casio has attempted to expand its markets not only through technical enhancements and new product lines, but it also has moved aggressively to increase the scope of its operations by expanding internationally. Due to market saturation in the United States and in traditional electronic products, Casio appears to be most interested in European and Asian expansion as well as the development of new applications and enhancements of its digital, sensor, LCD, and COF technologies.

Principal Subsidiaries

Aichi Casio Company; Yamagata Casio Company; Roudri Casio Company; Casio Electronics Manufacturing Company; Casio Information Services Company; Casio Micronics Company; Casio System Development Company; Keiji Casio Company; Kofu Casio Company; Kyowa Seiki Company; Osaka Casio Company; The Casio Lease Company; Yamagata Casio Company; Casio Seimitsu Industrial Company; Casio Electronic Devices Company, Ltd.; Casio Computer Company GmbH (Germany); Casio Computer Ltd. (Hong Kong); Casio Electronics Company, Ltd. (U.K.); Casio Electronex S.A. de C.V. (Mexico); Casio Europe B.V. (Netherlands); Casio, Inc. (U.S.A.); Casio Korea Company, Ltd.; Casio Taiwan Ltd.; Casio Manufacturing Corporation (U.S.A.); Casio Electronics Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

—Timothy E. Sullivan