Interview: José Rivas, Shure

• Features

• 18/09/2019

José Rivas talks to Hurrairah bin Sohail about Shure’s co-creation strategy which forms a cornerstone of the manufacturer’s approach to emerging markets in APAC and across the globe.

Emerging markets by definition offer a potential for growth. These opportunities however come with a range of challenges. In the past few years, Shure has taken steps to enter these emerging markets itself, with direct presence in Bangkok, Singapore and the opening of an additional office in India last year as evidence of its commitment.

José Rivas, vice president of global sales for emerging markets at Shure, explains Shure’s approach: “Today, products and applications are becoming more complex. With more and more opportunities presenting themselves in the market, we realised there is an opportunity for us to come in and be in the region and help generate demand for our applications and for our technology together with our existing channels of distribution. We can help them drive that pull and create that need in the market so that the channels can then fulfill that demand.”

Rivas dubs this as a “co-creation strategy” where Shure and its channel partners work in tandem rather than stepping on each other’s toes in emerging markets.

Having in-region resources is part of Shure’s identity and according to Rivas helps it in the long run. He says: “Shure as a manufacturer and as a brand likes to be close to its end users. We like to hear about the needs of the end user and this includes the unmet needs or the needs that the end user does not even know they have. We like to observe rather than ask questions. In this manner we can get insight that a response to a question might not be able to provide.”

The co-creation strategy dovetails with Shure’s concerted push in the fixed installation and networked systems market. Rivas details: “It is no secret that there is growth for collaboration and communication solutions in the corporate world. We’ve done our homework and I think we have the right products for the right applications. But we have also put in place the right support for our great technology. We have been part of the integrated systems and installation market for a long time. But our products and solutions are evolving and what you are seeing now from Shure is a big step forward.”

Rivas believes that the swirl of trends impacting technology, workplaces and commercial deployments require a shift from manufacturers in how they operate.

He details: “Co-creation of opportunities is becoming very important. If we look back to 10 years to 15 years ago, business was more linear. The manufacturer, in its role, created the products and they went to the distributor and then to the dealer and then to the end user. Today, business is not so linear. You have communication going directly from the manufacturer to the end user. But the demand must still be channeled to a system integrator that has been properly certified by the manufacturer or by the distributor. The overall ecosystem of how we sell products and how we promote products and how we bring products to market has to change in subtle ways to reflect the realities of business today.”