Business Case - General Manager Japan
Situation
Our client, a part of a Scandinavia-based group of food companies, develops, manufactures and markets its products to industrial customers, retailers and food service companies around the world. The company has several European subsidiaries and had decided to start up in Japan in order to leverage the new trends and opportunities there.
The Japanese sales company organization was to be built up from scratch. Our assignment was to find someone with broad business experience from both Scandinavia and Japan.
Search
Our client wanted someone acquainted with Japanese culture and who spoke Japanese. The person in question would be used to the Japanese business world, be able to achieve results from the very beginning, and make the company visible in the Japanese market.
The search strategy focused on identifying candidates with documented success in sales and marketing. It was also important to find a candidate with a background in consumer goods, and best of all in the food industry.
Penetration into the Japanese market requires being part of the local network. For a new and independent manufacturer, this requires enormous resources and very considerable patience before any expectation of being accepted can be justified. Thus the company wanted someone who was clearly sales and marketing oriented and who was willing to invest all his/her energy and time in a very challenging job.
The person would have to be very extrovert, energetic and business oriented. He or she would possess the involvement and drive to build a whole new organization up from scratch in an entirely new market.
We concentrated our search on people with in-depth knowledge of Japan and who, based on their documented results and experience, could convince our client of their ability to achieve results from day one.
Results
The successfully placed candidate, who came from the food industry, had managed similar issues and understood how to build up a new business from scratch.
We found a General Manager with sound experience in the Japanese market and culture, and who spoke Japanese. The person was integrated in Japanese society and had been involved in sales and marketing throughout his career both inside and outside Japan with excellent results. The person could see the challenge and possessed the right entrepreneurial qualities to build a new business up from the ground.
The new General Manager has since achieved great success, creating extremely positive results for the company, which has enjoyed a huge breakthrough in Japan and grown very strongly. The placement has been an unqualified success. The company has big ambitions in the Japanese market and the plans for the future look very promising. We performed the assignment to the full satisfaction of the client.
Our client, a part of a Scandinavia-based group of food companies, develops, manufactures and markets its products to industrial customers, retailers and food service companies around the world. The company has several European subsidiaries and had decided to start up in Japan in order to leverage the new trends and opportunities there.
The Japanese sales company organization was to be built up from scratch. Our assignment was to find someone with broad business experience from both Scandinavia and Japan.
Search
Our client wanted someone acquainted with Japanese culture and who spoke Japanese. The person in question would be used to the Japanese business world, be able to achieve results from the very beginning, and make the company visible in the Japanese market.
The search strategy focused on identifying candidates with documented success in sales and marketing. It was also important to find a candidate with a background in consumer goods, and best of all in the food industry.
Penetration into the Japanese market requires being part of the local network. For a new and independent manufacturer, this requires enormous resources and very considerable patience before any expectation of being accepted can be justified. Thus the company wanted someone who was clearly sales and marketing oriented and who was willing to invest all his/her energy and time in a very challenging job.
The person would have to be very extrovert, energetic and business oriented. He or she would possess the involvement and drive to build a whole new organization up from scratch in an entirely new market.
We concentrated our search on people with in-depth knowledge of Japan and who, based on their documented results and experience, could convince our client of their ability to achieve results from day one.
Results
The successfully placed candidate, who came from the food industry, had managed similar issues and understood how to build up a new business from scratch.
We found a General Manager with sound experience in the Japanese market and culture, and who spoke Japanese. The person was integrated in Japanese society and had been involved in sales and marketing throughout his career both inside and outside Japan with excellent results. The person could see the challenge and possessed the right entrepreneurial qualities to build a new business up from the ground.
The new General Manager has since achieved great success, creating extremely positive results for the company, which has enjoyed a huge breakthrough in Japan and grown very strongly. The placement has been an unqualified success. The company has big ambitions in the Japanese market and the plans for the future look very promising. We performed the assignment to the full satisfaction of the client.
