Executive Newsletter
It's 2009 and your company can no longer afford to ignore enormous opportunities to grow in the world's second-largest economy. Can it?
Success Stories: Japan Executive Newsletter continues to be the world's only information service exclusively dedicated to helping non-Japanese companies, of any size and in any industry, make more money and compete more effectively in Japan, since 1997. Many of the world's leading corporations, fund managers, and innovative small companies already subscribe -- shouldn't you?
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Every issue, we provide exclusive breaking news and management tips for senior Japan-oriented executives worldwide. All of our content is original and authoritative and based on dozens of conversations we conduct each week with some of the 14,000+ Japan-oriented executives, located all around the world, who we have included in our custom-compiled database. Click on the 'Back Issues' link on the left side of this page to see summaries of the content of each of our past issues going back to our founding in 1997.
We are not a blog. We are not a trade publication. We are not a wire service simply distributing the corporate headlines of the day. We are a value-added business information provider with a 100% focus on Japan, focused on Japan market solutions for your company. We are read by some of the most innovative and forward-thinking corporate executives and investment professionals around the world. In our pages, subscribers find first-hand Japan management insight based on the views and experiences of Japan operating executives we regularly interview, those who live and breathe the Japan market every day. All of our content is original, authoritative, and exclusive to our subscribers.
Even subscribers who have worked in Japan for decades for some of the world's largest corporations glean new insight from our pages and appreciate the depth of our contacts and content.
We publish objective facts and truth on how to do business in Japan. Sometimes our profiles of companies in Japan highlight their successes and the reasons for them -- other times we focus on company failures or mistakes and what went wrong. In all cases we endeavor to be scrupulous and objective, which is why our content is 100% paid for by subscribers and we do not accept advertising in any form.
Our approach is different than most others. We don't analyze listed companies by financial ratios, or private companies by outdated balance sheet analysis. First, many others can do that for you. Second, that approach is fraught with errors and does not give you a sense of the company's management savvy and innovation. In a country like Japan, where information is hard to get and published data is still opaque, you need to know what's going on on the ground. So instead of traditional approaches, we talk about companies' businesses in Japan, what they're doing in their product and service markets here, and why their approach is innovative and smart (or not).
We also serve as an expert network on Japan for our subscribers. As part of your firm's subscription, we can refer you to any of the 14,000+ Japan-oriented senior executives worldwide that we have identified and pre-screened, who have agreed to respond to your question on any Japan-related management or company/industry research topic.
Success Stories: Japan Executive Newsletter is designed for senior Japan-focused corporate executives worldwide, general managers in Japan, and those who serve them. Law firms, executive recruiters, management consultants, hedge fund managers, asset managment professionals, accountants, advertising agencies and other professional service providers to corporations in Japan are among our most satisfied subscribers, but our content remains focused on the needs of Japan P&L managers, no matter whether they are based in Japan or in global or regional corporate headquarters.
We also serve as a resource for subscribers, providing contacts, custom research, information on unlisted Japanese companies, suggestions, tips and advice based on our deep contacts within Japan and across all industries.
Free recent sample issue here
Review some of our most popular exclusive features
If your company is looking to:
- Enter or expand in Japan;
- Acquire Japanese companies;
- Market its products to Japanese consumers or industry;
- Understand which management techniques are working in Japan;
- Set up Japanese-language internet or e-commerce sites;
- Partner in joint venture or distribution arrangements; or
- Just get smarter about how to operate successfully in Japan,
then no other resource matches our combination of news, management information and insight into the activities and management practices of innovative companies in Japan.
Click here to read a recent opinion piece written by our staff for Nikkei Weekly, or one of our editors' quotes in Business Week or Reuters.
Quickly find a company of interest in our Company Index
Join us at Upcoming Conferences
Success Stories: Japan is authoritative and its editors' opinions are published widely. Without interruption since 1997, it continues to provide fresh, detailed business solutions and marketing ideas for the Japanese market. It's written and published by those who understand how businesss gets done in Japan. Everyday we speak directly to the senior executives of Japanese and non-Japanese companies who are responsible for their company's Japan businesses, find out what their companies are doing and planning, and pass it along to our readers. Many Japan-focused investment and hedge fund managers also rely on our content for investment ideas that transcend the conventional research published by banks and brokerage firms.
Over the next decade, the most compelling stories will not be about whether Japan's economy grows 0.8% or 1.3%, but what foreign companies in Japan, and an increasing number of innovative Japanese companies, are doing to encourage change and promote growth in the world's second-largest economy. Already thousands of non-Japanese companies are entering and growing Japan; partnering with and changing Japan's giants; and bringing fresh ideas and management practices to the market. And a number of Japanese companies are bringing leading technologies and products to the global market, in everything from robotics and miniaturization to biotech, nanotech, energy efficiency, MEMS, anime, manga and creative content. We cover the most important of these stories across all industries, providing perspective and analysis that doesn't exist anywhere else, breaking news, as well as ideas and Japan market insight that more than pay for the cost of subscription.
Order the transcript or recording of our lunch presentation to the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan on June 13, 2000. More details here. If you would like to arrange a custom full- or half-day intensive Japan management training session for any of your executives, please e-mail us. If there's a specific Japan management issue for which you would like to receive insight, review our back issue descriptions. Or if you wish to see if we've written about a specific company, see our company index.
Our Publication Contains:
*Success Stories: Detailed profiles of non-Japanese companies' strategies and approaches to the Japanese market. We give you true tales-- warts and all-- from the people who manage their company's Japan effort at big and small companies alike. Take a look at which leading companies we've written about recently.
*Japan Insight: Original news and exclusive insight (not rehashed press releases), regularly scooping the mainstream business press, on what non-Japanese companies worldwide are doing or planning to do in Japan. Back issues are generally available for purchase by non-subscribers 90 days after publication, if they are not sold out by that time.
*A Specialist Offers Advice: In every issue, an experienced Japan practitioner provides tips, advice and real-world anecdotes for managing your company's Japan effort, based on their Japan business experience in functional disciplines (human resources, lobbying, M&A, marketing, IT, legal, etc.) or specific industries (retail, internet, industrial, financial services, technology, medical devices, etc.). No pundits allowed. View a list of some of our recent specialist contributors.
*Japan Observer: Non-Japanese individuals, senior executives and casual observers share their observations on Japanese society and business. Get some perspective on Japanese business culture and first-hand insight on how business gets done. Understanding the unique cultural flavor of Japan is key to understanding the subtle cultural factors that influence business activity in Japan. In short, your 'eyes and ears'.
*Issues also include:
- Results of our own exclusive surveys and research, in such areas as foreign company profitability, market entry experience, staffing, launching Japanese-language internet sites, etc.
- Interviews with little-known Japanese government officials and well-known CEOs and senior business executives of major companies, who are directly influencing the country's business environment and policy.
- Marketing advice, tips on exporting, M&A, partnering, e-business, bankruptcy acquisition, distributors, etc. from the most knowledgeable and long-time Japan practitioners we identify.
- Best practices for managing and growing your company's Japan business.
- Money-saving management techniques, and more.
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Why Subscribe to Success Stories: Japan?
Other foreign companies active in Japan encounter the same growth and management issues your company does, in marketing and distribution, partnering, staffing, the internet, M&A and more. Why re-invent the wheel? No matter where you're based, Success Stories: Japan allows you to share your peers' best practices for growing revenue, capitalizing on profit opportunities, reducing costs, finding appropriate partners and the best people, and solving management problems.
Foreign companies in many cases are the ones forcing change in Japan through their leadership and new (for Japan) management approaches. Success Stories: Japan is the only for-profit publication exclusively devoted to detailing the innovative management strategies of foreign companies in Japan and selected Japanese companies. We regularly break business and management news on Japan, here are some examples. Our news and insight is 100% original, and you won't find it anywhere else, not in Nikkei Weekly, not in Asian Wall Street Journal, not in Bloomberg, not in Japan Times. Can you afford not to subscribe?
Japan is the world's second largest economy and will remain so for years. Japanese households hold $15 trillion dollars in savings and this number is still growing. The country has one of the world's highest per-capita incomes, and its growth rates continue to exceed those of many other developed economies, including the US. Nor are Japanese consumers excessively indebted or at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure. Tens of thousands of private Japanese companies are still large, fierce and viable competitors in their industries. Japan's local governments are increasing their spending on efficiency initiatives, e-government, systems and outsourcing. Don't believe the conventional wisdom that Japan is a closed market, or that its aging population threatens growth, or that its occasional cyclical recession means it's in trouble, or that China offers more opportunity for profit. None of that is true, as our subscribers know and can attest.
As we turn into fiscal 2010 Japan continues to remove trade obstacles, deregulate its economy, and seek foreign products, services, partners and know-how. It has also become a great opportunity for non-Japanese multinationals to obtain strong market position, skilled employees, and cutting-edge technical expertise overnight through acquisition of Japanese companies. Success Stories: Japan helps your company understand how to execute so it can take advantage of these trends.
Subscribers to Success Stories: Japan, large and small company executives alike, regularly tell us our focused approach helps them make more money in Japan by improving sales volumes, organizational infrastructure, and market savvy. We share management best practices for growth in Japan, so your team doesn't have to start from scratch.
Success Stories: Japan is a member of the Association for Japanese Business Studies (AJBS) and many Japan-focused membership organizations and Chambers of Commerce in Japan. We are a private for-profit business information provider, independent of any Japanese government or quasi-governmental agency. Our editors regularly address senior executives on Japan business strategy, at company forums and at executive conferences.
Subscribers use Success Stories: Japan for ideas on:
- Direct investment and M&A in Japan
- Setting up Japanese language web and e-commerce sites
- Exporting to Japan
- Establishing an office, a call center, a joint venture...
- Negotiating with the Japanese, training a Japanese sales force...
- Dealing with and working around legalities and regulations
- Private equity, especially how to acquire unlisted and/or family-run private Japanese companies
- Selling to Japanese city, town, and prefectural governments and associated municipal organizations
- Distributor searches
- Marketing and pricing approaches
- How to hire, manage and compensate staff
- How to navigate changing government regulations and local ordinances affecting your company.
Apply to order individual or group subscriptions, or back issues, or get on our free e-mail update.
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We reserve the right to refuse any subscription request, back issue order or other service at our sole discretion.
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