I would like to emphasize that the following statements represent my personal vision, which has not yet been disclosed to our employees. Looking forward are there any other new regions or markets in which you’d like to find a local agent to work with or even to establish a physical presence in? Looks like Asia and Southeast Asia are the focus point. In countries like India, there have been discussions to have a one-stop shop and create a business together locally. We currently work mainly with local traders, and in fact, 90% of our business is working with local agents. Is this something that you’ve done in the past or that you’re looking to do in the future? Many firms we’ve interviewed have expressed the importance of finding local collaborative partners. We are now luckily at the point where we have learned from previous issues and the next stage is to overcome them. We started our international business completely from scratch, and inevitably there have been many issues with overseas customers. What would you say have been the key lessons or key takeaways that you’ve learned since conducting business overseas with overseas partners? To her credit, she successfully nurtured this division, enabling it to thrive. Recognizing her valuable skill set, I entrusted her with overseeing our entire international business operations. As we garnered another company as a client through our services, I soon realized that the scale of this business was far too substantial for me to manage alone.Īt that time, we were fortunate to have Ms. I personally handled the shipping of packages from Japan to Thailand and even took charge of writing the invoices. ![]() I began pursuing overseas business ventures in my spare time, and eventually, we secured a customer in Thailand. Given my lack of proficiency in English, I initially relied on Google Translate to assist me in composing emails for our forays into international markets. Fortunately, we had a serendipitous encounter with Alibaba, which presented us with an opportunity to conduct business overseas. However, I quickly realized that establishing an office in China was beyond our capabilities, both for myself personally and for the company, due to the anticipated challenges in management. An acquaintance provided me with an opportunity to visit China and witness the situation firsthand. The history of this department dates back approximately 12 years, during a period when Japanese firms were increasingly embracing localized production in China as an industrial trend. Could you tell us more about your motivation and why you chose this time to put more eggs in the international basket? What is the future direction of your international strategy? We know that your international department was founded in 2017 as a way to narrow your focus and put a greater emphasis on your international activities. Yes, we already have one Sri Lankan employee who is 26 years old and she is working in our international department. Is foreign recruitment something you might be considering? Regrettably, we have not implemented any notable strategies to address these issues thus far. The scarcity of next-generation employees and the difficulty in knowledge transfer have become pressing concerns. In reality, the population decline is significantly affecting us, posing considerable challenges. As a small company with less than 30 employees that are very treasured, what would you say has been the biggest impact of Japan’s demographic decline on your company? As we look ahead, I have concerns regarding the extent to which Japanese SMEs can thrive in the international market. A noticeable trend has emerged where major companies are acquiring SMEs, suggesting that mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are playing a significant role in Japan's industrial landscape. Coupled with a declining population, the primary challenge companies now encounter is ensuring business continuity and succession. However, when specifically considering Japanese SMEs, we are currently facing a challenging period as companies require increased capital to sustain their operations. In a broader context, what you mentioned could hold true. ![]() ![]() Do you agree with this premise, and why or why not? Now, with a depreciated JPY, it is our view that there’s never been a more opportune moment for Japanese manufacturers to meet the pressing needs of this macroeconomic environment. Japan is a country known for decades of high reliability, trustworthiness, customer-centric production, and advanced technology. As a result, we are seeing many multinational groups try to diversify their supply chains with a focus on reliability. We have had major supply chain disruptions in the last three years, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as tension from the China-US decoupling situation.
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