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Dubai: Oki Printing's relocation of its regional headquarters to Dubai from London should be official by April 1, according to Terry Laidlaw, the company's regional vice-president.
Laidlaw said the move makes sense for the company logistically and is not a restructuring of Oki Printing's current Dubai offices. Laidlaw said his office will oversee the Eastern Region, which includes the Middle East, India, Turkey and parts of the former Soviet Union, while John Ross will continue in his role as the general manager for the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) and India region. Oki Printing, which sells faxes, printers and multifunction devices, is a subsidiary of Oki Data Corporation of Japan.
Dollar impact
The current weak dollar makes Dubai economically attractive to businesses, Laidlaw said, but added that a repegging of the dirham could cause trouble for some companies.
"If the dollar weakens, it gets cheaper to run the operations from a euro perspective, but then you have to face the issue of inflation," he said. "If companies operating in US dollars find it more expensive, they would have to reassess what they're doing here."
Laidlaw said several of his goals for the regional office were to improve the operations of the company's Jebel Ali warehouse, improve its inventory holdings, and increase cust-omer satisfaction in the Middle East by shortening the supply chain.
The Dubai location also gives the company better access to India and the subcontinent, Laidlaw said. The company has distribution arrangements in Pakistan, Bangalore and Sri Lanka but does not have significant distribution in India.
Ross is currently working on improving several of the companies verticals in the region, including getting local distributors to focus on small and medium business, saying that most retailers don't cater to that market segment. Other targeted segments include hotels, graphic arts and logistics companies.
Ross said Oki saw 58 per cent growth in 2006 from the previous year, and while he doesn't expect similar growth this year, he still expects to see growth in double digits.
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