Past, Present and Future Harman International 2004 Annual Report
Harman International 2004 Annual Report Past, Present and Future Our cover is a rendering of the new Shanghai, China Oriental Arts Center. Now under construction for the 2008 Olympics, it will incorporate two concert halls, an opera house and an eleven hundred seat theater. The Oriental Arts Center is one of many totally new theatres, athletic stadia and performing art centers being built to serve the most expansive Olympics in history. Harman International has received a number of significant awards and we expect to be very well represented. China is a compelling and sometimes tantalizing story for everyone. Our past, our present and our future are writ large there. Ten years ago Harman found a voracious market for our quality home audio equipment. That was the past. Numbers of very competent Chinese manufactures have developed in the years since, and have produced excellent products with increasingly recognized Chinese brand names. That is not a promising busi- ness situation for us, although our upcoming new media centers may generate revived interest—at least for a time. Our present is represented on the cover of this report. As China surges economically, its need for supportive infrastructure grows exponentially. Our professional systems are without peer, and we expect that part of our business to grow and flourish everywhere, but especially in China. It is clearly our present. The great opportunity before us, not surprisingly, is in automotive. Predictably, China is developing as a major market for automobiles and, consequently, for our Infotainment systems. We are the leader in Europe today and we are confident that we will be the leader in North America.
[Show full text]