Visiting Benchmark Enterprises in Japan and Exploring the Way to Success for Evergreen Enterprises！

Release time：2023-10-16    

“Read a thousand books and travel a thousand miles.” The in-depth study tour for high-grade, high-precision, advanced technology of the 2022 Autumn Term Class of New Financial Entrepreneurs concluded successfully in Japan. In the study tour, the students listened to the sharing of senior management of benchmark enterprises, visited renowned enterprises to verify their opinions, and carried out cultural exchanges. Through this fulfilling and fruitful study tour, the students of New Financial Entrepreneurs have been learning from and sharing ideas from the moment the journey started. Together they gained new knowledge and feelings while creating a rich and unique experience.

Comprehending diversified operation concepts

Understanding the secret key to evergreen businesses

The first stop of the study tour was crossEffect, a representative emerging technology enterprise in Japan. Founded in 2001, it is one of the typical entrepreneurial enterprises.

Mr. Masayoshi Takeda, President of crossEffect, introduced the development history of the company and its experience in mission management and technological innovation.

CrossEffect mainly engages in development and prototype design with 3D printing technology, with two functions of prototype design and sample shaping, thus providing products rapidly according to client needs. This forms the core competitiveness of the company. On the other hand, it has another critical business - cross Medical, manufacturing and selling heart models and producing medical prototypes such as various organ models and medical equipment prototypes. For its special business modes and outstanding designs, it has won the Japan Good Design Grand Award (one of the most prestigious awards in the manufacturing industry in Japan).

In the afternoon, the students visited Kyocera Group, a world-leading scientific and technological developer and producer. It is widely known that Kyocera Group adopts a unique operation management method called “Amoeba Operating,” which is specifically designed to achieve the enterprise principle of the group. This management system divides the company organization into various Amoeba teams with independent management rights. Kyocera Group establishes its advantage by improving employees’ awareness and activeness in participating in operations through “Amoeba Operating.” Besides, the teams in “Amoeba Management” constitute a complete system that thoroughly examines efficiency, clarifying each member’s duties and thus ensuring transparency in detail.

Kyocera was founded in Kyoto Japan in 1959. Originally it was merely a small plant in lack of capital, credit and performance. Its success in ranking among World Top 500 after many years should be attributed to the unique operational philosophy of the founder Kzauo Inamori. The students experienced in person the enterprise culture and work atmosphere of Kyocera and went through its development history. Therefore, they became truly aware of the significance of taking technological innovation as the driving force and market innovation as the guide, building proper talent concepts and cultivation philosophy, and working towards a common operation goal. Only by taking these steps can an enterprise withstand time and exceed the life cycle.

The students of the 2022 Autumn Term Class of New Financial Entrepreneurs were greatly impressed by the visit to Kzauo Inamori Museum, which granted them a new understanding and explanation of “entrepreneurs”.

Operating enterprises is like navigating a big ship on the vast sea in the darkness, or leading a team to get over deserted mountains one after another. True entrepreneurs need to be equipped with the courage to confront difficulties and hardships and the confidence and strength to overcome problems. And Kzauo Inamori’s management science can give us this power.

Getting immersed in the cultural atmosphere of a leading university

Learning to empower the future

The students of the 2022 Autumn Term Class of New Financial Entrepreneurs also participated in the class of the University Tokyo, the highest university in Tokyo, enjoying the themed sharing entitled Smart City and Robot Technology, brought by Professor Masahisa Toyasaki, President of Japanese Hi-tech Recycling Association.

In his sharing, Professor Masahisa Toyasaki objectively elaborated on the current international situation, analyzed the real reason for Japan to develop a smart city in Indonesia, and also talked about his own opinion on hot topics like the development of the semiconductor industry and 5G. “Technology has no border.” It is an inevitable trend to conduct cross-border cooperation and mutual development in the future. In the Q&A stage after the themed sharing, the students played an active part, raising questions, expressing ideas and harvesting information fruitfully.

Walking into the production frontline

Exploring the breakthrough path of enterprises

For the last stop of the study tour in Japan, the students of the 2022 Autumn Term Class of New Financial Entrepreneurs came to observe the production frontline of Asahi Brewery. As one of the most famous beer manufacturers in Japan, Asahi Brewery, like others as well, once went through a dark moment when sales dropped dramatically.

According to the market logic at that time, Asahi had a failure in its channels. The then manager believed products instead of channels were the key to pulling up sales with consumer tastes changing. Therefore, it transformed into a service-oriented R&D organization, integrating the technical R&D department and market sales department, the two of which were merely connected, and leaving the R&D results to the market for judgment. From 1993, Asahi Brewery started to gradually improve its freshness control, aiming to provide users with beers that tasted better and set “freshness” as a goal for client satisfaction. Later, it focused on the important issue of reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and adopted a series of measures including reforming the management system, optimizing the asset-liability structure, conducting business coordination and asset integration, improving production efficiency and capacity utilization, perfecting channels and the marketing expense investment structure, which managed to help cut down costs by hundreds of billions of yen.

Eventually, Asahi Brewery took consumer tastes as the core target, restructured the R&D, production, channels and management of the company, and successfully launched products favored by consumers. By building up a quality moat with its “freshness locking” capability and enhancing its scale advantage with cost control and overseas expansion, the company managed to get back up again in the Japanese market.

This impressive visit inspires the students to be aware that enterprise operation requires precise and profound observation of consumers, full utilization of all the resources to satisfy clients’ needs and constant innovation to exceed consumers’ expectations. Only by grasping the certainty among all the uncertainties can enterprises acquire vitality and vigor.

Education is life. During the several days on the study tour in Japan to experience the “change” and “constancy” of a city and learn about the persistence and breakthrough of benchmark enterprises, the students of the 2022 Autumn Term Class of New Financial Entrepreneurs have benefited greatly as individuals, and they have also built an increasingly stronger relationship as classmates. Hope what they have learned here can always stay in their minds and act as a nutrient that fosters the students and guides them to go afar in the future with their respective enterprises!

Enrollment for the Autumn Term Class of New Financial Entrepreneurs is in full swing!

FISF Course of New Financial Entrepreneur

Grand Opening in November

Proportion of core executives in enterprises 92%

Founders of listed companies

Leading talents in law

Olympic sports start

Presidents of international schools

Core executives in Top 500 enterprises

Finance 27%, others 25%, other high-end manufacturing 10%, mechanic/electronic manufacturing 8%, new materials 8%, real estate/construction 10%, transport/warehouse logistics 12%.