Dutch electronics giant Philips will focus on innovation to facilitate growth in the future, said CEO Frans van Houten at a press conference in Eindhoven on Tuesday. The multi-national intends increasing its presence in emerging markets.

“We are exploring all the openings for potential growth especially in emerging markets. That’s why we’re becoming more active in countries like China, Brazil, Russia and India,” said Mr Van Houten.

The Philips chief said investing in innovation would put the concern ahead of their competitors. “And we have to take precautions the competition doesn’t steal our ideas.”

Faster to market
Last July, Philips announced that it planned to invest 200 million euros in innovation. But Mr Van Houten stressed the importance of bringing new products to market faster than they do at the moment, particularly within the Healthcare, Lighting and Consumer Lifestyle divisions where the company sees growth opportunities.

“We have to work much more efficiently, both internally and externally, and cooperate better with one another as a team. Above all, we have to stamp out all the complex processes within the company,” said Mr Van Houten.

Stamp out bureaucracy
The company had already said in July that its worldwide cost saving programme would clamp down on bureaucracy and overheads in particular. The 500-million-savings plan announced then was to be reached by 2015.

Today, the CEO announced a further cost reduction target of 300 million euros by 2013 on top of the 500 million. Philips’ cost reduction programme comes in response to a 1.3 billion-euro loss in the second quarter of this year, which the concern attributed to a slower than expected recovery from the recession.

(jn)

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