The main dealer in NEC Corp personal computers in Japan, Otsuka Shokai, has surprised the industry by concluding an agreement to sell personal computers from IBM Japan Ltd alongside its standard NEC PC-9800 series, according to the Nikkei Industrial Daily. Otsuka Shokai’s fate has been closely tied to that of NEC’s since the initial success of the 9800 series in the Japanese market, where it still has a share of over 50% although not a 50% share of the new purchases of personal computers. Apple Computer Inc is now the fastest growing vendor in the Japanese market, followed by Dell Computer Corp and Compaq Computer Corp – both the last two albeit starting form a zero base last year. Otsuka Shokai last year announced an agreement to sell Apple Macs, but experience in the market indicates that this commitment has yet to filter down to its 1,000 sales engineers, who would rather stick to what they know – they seem noticeably to lack enthusiasm when confronted with a potential Apple sale. However, Otsuka Shokai’s strategy to transform its business from the largest NEC personal computer dealer to the strongest Japanese systems integrator is reflected in its sales, which have increased to an all-time high of around $1,850m despite a fall in revenue from shipments of NEC personal computers which declined last year to around 1.2m units from a high of 1.35m units in 1990. Otsuka Shokai is not the only NEC dealer to have tied up with a manufacturer outside the NEC camp. Daiwabo Shokai, the third-ranked NEC personal computer dealer, is one of Compaq’s listed dealers, but executives of Daiwabo are reluctant to talk about the relationship and emphasise that they remain one of the main NEC dealers.
