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Three keys to market entry in Japan
BY CHRISTOPHER “KIT” NAGEL ’79
Market entry in
Japan requires
careful planning.
Here are
three keys to success in
the world’s third-largest
economy.
1. Have a story to tell:
You may think your product
is excellent in terms of
efficiency, performance and
lead times, but many Western
products simply are
not relevant in Japan. The
Japanese consumer requires
innovative products perceived
to fit within household
and cultural boundaries.
What works is to tell the
story of the people behind
your product and how they
worked hard to bring their
dreams to life. Also, tell the
quality story. This isn’t just
about having your credentials
lined up, but knowing
where all your ingredients
and components come
from in painful detail.
Anticipate every unexpected
question. Make sure you
truly understand your value
chain.
2. Select your distributors
carefully: More than
in any other country, distributors
are key to success
in Japan. Their business relationships
go back generations
and only they know
how to get your product to
market. Never over-promise
on margins and implement
an incentive program based
upon volume milestones.
Make sure your distributors
perform to the agreed
milestones and ensure clarity
on all sides about your
marketing program. When
you entrust your brand to
a distributor, take special
care to have clear rules on
brand management. Global
brands have been mismanaged
by the big trading
houses (the shosha) that
have outsourced the work
to others. Keep control of
your brand.
3. Take your time: Don’t
rush into any distributor
engagement unless you’re
totally comfortable. Japan’s
business history is littered
with managers who, shortly
after landing in Narita, got
impatient and closed deals
so they could fly home as
heroes. Such deals usually
die and, in so doing,
devalue a brand’s cachet
for years. Patience (the fifth
marketing P) is a primary
virtue in Japan.
Kit Nagel ’79, former Asian
marketing manager for International
Paper Co., is on the
business faculty at Concordia
University-Irvine.
“Global Market Entry”
Author: Kit Nagel ’79
Description: Softcover,
87 pages
Publisher: Xlibris
(Aug. 28, 2012)
“
If everyone else is doing it,
it’s almost certainly wrong.”
Karen Elliott House,
Retired Publisher, The Wall Street Journal
Dec. 14, 2012
THUNDERBIRDEXCERPT
Pulitzer Prize winner Karen Elliott House had few connections to the outside world while
growing up in Matador, Texas — a town smaller than Thunderbird with a population of
600. Rather than staying put, House decided to chart her own path as an international
journalist. “Trade the comfort you know for the challenge of the unknown,” she told
graduates during her keynote address at the winter commencement.
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