![]() ![]() The major industry you cater to is music and DJ equipment, and with the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw many live venues and performances shut down, but people had extra free time and many decided to learn a new hobby. Despite this, Japan is still known as a country with higher production fees and wages. Japan has been widely known as a country that has high wages for labor, but this situation is changing recently in China which is actually becoming more expensive than Japan for manufacturing. Sustaining those employees may contribute to the company on a longer scale than just pushing those over 60 to retire. Other things we might do is reduce the number of days an elderly employee works or change the location to be more relaxing. We try to give a bit of flexibility to those that are reaching retirement age, so someone over 65 might transition from full-time to part-time. An elderly society is nothing new to our company and being a Japanese firm, we do have employees over the age of 60. First of all, we have been investing in our overseas workforce, and have employed more English literate people so that they may understand the needs of our clients in overseas markets. It makes clear sense from a financial standpoint to branch out beyond Japan and capture more markets. A solution in our minds is to expose ourselves overseas and shift to foreign markets rather than staying here. What are some of the challenges and opportunities this demographic shift is presenting to AlphaTheta?Īctually, to answer your question, our overall annual sales turnover is partially captured here in Japan, but the larger part is overseas. Japan is the oldest society in the world and has a rapidly shrinking population, resulting in a labor crisis and a smaller domestic market. At AlphaTheta we like to think that we conduct our business in that way. With all being said, with the economic situation it is becoming more problematic for Japanese companies to take on the world, but nevertheless, if you keep following good practices and take good care of your loyal customers there will always be a market to go to. ![]() We saw unprecedented levels of JPY weakening, and it has made the situation for some Japanese companies even worse because it has stifled their ability to expose themselves more to the outside world. Last year saw a lot of fluctuations with the JPY against the USD. Japanese firms pursue high standards, but at the same time that can put a lot of unnecessary pressure on employees. It might be considered both a strong point and a weak point at the same time. We have done this over the past decades, and we are not looking to give that up. There is not a secret sauce to capture the market, realistically it just comes down to hard work and listening to your customers. These are the kind of simple goals that AlphaTheta also has prided itself on since its establishment. Despite this, there are success stories, and big companies like Sony, Toyota, and Nintendo are out there listening to customer voices and responding with products that customers truly appreciate. That risk and frustration are still out there, and Japanese firms have lost large chunks of the market due to cheaper labor elsewhere. The 1990s and 2000s for Japan were known as the lost decades, and even to this day, there are Japanese firms that do not seem to be able to get over that. How have Japanese firms been able to maintain this leadership despite the stiff price competition? However, we still see that many Japanese firms are leaders in certain fields. Over the last 25-30 years, Japan has seen the rise of regional manufacturing competitors who have replicated Japanese monozukuri processes, but at a cheaper labor cost, pushing Japan out of mass consumer markets.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |