In the light of many other Asian countries still in the development stage or experiencing significant economic downturns, the Japanese market is robust. With its 127 million consumers and high buying power, Japan is considered by more and more companies as a target for business expansion sometimes even as a hub for other Asian markets.
The Japanese market can be very attractive and rewarding, particularly when it comes to high-quality and high-technology products, in addition to providing a safe harbor regarding IP protection.
However, doing business in Japan is also conceived to be rather complicated, with unusual business customs and unique culture. But, as so often, it is all about understanding the cultural differences and adjusting the market entry process accordingly in order to find beneficial and reliable business partners in Japan to eventually expand business successfully.
San-Ten Consulting wants to provide you with an individual, tailor-made approach to enter the Japanese market and eventually do successful business in Japan. Along the value chain Discover – Connect – Retain, we will support your market entry activities to Japan based on your actual needs and products or services you have to offer.
If you are new to the Japanese market, we can support your market entry decision-making process with market research activities to discover opportunities in Japan. If you are not sure about your options on how to enter the market, we also offer our Japan Unique Market Preparedness (JUMP) Assessment for more clarity. It is a one-day assessment of your current situation resulting in recommendations resulting in recommendations about how successful business could be achieved in Japan.
If you have ready-to-use products that don’t need much further development on the buyer side, we usually recommend cooperating with a local partner who can do the import and sales and marketing, but also service and maintenance for your products in Japan. In this case, we will discover the possible partners for your business in Japan, introduce your company and products, and connect you to the most promising partners.
For companies with rather intermediary products needing further development and longer time to commercial sales, we would be happy to become your representative in Japan. We can discover new clients, introduce your products, and retain the relationship and communication over the time necessary to develop the final products and achieve commercial sales. We usually do this on the basis of monthly retainer fees, amounting to much lower costs than founding your own subsidiary.
If you are interested in more detailed information, please contact us without hesitation. We also wrote a brief article about “How to Enter the Japanese Market” which you can download here.
An alternative approach to gain market access in Japan and jump on an existing sales network is to acquire a Japanese company with similar or complementary products. Together with our financial partner, we can discover suitable M&A targets, approach them anonymously if preferred, and identify their interest in further entertaining your proposal. In ongoing negotiations, we can support your due diligence and help you with interim and integration management.
For more information about M&A in Japan, please have a look to the article “ Creating the Path toward M&A in Japan ” that you can download here.