5 Top Business Tips for Japan

23/05/2006
Japan as the world second largest economy offers still a lot of business potential for innovative companies. To be successful it is essential to know a little about the Japanese way of doing business.
Even if Japan is one of the most important trade partner to the EU the number of success stories for European companies is still small. In a lot of surveys Schlegel and Partner has worked out some tips of how to create market success in Japan. The top 5 tips are:

1. Believe in your success and convince your Japanese Partner of that.

The Japanese Markets are very dynamic and innovative but saturated. “Me too products” are inappropriate. Only products that are new or complete the product lines of a Japanese company will be successful.

2. Look for a strong Japanese partner, it is the key to success.

The Japanese partner has to have a very good reputation in Japan. It is important that it is known for new innovative products. Further the partner has to be on eye level with your company. Otherwise he will be seen as a dogsbody to the European company.

3. Do business the “Japanese way”

Successful business has to be planned with a long term perspective and be specially designed for the Japanese market. It is necessary to build up confidence with your Japanese business partners. References and experiences with American or European companies may not help but can be counterproductive.

4. Customer satisfaction is the number one objective

The number one objective of a Japanese company is to satisfy its customers demands. Therefore internal interests often have to step back. Even if customer demands are absurd a Japanese company will most likely try to fulfil them.

5. Be patient

The co-operation with a Japanese company has to be long-term oriented and should outlive at least one managing period. The success will come after some time. It is necessary to build up a trustful relationship. Therefore a continuous contact has to be established and joint actions and objectives should be defined.

Besides these tips there is still much more to consider but finally there is one crucial thing we like to tell you:
If you do not offer a real innovation in the view of the Japanese customers you better stay at home.