Investing in Japan
Why Japan?
10 Advantages to Investing in Japan
4. Loyalty and commitment to long-term partnerships
Foreign-affiliated companies have long found their partnerships with Japanese companies to be ones of loyalty and commitment. Such relationships not only provide companies stability in the long-term but also offer cost reduction and quality improvement that often result from combining operational capabilities.
Some examples of recent business alliances between Japanese and overseas companies
| Overseas company (country) | Japanese company | Details of cooperation | Date of announcement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge Display Technology (UK) | Sumitomo Chemical | Establishment of joint venture for development, production and marketing of polymer organic Electro Luminescence (EL) materials. | 2005/5/25 |
| Thyssen Krupp Steel (Germany) | JFE Steel | Establishment of joint venture. Joint participation from the initial stage of vehicle development in the area of automotive steel sheet technologies. | 2005/6/16 |
| Napster (US) | Tower Records | Establishment of company to expand music distribution business. | 2005/10/25 |
| Orla Protein Technology (UK) | Kitakyushu National College of Technology | Joint development of protein chips for medical diagnostic use. | 2005/11/16 |
| Cerep (France) | NEC | Cooperation in seeking and analyzing potential medical compounds. | 2005/11/24 |
| Evialis (France) | Nosan | Technical cooperation in the development of substitutes for antibacterial substances for use with livestock and animal foodstuffs with reduced environmental impact. | 2005/12/16 |
| Aplix (France) | Kuraray Fastening | Technical cooperation in development of technologies for attaching surface layers to automobile seats, fitting soundproofing materials to door panels and running flat cables inside ceiling materials. | 2005/12/26 |
| IBM (US) | Sony, Toshiba | Joint development of production technology for next-generation semiconductors. | 2006/1/12 |
| Intel (US) | Dai Nippon Printing | Extension of cooperative relationship to develop masks for use in nextgeneration semiconductor production processes. | 2006/1/19 |
| EMC (US) | NEC | Joint development of next-generation external memory (storage) devices. | 2006/4/5 |
| Knauf Gips (Germany) | Chiyoda Ute | Expansion of related businesses including recycling of building materials, commercialization of new products and joint procurement of materials in Asia. | 2006/5/8 |
| ARC International (UK) | Toshiba | Cooperation in field of configurable processors. Development of nextgeneration systems-on-chip using ARC processor design system. | 2006/5/25 |
| Microsoft (US) | NEC | Conclusion of patent cross-licensing agreement; joint development of nextgeneration server. | 2006/5/25 |
| Dow Chemical (US) | Mitsui Chemicals | Joint development of catalytic system for production of new functional polymers. | 2006/6/21 |
| NanoInk (US) | SII NanoTechnology | Joint development in field of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Improvement of patents held by NanoInk. | 2006/6/22 |
| British Telecommunications (UK) | KDDI | Establishment of joint venture in field of management of corporate communications networks. | 2006/6/26 |
| Microsoft (US) | National Institute of Multimedia Education | R&D in next-generation educational environments using IT. | 2006/6/28 |
| Akamai Technologies (US) | NEC, J-Stream, etc. | Development of distribution services for dynamic content produced by IT, online commerce and entertainment companies. | 2006/6/28 |
| Sun Microsystems (US) | NTT Data | Joint enterprise in field of data migration for system optimization (main frames, etc.). | 2006/6/29 |
| Rolls-Royce (UK) | National Institute for Materials Science | Joint research on ultra-heat-resistant alloys for use in gas turbine engines. | 2006/6/30 |
Source: Compiled by JETRO from press releases
What foreign-affiliated companies are saying about their business in Japan.
"Japanese firms are not concerned about the fame of a company or its brands. They are genuinely interested in seeing a sample, making it easy to get right down to business." (Software developer)"Japanese companies are open to non-Japanese companies, and as long as you can provide good products it does not matter where you are from. But, on the other hand, Japan is home to a high concentration of manufacturers of all sorts with highly advanced technical capabilities, and it is difficult to compete with such rivals in this market with a "normal" level of technical prowess. If, however, a company possesses creative and highly advanced technologies, it has the same opportunities as anyone else to do business successfully in Japan." (Industrial machinery maker)
"One of the advantages of doing business in Japan is that, while it takes quite a bit of time to enter into a contract, once you do, those relationships are for the long-term. Because there is little switching between vendors, unlike in the West, a company can look forward to stable and long-lasting revenue from its Japanese partners." (Security middleware provider)
Visit the below sites to learn what other foreign-affiliated companies are saying about their business in Japan:
- Investment News
- Success Stories
- The world's second-largest market
- Sophisticated consumers with high purchasing power
- World-class companies and SMEs with unique technologies
- Loyalty and commitment to long-term partnerships
- World's center for technological innovation and product development
- Access to new Asian markets
- Favorable business climate
- Rapidly growing broadband society
- Expanding environmental market
- Booming business in silver care and retirees
Print