Distances are shrinking in intra-Asia-trade

It seems that the stressful time of organizing shipments into China is over. According to TradingMarkets.com Nippon Express has expanded their services into major Southeast Asian countries by taking care of every stage of the shipment from customs to transport to final destinations. Nippon Express will start early next month shipping freight direct from Japan to southern China and Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong. As a next step in fall service expansion is planned to inland Chinese cities and other Southeast Asian nations, depending on the actual customer needs.
Nippon Express’ approach will be much simpler, because normally customs and shipping abroad are arranged separately through agents. A further bonus for Japanese end users: Nippon Express’s new service will be charged in JPY, sparing customers the inconvenience of considering foreign exchange risk in estimating costs.
For example Thailand-bound cargos will be forwarded from warehouses in major Japanese cities by sea. After clearing customs, they will be shipped in trucks arranged by Nippon Express to six main destinations in Thailand.
I see the approach of Nippon Express as a step in the right direction, allowing more intra-Asia trading.

Brought to you by Sibylle Ito (シビル伊藤)

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Increased export in Japanese Yen instead of USD!

Having worked in international business for a while, the recent Bloomberg’s news surprised me, because for the first half of this year 41 percent of Japan’s exports were sold in JPY. According to a recent Finance Ministry report it is the biggest proportion since 2000. As a consequence then a two-year low of only 48.6 percent of Japanese shipments going out from Japan were made in dollars.
For sure Japanese business depends strongly on exports heading to Asian countries, which are payed according to the report in JPY in 48.1 percent of the cases, a much higher rate compared to the US and Europe. For me the reasons behind: Looking at the global economy presently growth is mainly found in Asia, resp. China, plus I believe an increased awareness of Asian interdependence is on the rise. For example the risks on selling in a foreign currency, according to Bloomberg news Komatsu Ltd. (large construction equipment maker) estimate their loses of about 2.8 billion yen of annual operating profit for every 1 yen gain against the dollar. China accounts for 19 percent of their total sales.
Hopefully Asia uses this opportunity to find now a way to work together for the common good.

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Being a mystery shopper

Today instead of an interview, I would like to introduce you to the task of a mystery shopper. In Japan the use of mystery shoppers is on the rise for karaoke parlors, stores or restaurants. But what is actually a mystery shopper? According to Wikipedia mistery shopping is a tool used by market research companies to measure quality of retail service or gather specific information about products and services. Mystery shoppers are posing as normal customers while purchasing a product, asking questions, registering complaints or behaving in a certain way and then provide detailed reports or feedback about their experience.
Today was my first and most likely last experience as a mystery shopper. For sure I do recommend the experience to observe critically a shop layout and customer service, but the time and efforts included do not balance the roughly JPY 500 profit I can make. So what was my task today (I hope you understand and forgive me that I cannot talk about the actual details): I had been asked online to check out a certain electronics store and check out the available notebooks and desktops. Which brand has the best position in the store? Which manufacturer had the largest number of PC showcased in the room? Then as a next step interact with the available sales person. How long does it take until I am approached for help? What kind of advice is given for a PC purchase? What brand is recommended and why? At the end I had to take the business card and some catalogues as a reference for the actual visit. No purchase was done.
From a marketing perspective, I believe the manufacturer can learn a lot globally about their success or failure of their actual local strategy. As I work in sales being now as a customer on the receiving end of the support, the lessons learned again were very valuable for me.

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Foreign coworker a plus?

Early July Roger Pulvers from Japan Times was analyzing the results from a previous survey that ran in June in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The topic was Japanese people’s attitudes to non-Japanese colleagues at their places of work. The article written by Roger Pulvers included the results of a survey that explored those attitudes.
Personally I was surprised to read that nearly 90 percent of the Japanese consider the presence of non-Japanese coworkers to be somewhat a plus for them in their own work. Those positive elements cited:

- increased energy level in the company
- openness to change
- clarification of professional matters that Japanese workers didn’t understand
- increase of foreign-language skills
- facilitation of dealings with companies overseas.

While the reason mentioned seem logical and understandable to me, I am impressed about the high positive impression of having a more multinational working environment.
On the other hand, I do not agree with the comments then with Roger Pulver related to the reasons given by those Japanese, who viewed the presence of non-Japanese coworkers as a liability. According to the survey fifty percent of the surveyed saw their reason in the inability to have Japanese style ishindenshin communication (以心伝心). “Ishindenshin” is described by Wikipedia as a term for the nonverbal, mutual understanding that takes place between two people and is supposedly unique to the Japanese. Further then nearly 40 percent cited an unsatisfactory level of Japanese language skills as their reason for having negative feelings. Twenty percent found non-Japanese people too self-assertive, while others mentioned that they seem to resist learning about Japanese customs. Some Japanese just felt uncomfortable and nervous in their presence.
Personally I do understand all the reasons above, but I am positively surprised how few employees expressed their concerns. Could it be simply based on the shyness or kindness of the Japanese people responding to the survey? Further for me a given are the language skills: “When in Rome do as the Romans”. I don’t know a good reason for not trying to learn Japanese, as soon as someone is considering Japan as their place of work. Not only in business, but as well in daily life, coming from a different cultural background taking time to learn to listen to the unexpressed or the solely non-verbally expressed communication is a must. For me it comes all down to one point: respect. Respect for another culture or working environment or simply respect for people.

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The 15th International Conference for Women in Business

Attending yesterday the The 15th International Conference for Women in Business at the Hotel Grand Pacific in Odaiba was worth every penny spent. This conference has two goals: First of all giving all the participants a direct opportunity to learn from other professional or political leaders, plus further provide thought-provoking sessions as they invite interesting key persons in regard to Japan. Secondly throughout the day there is enough time included to network with like-minded professional women in Japan. Can you imagine yesterday about roughly 850 people attended? For me personally the attendance was a true success. For sure the following is not a complete overview of all the events, but I would like to share with you the most impressive comments heard or insights gained.

Fumiko Hayashi (Mayor of Yokohama):
- In order to have her own successful professional career, having chosen the right husband was very important.
- Definitely surprised to see how many times she had changed her job, but still could make a difference in many leadership positions.

Yumiko Kamada: General Manager, Life-Style Business Development Headquarters, Regional Revitalization Division, East Japan Railway Company
- Always remind yourself that you are not working alone. Only as a team a difference can be made.
- Two biggest challenges with the “ekinaka/ecute” launch: How best to explain a totally new concept, then how to overcome internal hurdles.
- With the ecute concept sales have shifted within the station from early morning to evening, especially late hours, while having a strong increase of male customer base.
- Station is the sales spot for personal gifts!

Hiroshi Tasaka: Professor, Graduate School of Tama University

- Simply an amazing slide show that shows that we should move away from the barbarian capitalism and go back to valuing invisible capitalism.

Kazumasa Yoshida:, Rep. Director and President of Intel K.K.
- Imagine a world when more than just 25% of the total population has access to internet. How much will then the Internet change?

Reiko Akiike: Partner & Managing Director, The Boston Consulting Group
- Most countryside based bus companies have to face every year 4% less of passengers, furthermore writing red figures is rather common. The main customers are school children and old people heading to the doctor or a hospital. Still these local companies understand the need for their services and continue to stay in business based on their own sacrifices: cut their own salary and similar actions.
- Strong need to start open discussions with passengers about the actual financial threatening situation of the bus company. Effect: More support, honest feedback where service can be cut back.

Kenji Isezaki: Professor, Peace and Conflict Studies, Graduate School of Area and Culture Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
- Main export goods of Sierra Leone: diamonds. Result: Highest penetration of BMW.

Let me point out at the end that I am not related to the committee of the The 15th International Conference for Women in Business, nor do I receive any founds. The above is just my personal opinion combined with for me the most interesting points of the day.

Brought to you by Sibylle Ito (シビル伊藤)

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Eisai is testing the waters in India

Japanese drugmakers are facing two major challenges: high production costs in Japan and potential major shift to generic drugs based on the upcoming expiration of the patents of several major drug busters. In order to decrease the expected decrease in sales turnover in the future, plus facing a rather empty pipeline, quick solutions in a known conservative business are needed.
One Japanese company stands out. According to Reuters Eisai plans to start manufacturing their Aricept Alzheimer’s drug in India for exports to Japan, the United States and Europe as early as 2011. The dead line becomes critical, because patents for this drug will expire in the United States this November and then in Japan and Europe by 2012. Aricept accounts for about 40 percent of Eisai’s total sales. Next then the production of an ulcer treatment drug is planned. This is the first time for a major Japanese drug maker planning to produce a key product in India (Indian state of Andhra Pradesh).
Now that most of electronic goods production have moved away from Japan, I expect the pharmaceutical industry to do the same. I believe most likely India will take a bigger share than China.

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Promoting sports in order to increase birth rate?

Did you know that you can resolve pressuring national issues with sports? No, I am not talking about the general tendency of increasing body weight and its negative health effects, but simply about the governmental desire to find a way to increase the local birthrate. According to Yomiuri Shimbun the Japanese Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has plans to promote sports among young people in order to help them finding their future spouses through sports related activities. It seems that the plan is part of a strategy to build a more sports-oriented country.
Recently activities related to finding a partner has become popular among young people. As a consequence the ministry hopes with their plan to combine the effects of a sports oriented society and address the declining birthrate at the same time. According to a survey presented by the Yomiuri Shimbun 32 percent of people in their 20s and 40.2 percent of those in their 30s do sports at least once a week. In comparison then the figure rises to 48.4 percent for the 40s demographic and to 61.6 percent for those in their 50s. Although it might seem obvious that the younger generation spends less time with sports, I am wondering whether it could be simply that the younger generation is busy creating their career and cannot yet take time off for sports. Now to address the less active generation the ministry plans to offer opportunities for the 20 and 30 years old to meet a partner through sports at community centers across the nation. I can only hope this will actual work.

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