Serving
its industrial and commercial customers as a supply chain partner, the company
offers both a wide spectrum of products and a broad range of services and
solutions, including materials planning, design services, programming and
assembly services, inventory management, and a variety of online supply chain
tools.
Arrow's
diverse worldwide customer base consists of OEMs, CMs, and other commercial
customers. Customers include manufacturers of consumer and industrial equipment
(including machine tools, factory automation, and robotic equipment),
telecommunications products, automotive and transportation, aerospace and
defense, scientific and medical devices, and computer and office
products. Customers also include value-added resellers ("VARs") of
enterprise computing solutions.
The
company maintains over 200 sales facilities and 30 distribution and
value-added centers in 52 countries, serving over 80 countries. Through this
network, Arrow provides one of the broadest product offerings in the electronic
components and enterprise computing solutions distribution industries and a wide
range of value-added services to help customers reduce their time to market,
introduce innovative products through demand creation opportunities, lower their
total cost of ownership, and enhance their overall competitiveness.
The
company has two business segments, the global components business segment and
the global enterprise computing solutions ("ECS") business
segment. The company distributes electronic components to OEMs and
CMs through its global components business segment and provides enterprise
computing solutions to VARs through its global ECS business
segment. For 2010, approximately 70% of the company's sales were from
the global components business segment, and approximately 30% of the company's
sales were from the global ECS business segment. The financial
information about the company's business segments and geographic operations is
found in Note 16 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial
Statements.
The
company's financial objectives are to grow sales faster than the market,
increase the markets served, grow profits faster than sales, and increase return
on invested capital. To achieve its objectives, the company seeks to capture
significant opportunities to grow across products, markets, and geographies. To
supplement its organic growth strategy, the company continually evaluates
strategic acquisitions to broaden its product offerings, increase its market
penetration, and/or expand its geographic reach.
Global
Components
The
company's global components business segment, one of the largest distributors of
electronic components and related services in the world, covers the world's
largest electronics markets – the Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and
Africa), and the Asia Pacific region. The Americas include sales and
marketing organizations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United
States. In the EMEA region, Arrow operates in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,
Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. In the Asia Pacific region, Arrow
operates in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New
Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
3
The
company's global components business segment has recently completed several
strategic acquisitions to increase the company's presence in growing markets,
such as the aerospace and defense market, and to broaden its product and service
offerings and to further expand its geographic reach in the Asia Pacific
region. Over the past three years, the global components business
segment completed the following acquisitions:
·
In
February 2008, it acquired the components distribution business of Hynetic
Electronics and Shreyanics Electronics ("Hynetic") in
India.
In
February 2008, it acquired all the assets and operations of ACI
Electronics LLC ("ACI"), a distributor of electronic components used in
defense and aerospace applications. This acquisition further
bolstered the company's leading position in the North American aerospace
and defense market and expanded the company's leading market share in many
technology segments including discrete semiconductors used in military
applications.
In
July 2008, it acquired the components distribution business of Achieva
Ltd. ("Achieva"), a value-added distributor of semiconductors and
electromechanical devices based in Singapore. Achieva operates
in eight countries within the Asia Pacific region and is focused on
creating value for its partners through technical support and demand
creation activities.
In
December 2008, it acquired Excel Tech, Inc. ("Excel Tech"), the sole
Broadcom distributor in Korea, and Eteq Components Pte Ltd ("Eteq
Components"), a Broadcom-based components distribution business in the
ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nations) region and
China.
In
December 2009, it acquired A.E. Petsche Company, Inc. ("Petsche"), a
leading provider of interconnect products, including specialty wire,
cable, and harness management solutions, to the aerospace and defense
markets. This acquisition expanded the company's product offerings in
specialty wire and cable and provided a variety of cross-selling
opportunities with the company's existing business as well as other
emerging markets.
In
April 2010, it acquired Verical Incorporated ("Verical"), an e-commerce
business geared towards meeting the end-of-life components and parts
shortage needs of customers. This acquisition strengthened the
company's e-commerce capabilities.
In
June 2010, it acquired PCG Parent Corp., doing business as Converge
("Converge"), a provider of reverse logistics services in the Americas,
Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. This acquisition builds on
the company's global capabilities as a supply chain and logistics
leader.