Bosch Records Double Digit Growth in Cambodia

• Proeksa Meas
• 31 December 2015
• Construction Focus
• 1022 Views

Since its official inception in Cambodia in 2010, Robert Bosch, a world leader in technologies and services, has recorded doubled digit growth in the local market.

Robert Bosch products, in particular power tools, have been on the market in Cambodia since 2004. The company opened a representative office in 2010 to legally import the products and supply the market.

Three years later, it launched an official subsidiary, Robert Bosch (Cambodia) Ltd, following double digit growth in the sales volume of its products.

Despite no official data being recorded, the company announced it achieved double-digit growth for the periods 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 respectively, while 2012-2013 saw growth of 25%. The company had predicted similar growth this year, though in Q1 2014, it had already seen 30% growth against the same period for last year.

“In Vietnam we had a representative office set up for 10 years before upgrading into a company, but here it only took us three years to change into a company,” said André de Jong, Managing Director of Bosch Cambodia and head of the representative offices in Laos and Myanmar.

In 2013, Bosch saw an overall increase of around 10% in manpower in Southeast Asia to more than 4,500 employees, underlining a healthy expansion across all countries. Currently, Bosch has six manufacturing plants across the region in Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, delivering a multitude of product categories such as power tools; automotive components and multimedia; and industrial technology.

De Jong has long admired Cambodia’s potential compared to Myanmar and Laos, and says he hopes the parent company will decide to set up a factory here sometime in the future. “But for now, we focus on distribution first, not production yet,” he explained.

Bosch currently has four business divisions in Cambodia which comprise of automotive aftermarket, power tools, security systems and thermo-technology. The majority of sales growth has been contributed by the power tools and security systems divisions.

To expand its penetration in the Cambodia market, Bosch has recently expanded its customer service centers in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Battambang. It has also established a local warehouse for ease of supply across the country.

Bosch aim to double sales in Asia Pacific by 2020, and believes Cambodia has played an important role in Bosch’s Asia Pacific success story. Over the past ten years, the company’s sales in Asia Pacific have more than doubled to some $14.81 billion in 2013. “By 2020, we aim to double our sales in the region once again,” said Peter Tyroller, member of the board of management of the Bosch Group responsible for Asia Pacific since July 2013. “Our investment in the coming years in Asia Pacific will remain at a high level and we will further intensify our localization efforts,” he added.

To achieve its target in the region, Bosch has invested $4.4 billion in the region between 2010 and 2014.

“Southeast Asia continues to be one of the focus markets for Bosch,” said Martin Hayes, president of Bosch in Southeast Asia. “We anticipate an increased demand for our products and services with the rising consumption power across the ten countries in Southeast Asia we are active in. We will ramp up our production and service capabilities in the coming years in line with this development.”

In 2013, the Bosch Group invested some €4.5 billion in research and development and applied for some 5,000 patents. This is an average of 20 patents per day. Last year, the Bosch Group, with its roughly 281,000 associates, generated sales of around $61 billion.

First established in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch, today the Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its more than 360 subsidiaries and regional companies in some 50 countries. If its sales and service partners are included, then Bosch is represented in roughly 150 countries.