Highlights: December 2004 Issue
Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi: No Longer Easy Money
What does a company do when a significant joint venture no longer prints money the way it used to? That's the situation faced by Caterpillar, Inc. in Japan, which has watched in recent years as its 50/50 Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi joint venture with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has fallen to marginal profitability. Cat and MHI are trying to keep SCM competitive in a very tough market. But moving to serve small contractors, landscapers and farmers is a very different business model than SCM has traditionally followed. SCM's chairman discusses the venture and the specific tactics its partners plan to use to restore its growthA Specialist Offers Advice: "How to Have a Clear Hiring Strategy for Japan"
When your company needs to build its staff in Japan, how should it proceed? Hiring university graduates, young professionals and mid-career veterans is alot more complex than it used to be. The traditional recruiting season is changing, and so are traditional practices in interviewing, compensation, and structuring offers. But there are some things a foreign company, even a small one, can do to attract quality staffers for its Japan operation. Our specialist this month explains what those things are.
Publicis Groupe: Is There a Japan Strategy
France-based Publicis Groupe, one of the world's largest advertising agency conglomerates, may have an identity problem in Japan. Or maybe not, depending on your viewpoint. The problem could be that it has no coherent strategy for building a long-term presence in the world's second-largest advertising market. That's because eight separate and tiny units of the conglomerate operate their offices in Japan, and there seems to be very little, if any, coordination. Some executives of Publicis units in Japan, including executives of Beacon Communications and Publicis Japan, describe their separate objectives, the tie-up with Dentsu, and how they plan to grow despite their parent company's hands-off approach.
Japan Insight: Get the Scoop
CR Bard seeks acquisitions in Japan; Could Japanese society see the emergence of pre-nuptial agreements?; Etc.
From the Editors
The impact of Korean unification on Japan...
Plus much more...
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