Sharp Corp. will make English its official language in a year, Wu Po-hsuan, chief executive of the Japanese electronics company, said Thursday.
The company, headquartered in the city of Sakai, in Osaka Prefecture, plans to expand its overseas business by strengthening human resource development, said Wu, who replaced Tai Jeng-wu in April. Both Tai and Wu were sent to Sharp by Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.
Briefing stockholders at a meeting in Sakai, Wu vowed to "transform the Sharp brand from one that is Japan-centric to a global brand."
Currently, Wu is in charge of Sharp's global branding and overseas business in the Americas, Asia and Oceania.
Sharp became a subsidiary of Hon Hai in 2016, in the first acquisition of a major Japanese firm by a foreign company. Hon Hai assembles Apple Inc.'s iPhones and is also known by its trade name, Foxconn.
Tai is credited with leading the Japanese company back from the verge of collapse.
E-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. announced in 2012 that it would have its employees speak in English in a bid to boost its global competitiveness.
Hiroshi Mikitani, its chairman and CEO, has said communication in English is requisite to compete with international e-commerce giants.
He has also said that English inadequacy among Japanese is one obstacle to attracting human resources from overseas.
Fast Retailing Co., operator of the Uniqlo casual clothing chain, has also switched to making English its official language.