Welcome to the Toshiba Storage Blog

For the past eleven weeks, I have had the opportunity to work as an HDD Marketing Intern at Toshiba America Electronic Components (TAEC). I gained valuable insights into the world of hard disk drives from researching market data, participating in the weekly business tracking framework, and assisting in multiple variance analyses pertaining to budget, forecast, and actual business performance.

One of the many highlights of my time with TAEC was working with the other summer intern, Ann Waldo, on a project analyzing the 3.5” Internal HDD market in the Americas to provide insights and recommendations on TAEC’s go-to market plan. This project was our primary focus, and I was honored that we were able to present to employees throughout TAEC as part of the quarterly RFQ meeting, including the CEO, CFO, and HQ in Japan. It was particularly exciting to meet with people across departments, as well as throughout the country, to develop our understanding of business functions and strategies. We learned about the importance of culture in marketing initiatives and the variety of activities involved in marketing HDDs, including building microsites, working with agencies and influencers, and attending trade shows and expositions.

Our project involved in-depth analysis by form factor in the Americas. Using FutureSource and IDC data, Ann and I conducted a variety of analyses to highlight and break out our target markets into various segments. For each form factor, we constructed dashboards with relevant data by country, including TAM, total revenue, unit and revenue share, and playable/unplayable TAM. This experience gave us the opportunity to refine and practice various skills in data analytics, especially in beginning to master Excel functions like creating Pivot Tables, utilizing queries to merge data, and using VLOOKUP to sort and organize data. Ultimately, we integrated our data analysis and insights to propose recommendations and growth strategies in our target markets.

This internship was one of my first steps into the professional world. Working in a hybrid environment (in person Tuesday through Thursday) taught me valuable skills in organization and time management. Meeting and working with people across departments, including Retail and Channel Sales, Data Analytics, and Product Marketing, allowed me to develop a deeper understanding of TAEC and see how everyone’s roles come together. Our time in the office immersed us in an energetic and collaborative culture. On Tuesdays, Ann and I would always go out to lunch with the team, which often included boba runs.

I would like to thank the team at TAEC, especially our supervisor, Tammy Nguyen, for their knowledge, expertise, and guidance. I am incredibly grateful for these eleven weeks and know that this unique experience has prepared me well for future endeavors.