TOP > Services towards Overseas Companies

Due to the weakening of the Japanese market growth, many foreign companies are facing the necessity to re-assess their business expansion strategies in Japan. Questions such as, where does the Japanese market place within the global strategy, how is the Japanese branch evaluated, if there is further growth potential what sort of strategies and action should be taken, are strategically important decision-making items to be clarified. We have provided support to over 300 companies in Asia and Europe, for all sizes (small ~ large) and have an incomparable track record in developing feasible business strategies that provide a differentiation, after figuring out the root cause, strategy, and solution for increasing clients' sales.

One effective way to enhance growth is the leverage strategy, which is the use of M&A or the building of alliances in order to expand business. Unless a company analyzes the Japanese market and companies in detail, the success rates for a cross-border M&A or strategic alliance in Japan is extremely low. We have supported a significant number of clients, both corporate and investment funds, and have a strong reputation for supporting the entire M&A process, including the selection of targets, M&A strategy development, business due diligence, M&A negotiation, closing support, and management execution post M&A.

Although the growth of the Japanese economy is decreasing still today, the Japanese market is a market that cannot be ignored, and therefore, an entrance into the market, is definitely an effective option as an expansion strategy. Yet, not only are regulations different in Japan compared to Europe or the US, consumer needs are very different. We support companies to successfully enter the Japanese market by providing support such as, the establishment of a Japanese branch, the development of an entrance structure/scenario such as whether the company will enter the market independently or get support from a Japanese alliance partner, consideration of the business model including how the company will become profitable/how it's going to build its value chain, consumer demand research in order to figure out the acceptability of the product, analysis regarding regulations and social systems.

When we provide consulting support, we focus on the users' voice, thoughts and feelings. When we organize group interviews, instead of outsourcing it, we deliberately have one of our consultants host the session. In doing so, we are able to run a group interview that drastically develops a hypothesis by raising questions that dig deeper inside of the structure of the mindset of the interview group throughout the discussion. Also, regarding consumer surveys, we run a pre-research, which collects a limited sample of consumer voices, and based on that we construct a hypothesis to develop a questionnaire. With the results, we run a high-level, complicated statistical analysis of the data and provide our clients with a simplified output that can effectively and efficiently support a resolution of the client's problem. Providing research support that leads to the problem's solution, as well as, providing a feasible strategy, is a trait that consulting company researches have. We also have a business alliance with a company that monitors senior members, and therefore, we have a great track record in researching the senior market.

When a company is acquiring or divesting a company, a business due diligence (BDD) is essential. For example, in the case of a store operation such as a retail store, we would run a comprehensive analysis from every angle to cover all of the items that we need to assess. This would include fully understanding each shop location by doing field research (location, store layout, shelf locations/product placement, work status among the store employees, equipment status, and other comparisons with competitive restaurants), analyzing the profitability per store, investigating business processes, checking the durability of the information system, and checking distribution efficiency. In addition, not only do we provide corporate planning assessments, which include the evaluation of competitiveness regarding business assets and management resources that the target company holds, evaluation of the reasonability of the strategy, and evaluation of the feasibility of the business plan, we also provide output material which is constructed through the development of hypotheses based on management problems/concerns and ultimately enhances management after the acquisition. We provide legal, financial, and labor due diligence through our legal and accounting advisors with which we have alliances.