Characteristics of Growing Consumer Markets in Asia, and Challenges Facing Japanese Firms Hoping to Enter these Markets(<Special Issue>The Dynamism of Economic Development in Asia)

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  • 拡大するアジアの消費市場の特性と日本企業の参入課題(<特集>アジア経済成長のダイナミズムをさぐる)
  • 拡大するアジアの消費市場の特性と日本企業の参入課題
  • カクダイ スル アジア ノ ショウヒ シジョウ ノ トクセイ ト ニホン キギョウ ノ サンニュウ カダイ

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Abstract

As well as Japanese retailers and restaurant chains, increasing numbers of Japanese consumer goods manufacturers are entering Asia's growing consumer markets. The background to this sees the growth of Japan's domestic market slowing down, and more importantly the reality is that due to the advancing of Japan's depopulation caused by low birth rates and an aging population, many businesses can no longer see a future in the domestic market. Therefore, it is expected that in the near future there will be a surge in the number of Japanese companies entering Asian markets. Previously, many Japanese manufacturers fell behind with the servicing of their distribution channels in Asian markets, only going so far as to participate indirectly through local agencies in the actual market regions. However, in recent years there has been a surge in the numbers of manufacturers looking to have more direct contact with the local markets and consumer goods manufacturers developing large-scale retail chains to sell their manufactured goods in the Chinese market and other markets. These changes have been caused by factors such as the development of large-scale modern retail and shopping centers around Asia, the progressive relaxation of regulations in China's market, and the need for companies to quickly establish their brands in these growing markets. As advances have been made with direct participation in these consumer markets, consumer goods manufacturers have faced the new challenge of having to ascertain the special characteristics of Asia's consumer markets and learn how to deal with them. These are challenges which the Japanese retailers have faced for a long time in Asia's markets. In fact, Japanese retailers have accumulated many experiences in Asia's consumer markets since the 1960s. In this sense, it can be said that consumer goods manufacturers are facing the same challenges as those retailers. In this thesis the author synthesizes postwar Japanese retail with Asian market advances based on field surveys conducted in Asia since the 1990s, and compiles findings concerning the types of difficulties Japanese retail has been confronted with in Asia's markets as well as what has been learned from these markets. Factors that have hampered Japanese retail performance in Asia's markets are found to include: (1) the difficulty of supplying stock and the price of stock, (2) the intensity of low price competition, (3) sudden price rises in shop rent, (4) the difficulty of selecting locations, and (5) the poor timing of advances (rent market prices, interest rates, exchange rates, etc.). These matters are mutually relevant and together influenced retail performance, but factors (1) through (4) are particularly indicative of the special characteristics of Asia's consumer markets. Over many years of experience, Japanese retail can be said to have learned several key lessons from Asia's markets: (a) the importance of primary factors other than earnings and preferences; (b) the necessity for constructing new business models unlike those which are seen in Japan; (c) the importance of strategic location and understanding the markets' mosaic nature; (d) the importance of understanding the tacit knowing of locality concealed in each market (tacitly shared sense of standards and values in each regional community). In the future, these will become common challenges for many Japanese companies looking to enter Asia's consumer markets.

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