Name : RAMON G. ARTEFICIO
Designation : President and CEO – CANON MARKETING (PHILIPPINES), INC.

1. What would you say is the most challenging part of your career?
(RA): Transforming Canon Marketing Philippines from a purely direct sales company to a diversified dealer -based and direct sales company.

2. What is the best lesson you’ve learn in heading Canon Philippines?
(RA): That it is all about the people. One can only succeed through the people who work for him/her.

3. Being the first Filipino to head Canon Philippines, what legacy would you want to impart to your team?
(RA): That Integrity is the most important thing that a person should have. It is the quality of a person’s character that can develop our future leaders.

4. What kind of company culture do you think will best fit Filipino workers?
(RA): A Paternalistic Culture. Filipinos in general are very family-oriented. This is somehow brought into our places of work.

5. How do lead your team for them to see the entire landscape of your business and their role in it?
(RA): Constant communication thru general assemblies, divisional meetings and communication lunches.

6. What should Filipino companies do to be able to compete for the future?
(RA): Be open to changes – show integrity in everything you do.

7. What qualities should one possess to become part of the Canon Philippines family?
(RA): One is Integrity. I would also note dedication to both work and self. And lastly, (3 self’s) Self awareness, self management & self motivation.

8. How do Canon balance style, functionality, and price in its products to maintain its leadership?
(RA): Canon’s corporate slogan in Asia (outside Japan and Korea) is “Delighting You Always”. It expresses how Canon puts the customer at the centre of everything the company does. For instance, Canon does not focus on R&D for the sake of innovation alone. It aims to create and innovate products to improve people’s lives, no matter where they are.

In the Philippines, we have seen consumers and professionals crave for new innovations that have increased quality and can improve efficiency. Canon understands these needs and continuously aims to provide new products to satisfy the user.

9. Should pixels be the only consideration of consumers in buying a digital cameras?
(RA): The number pixels determines the maximum size in printing your photograph, not necessarily the image quality. All things being equal, the quality of your photo is more importantly determined by your optical technology — this includes the lens mechanism and your imaging processor, in this case, Canon’s proprietary DIGIC processor . It determines color, vibrancy, saturation, and focus.

You also have to take into consideration the camera’s memory storage format, ergonomics, and other features such as optional accessories, connectivity, and manual controls. Resolution will give you more detail for sure, but it should not be the sole consideration.

10. The progress in digital imaging technology has been very fast, can Canon keep up with this progress? How?
(RA): Canon commits around 10% of its total annual revenue in R&D and has been the top 3 companies with the most number of patents for the last decade.

11. Digital cameras in someway has stifled the growth of film, do you see the same happening to digital cameras with the popularity of camera phones?
(RA): Consumer digital cameras pretty much obliterated film cameras. It was a direct and more efficient replacement, which is not the case between digital cameras and mobile phones. Consumers use the products differently and in various situations. For instance, you wouldn’t normally rely on a camera phone to take birthday, wedding, or vacation photos. However, there is certainly some competition in attracting the consumer’s priorities and disposable income at the time of purchase.

12. Can you summarize Canon’s contribution in the advancement of the digital imaging industry?
(RA): Canon has developed and continues to cultivate many technologies that contribute to the improved applications in the imaging industry. A few to mention are: DIGIC III Digital Imaging Processor, Dual Color Gamut Processing Technology and FINE (Full-photolithography inkjet nozzle engineering. You can find all our technologies in http://www.canon.com/technology