| Goatseye said: Do I have to make a thread on this Nipponophiles? Have a good read. |
Many American executives who have penetrated the Japanese market say it's not as foreboding as some critics claim.
"My personal opinion is that most American complaints are founded in ignorance," said Steven Peters, senior manager in the civil engineering department at Brown & Root Inc., a Houston builder that became one of the first American companies to land a multibillion-dollar development contract in Japan.
"Most of the people doing the complaining haven't done enough analysis about the Japanese system,
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19920110&slug=1469573
Successful foreign companies in Japan, and the story of Coca-Cola, vending machines and more
Japan is a unique place, and it's not always easy for foreign companies to succeed here. There are many barriers to making it in Japan, from the confusing multi-leveled tonya distribution system to the often-quirky tastes of Japanese consumers. Still, many famous gaishi-kei" (foreign capital") firms have built successful businesses here, with some companies like Nestle, Proctor & Gamble and Northwest Airlines having been in the marketplace for so long people often don't realize they're foreign (Northwest has been flying commercially to Japan since 1947). The Japanese have a lot of respect for the icons of America and Europe, and happily embrace brands such as BMW, Michelin, Jack Daniels and Harley-Davidson, all of which have found a great deal of success here, and when a famous brand finally claims "mind share" in the Japanese marketplace, it usually enjoys long-term success. On the other hand, Japan is a very competitive place to do business, with many companies actively pursuing every market, and Japanese consumers are especially demanding of high quality. But the benefits of succeeding in Japan can be enormous: some companies, such as Louis Vuitton and AFLAC, have encountered so much success when they expanded into Japan that it basically springboarded the rest of their company to new heights worldwide.
One of the most incredible success stories of any gaishi firm is that of Coca-Cola. Along with Hershey's chocolate and Levi's, Coke was an enigma to Japanese of the occupation era, a mysterious treat enjoyed by the victorious American soldiers. Over the course of a decade, Coca-Cola overcame the Byzantine, almost Soviet-style regulatory hurdles it had to to face in order to flourish in Japan, and now Coke has something like 90% of the cola market to itself (spikes from Pepsi Star Wars bottlecaps notwithstanding). The rise of Coca-Cola in postwar Japan went hand-in-hand with the popularity of vending machines (there's one for every 23 people here), and Coca-Cola solidified its position in part by taking the lead in developing the most innovative vending machines of any company (including one I saw the other day that let you watch current Coke TV commercials on a built-in LCD screen). Now Coke is somewhat analagous to Toyota in the U.S., a large, smart outside competitor to Japan's Big Four beverage companies (Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Suntory).
Foreign companies provide an interesting alternative to working at more traditional Japanese establishments. Foreign companies in Japan have an image of being more socially progressive than Japanese firms, and women interested in seeking serious careers might consider working for American or European firms operating in Japan. The idea of semi-guaranteed "lifetime employement" came to an end in Japan the 1990s, but it's still common for most full-time employees to expect to stay at the same company their entire lives. Japanese who decide to work for a foreign company generally expect more performance-based pay than they might find at traditional Japanese corporations, along with opportunities for advancement beyond those based on age and seniority, which is still quite rare in more traditional Japanese companies.
http://www.peterpayne.net/2005/11/successful-foreign-companies-in-japan.html
How the iPhone conquered Japan
FORTUNE -- The Japanese were using their cellphones to watch TV, navigate with GPS, download music, make movies, pay bills, and check their emails years before American consumers were doing the same. Japan also had touchscreen phones eight years earlier than iPhone -- the Pioneer J-PE01. And yet it is no surprise that Apple's iPhone was the best-selling phone in Japan last year. After over a decade of trouncing any foreign handset looks and talent-wise, Japan's legendary keitai are being given the heave-ho in favor of foreign models.
Take NEC, once one of the world's biggest IT and telecoms firms. Its fortunes have been typical of the other seven Japanese handset makers. After two years of losses and a stock value that has fallen over 90% in a decade, it is selling off its mobile phone sales unit and cutting 10,000 mobile related jobs. Analysts say the firm can't compete anymore with Apple (AAPL) and Korea's Samsung.
What happened? Japanese mobile phone guru Nobuyuki Hayashi believes there are three main reasons Japan has fallen out of love with its own handset makers. First, he says, you have to understand what a colossal and unexpected hit the iPhone was with Japanese women. "The iPhone has been very strong among women from very early on. The original round plastic iPhone 3G series soon become a fashion item for Japanese women who also enjoyed the huge variation of cases and ease of decoration. Then there is the brand loyalty of Japanese women."
Japan had phones just as good-looking as the iPhone. The once popular Infobar candy bar phone even won international design prizes. But the craze for the iPhone, despite lacking all the bells and whistles Japanese telecoms executives thought were indispensable (e-wallet, TV, etc) proved overwhelming.
According to IDC Japan, the iPhone was the No. 1 best-seller for 2012 in both handsets and smartphones. Quite a feat for a phone that the country's ketai-watchers and industry leaders said would fail at the start. Apple now has 15% market share putting it ahead of Japan's Sharp and Fujitsu, which both enjoy 14% of the market according to IDC. Japan's top mobile provider, NTT Docomo (DCM), which does not carry the iPhone, hit back by promoting mostly foreign-made smartphones like Samsung's Galaxy.
But this won't help the attempts to defeat Apple according to Mr. Hayashi who says that the way the phone industry operates here leads to an inferior product. "The phone operators produce almost each and every mobile phones sold in Japan. Even the phones by Nokia (NOK) or Samsung are modified to match the special requirement by the operators to include features that operators believe are important such as e-wallet, One-Seg TV receiver and wide range of special services by the operators," he says.
"iPhone still is about the only phone in Japan which is sold unmodified (i.e. just the way the manufacturer has it produced)."
He adds that such tinkering makes the phones -- based on Android (GOOG) -- too feature-heavy, too complicated, and unstable battery drainers.
Thirdly, he suggests that the software that Japanese add to foreign phones and that is found in domestic-bred devices is no match for Apple's or an unadulterated Samsung. "As Steve Jobs once said, Japanese manufacturers' biggest mistake is they didn't realize how important software technology has become. Most of the executives at Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers were hardware engineers, and they don't get the importance of software or how software business works." he says.
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/05/06/how-the-iphone-conquered-japan/
Mcdonald's Dominates In Japan -- Marketing Creates Super-Sized Success Of Fast-Food Chain
TOKYO - Suketaka Kawazu, a 25-year-old salesman for an air cargo company, sips his hot chocolate as testament to the brilliance of McDonald's marketing.
After lunch at a Tokyo McDonald's, he said he thinks the hamburgers actually taste better at MOS Burger, a Japanese competitor. And he can't identify any particular warm feelings about McDonald's or its image.
"I guess it's American, if you think about it," he said, shrugging. "But I don't think about it."
Still, he faithfully eats at McDonald's at least once a week.
It is on the basis of this loyalty that McDonald's has embarked on a massive expansion effort in Japan that's expected to see the chain grow from 2,000 restaurants to 10,000 in the next 10 years, likely squashing competition and becoming a model for McDonald's growth worldwide.
You could call customers like Kawazu somnambulant and perhaps ready to be wooed away. But the truth is that after 25 years in Japan, the Illinois-based fast-food giant has achieved marketing dominance. McDonald's is the restaurant you go to for a fast hamburger meal.
"If you're thinking of doing something in the fast-food industry, it's not a good idea to go with hamburgers," said Kuniyoshi Akima, sales manager of Dairy Queen.
Dairy Queen officials have replaced hamburgers with pita sandwiches on the menu at its 100 Japanese stores because of competition from McDonald's.
In the United States, McDonald's trend lines have been as limp as a day-old French fry, with sales at restaurants that have been open at least a year declining. That reportedly has spurred the company to propose a big price-cutting campaign. .
McDonald's U.S. troubles, however, make its success in Japan stand out more.
The world's biggest restaurant operator, McDonald's claims 60 percent of Japan's $5 billion hamburger market. It accounts for 10 percent of beef consumption in Japan and 1 percent of restaurant sales. McDonald's chief in Japan, Den Fujita, is aiming for 5 percent.
With 2,000 stores, McDonald's is within easy reach of most consumers downtown, at the train station or in the suburbs. To get to 10,000, it is pushing into smaller spaces and more creative locations, such as schools and factories, just as it has done in the United States, where McDonald's are tucked into Wal-Marts and Amoco gas stations.
McDonald's is found in landmarks such as Tokyo Tower, an Eiffel Tower-like observatory.
A big part of the company's expansion will come from agreements Fujita made with two Japanese oil marketers to combine McDonald's with gas stations. The move is significant because self-service gasoline comes to Japan next year.
The credit for McDonald's success in Japan goes to Fujita, 70. He brought McDonald's to the country in 1971 and runs it as a joint venture with the U.S. parent, which splits the investment and the profits.
Fujita, who has written six business books runs McDonald's by his will. He meets with McDonald's officials four times a year, but they give only advice.
Nearly all his stores are company-owned because Fujita does not want to lose control of marketing decisions. The only franchising is through an incentive system for loyal employees.
In Fujita's latest book, "Winning is Everything," he advocates American-style, top-down management over the Japanese bottom-up, consensus-building system.
"All the knowledge and experience top executives accrue is for decision-making," he wrote.
For example, two years ago the company began aggressively cutting prices after it ran a hamburger promotion and saw sales jump by 20 percent.
Taking advantage of the company's buying power and the strength of the yen, Fujita cut the price of a hamburger from 210 yen ($1.75) to 130 ($1.08). A special value meal of a hamburger, medium fries and medium drink is $3.33. At MOS Burger, where the drink and fries are smaller, a comparable meal is $4.08.
These days, the yen's value is dropping, and that is causing a headache for Fujita. He buys his potatoes and beef in dollars from the United States, so if the dollar, trading above 120 yen, hits the 130 mark, Fujita may have to raise prices.
But judging by McDonald's success, the toughest decision has been made in shaping the chain's image.
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19970226&slug=2525905
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