Introduction to "Prospering in the Japanese Market"
Hello, and welcome to "Prospering in the Japanese Market," by David Luhman.
David, after graduating with special honors in aerospace engineering and journalism from the University of Colorado in Boulder, went to Japan where he spent five years working at a small Japanese trading company, an American maker of mini-super computers, and finally, a Japanese securities company.
During his time in Japan, he became fluent in Japanese and eventually became the president of Tokyo's only Japanese language Toastmasters club.
Now he's back at the University of Colorado where he's earning an MBA in Finance. However, as part of his on-going effort to help people do business in Japan, he's produced several tapes about doing business there.
In this tape, David discusses how to beat high office rents in Japan, find competent Japanese staff, save taxes and how to protect your firm's intellectual property. And now, here's David Luhman.
Hi, I'm David Luhman and thanks for investing your time and money to listen to "Prospering in the Japanese Market." In a previous tape titled "Entering the Japanese Market" I discussed how to initially move into Japan through either trading companies or setting up your own branch or subsidiary.
Although simply setting up a company is not that much of a challenge, actually succeeding or prospering with it is another matter. A foreign business in Japan faces high fixed costs and different personnel, taxation and legal systems. Learning to work in this new environment is going to be key to your company's success.
So I want to try to help you by providing lots of specific information. But please note that because of the specificity and timeliness of the information, much of it could change.
Also, please realize that I am not an expert in human resources and I am not a lawyer, so use what you hear as a good starting point, and not as the final word on a subject. I want to help you as much as possible by providing specific information, but please consult a qualified professional about your particular situation.