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Japan's electrical companies: "mono zukuri"

Japan's top electrical companies combined are of similar economic size as the Netherlands and play an extremely important role in the world. The report analyzes Japan's electric companies including their financials and trends.
Companion to the author's regular CNBC TV interviews
Version 12 of January 18, 2011
approx. 140 pages, 78 Figures, 16 Photos, 20 tables, pdf-format, 1.9 Mbyte
[BUY Single copy license: US$ 2375]
[BUY corporate license: US$ 4750]
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News & events:

Korean Communications Conference:
"Ubiquitous networks for disasters"
Speaker: Gerhard Fasol, COEX Seoul,
May 12, 2011, 16:00-18:00
[download presentation, pdf-file]
[view in slideshare]

American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ), Tokyo:
"The beauty of Japan's Galapagos Effect - and how to go beyond"
Speaker: Gerhard Fasol, Tokyo Westin Hotel, July 12, 2010, 12:00-14:00

Embassy of Sweden (Tokyo):
"The beauty of Japan's Galapagos effect - and how to go beyond"
Speaker: Gerhard Fasol, in Tokyo, May 19, 2010, 18:30

NIST, Washington DC:
"Will cash become obsolete? Next-next generation electronic and mobile payments in Japan"
Speaker: Gerhard Fasol, in Washington (DC), April 21, 2010,

NIST, Washington DC:
"Understanding Ludwig Boltzmann"
Speaker: Gerhard Fasol, in Washington (DC), April 21, 2010,

MIT Enterprise Forum:
"Next generation Electronic Payments Solutions"
Speaker: Gerhard Fasol, in Boston (MA), April 19, 2010,
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01. Win big - or lose big. Business in Japan. Why can it be so difficult?

Japan was never a western colony

... and that is not a coincidence, but largely due to Japanese people's strong will and traditional abilities. (Thailand is another Asian country which was never a western colony...)

Some - but by far not all - western companies find it difficult to succeed in Japan. Reasons include:

- Japanese customers can be very demanding, and often have quit different tastes and needs than Western customers. Therefore in many cases western companies must redesign or redevelop products in order to succeed with Japanese customers. Examples where this is the case range from baby napkins, to tooth brushes, cars and mobile phones.
- Because of Japan's size, substantial investments are necessary, and therefore the inherent risks are also large: you either win big, or lose big.
- Japan has many very strong local companies. As an example, eBay lost in Japan against local competition and withdrew from Japan. Japanese companies also will not usually welcome a new competitor, but develop strategies to compete hard against new entrants. You must be prepared for such competition with very thorough market research and strategy development. If you do not thoroughly understand your competition in Japan, you have little chance to win. In order to win in Japan you must understand and must be prepared and able and willing to compete with local competition.
- Management methods and the actual managers at headquarters in US and EU have certainly won many achievements in the US and Europe and elsewhere. In many cases, however, Western managers and Western management teams are ill prepared to succeed in Japan. In many cases, drastic changes in thinking and management methods and personell changes at headquarters would be necessary to succeed in Japan. However, there are not many Western companies, which act on this knowledge.

- One critical difficulty, which often is the primary reason for failure in Japan, is simply that not enough - or not the right - market research is done: follow this link for information about market research in Japan.

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