CEO Insights meetings provide a lot of knowledge to c-levels running a business in the major trading centers in Asia such as Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and various other countries. Many of our firms manufacture in China but we don’t go into too much detail about doing business in China. With such an important player such as China, experience in the market can make the difference between business success or failure. In October, CI members will get a chance to dive into China.. without going there. CI welcomes a c-level that has spent several years doing business in China. Mr. Daniel Onaggowinarso

Mr. Onaggowinarso will be sharing with us his insights on the benefits and challenges of running a Sino-German Joint Venture Operation and the cultural and economic challenges of succeeding in the current and future Chinese Market for foreign companies. Special thanks to Bartek Radzimski for arranging this meeting!

Join us for an insightful lunch on doing business in China and see the connections to the business abroad.

Date– Thursday, 13 October 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

Storytelling. Big Data Analytics. Customer Journey. Omni-channel. Consumer Experience. Disruption. All concepts flipped around C-Suite, Marketing and IT circles over recent times. And yet, the rise of the very technology that has enabled and empowered individuals can create seemingly impossible paradoxes for B2C and B2B companies to overcome.

Enter the rise of Design Strategy. What began as a strategic process applied to designing products is now permeating all manner of how to engage with customers, consumers, clients, patients, stakeholders, users… you know, people. Design strategy principles & tactics are impacting boardroom decision making, product & service development and how best to connect with the people you want to build an ongoing relationship with.

On Friday October 14 please join us for lunch with Phillip Rubel, head of Designit Tokyo & a global board member of the firm. Designit is one of the largest and most successful strategic design companies in the world, recently acquired by IT powerhouse Wipro. Designit consults for and co-creates with some of the world’s most successful companies across a huge variety of industries. Come learn how Designit helps companies re-invent themselves, develop products, services and ultimately relationships with their customers in agile and practical ways.

Date– Friday, 14 October 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

In January 2016, CEO Insights members welcomed Dr. Christoph Walther, CEO and founder of CNC – Communications & Network Consulting. The meeting was off the record but something that everyone enjoyed gaining insights on the importance of communications for the inter-workings of business and governments incl. political leaders. We continue to receive great feedback for that gathering.

This time, our guest speaker will be Mr. Bernhard Meising, the new global CEO of CNC, one of the world’s top 3 leading financial communication consultancies.
Bernhard will open CI members to a different perspective. Bernhard will share with us his insights into the communication challenges of complex international M&A transactions and the Do’s and Don’ts during such situations.

This special meeting will be a joint meeting open to all CEO Insights members (limited to space in room). Please register early if you plan to attend. Bernhard is probably Germany’s best known financial PR advisor. Among others, he advised Bayer on its recent announcement to acquire Monsanto, the largest takeover ever by a German firm.

We look forward to seeing you at the CI Joint lunch!

Date– Thursday, 27 Oct 2016 1200PM-1400PM
Venue-
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- Italian Restaurant- La Cucina
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

As a business professional, there are many wonderful places in the world to live. However, there is some appeal to Japan that seems to draw people from around the globe. The food, the safety, the thousands of great companies..the reasons may vary. Every major company in the world that is successful, likely has an office in Japan. Why is it that Japan continues to draw people? Why is it that younger Japanese are no longer moving abroad but are actually coming home. There is a draw to the land of the rising sun. We see it in the doubling in the number of international visitors in 2015.

In the September CEO Insights Luncheon will welcome guest, Carl Kay. Carl is founder and president of TOKYO WAY KK, a destination management company specializing in deep access to authentic Japanese culture, both traditional and modern, emphasizing experiential activities. Carl will share some of his views on why Japan is resonating so strongly with today’s travelers and how the perspective of outsiders like himself who love Japan is changing the travel experience here.

Come enjoy another meeting of Japan’s leading and get a fresh perspective as well as the interaction with other CEOs.

Date– Tuesday, 13 September 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

More About Carl –
An American residing in Japan since 1996, Carl founded and successfully sold a software localization company. He served as President of the Harvard Club of Japan from 2008-2016.
Carl has consulted for companies ranging from Uniqlo to mid-sized Japanese companies in the education and user experience design fields.

The past 30 years has seen a sea change in the willingness, some would say eagerness, of foreign firms in Japan to engage external stakeholders, including government officials and politicians and their staff. Indeed, senior executives in many foreign firms in Japan now see GR as a key element of their business strategy in Japan. The GR space represent a significant shift, it remains to be seen how the Japanese side views the increasingly proactive, high-profile, and “impactful” approach to influence their decision making.

In the August CI lunch we will welcome Keith Henry, a 30 year Japan veteran. Keith began his career in Japan as an aide to a member of the Diet, then as an aide to both the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Environment. After 5 years with a management consulting firm in Tokyo, he established Asia Strategy where he pioneered the establishment of government relations as a profession in Japan. Keith has great client relationships and is very open about what his firm is doing. His clients have included financial services and banking (UBS, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Manulife, Genworth), ICT (Dell, HPE, Vodafone, eBay), healthcare (Pfizer, PhRMA, EFPIA, Bayer, GSK), consumer goods and services (Wynn Resort, Wal-Mart, Philip Morris, UPS), manufacturing (GE, United Technologies, Embraer Aerospace), alternative investment funds (TCI, Elliott Advisors, Caxton Advisors, Perry Capital), among others.

Join us for an insightful lunch on what companies are doing into Japan to work better with our government.

Date– Friday, 8 Sept 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

The past 30 years has seen a sea change in the willingness, some would say eagerness, of foreign firms in Japan to engage external stakeholders, including government officials and politicians and their staff. Indeed, senior executives in many foreign firms in Japan now see GR as a key element of their business strategy in Japan. The GR space represent a significant shift, it remains to be seen how the Japanese side views the increasingly proactive, high-profile, and “impactful” approach to influence their decision making.

In the August CI lunch we will welcome Keith Henry, a 30 year Japan veteran. Keith began his career in Japan as an aide to a member of the Diet, then as an aide to both the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Environment. After 5 years with a management consulting firm in Tokyo, he established Asia Strategy where he pioneered the establishment of government relations as a profession in Japan. Keith has great client relationships and is very open about what his firm is doing. His clients have included financial services and banking (UBS, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Manulife, Genworth), ICT (Dell, HPE, Vodafone, eBay), healthcare (Pfizer, PhRMA, EFPIA, Bayer, GSK), consumer goods and services (Wynn Resort, Wal-Mart, Philip Morris, UPS), manufacturing (GE, United Technologies, Embraer Aerospace), alternative investment funds (TCI, Elliott Advisors, Caxton Advisors, Perry Capital), among others.

Join us for an insightful lunch on what companies are doing into Japan to work better with our government.

Date– Friday, 9 Sept 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

In business, when we think of “acquisition” immediately the image of a large firm buying a smaller firm to get into a national market, buy market share, or even kill potential competition. In the August CEO Insights, we will be talking about when it is right to buy a company, and when it is best to hold steady.

We will be expanding our definition of acquisition to incorporate the view of the c-level. Acquiring new talent is a huge challenge for every firm but there are many other areas. In a start up business, the three Ps are pricing (costs), productivity, and planning. As we grow we must know how to speed our processes both internally and externally. A healthy business is a living growing organization.

In the August CEO Insights luncheon, our discussion will center on acquisition from many angles. We’ll discuss some actual examples of some great decisions (and likely see some things that didn’t go so well as we expected).

Date– Tuesday, 16 August 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

Everyone knows the joke about the two things we must do in life, pay taxes and die someday. The good thing about paying a lot of tax is that can generally indicate you are doing well as a CEO. If you’ve been running any size organization for any amount of time, you will know that understanding taxation is something that can make or break your business.

In the August CEO Insights luncheon we will welcome Mr. Nasir Majid who is a Partner running the International Assignment Services (IAS) practice in Tokyo, Japan for PwC. The lunch will be regarding taxation on the personal level. We plan to focus on group discussion and will cover the below areas-
• Tips & tricks for saving money on income tax
• How to more effectively pass the fruit of your labor on to the next family generation
• Understanding Japan Estate tax and the new Exit tax
Join us for a very engaging CI luncheon. You will leave the meeting with more than you left and have more connections to reinforce that.

Date– Friday, 19 August 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan
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Earlier this year, once again, Japan’s LDP decided not to seek passage of a bill to legalize casino operations in Japan. The bill would lift the ban on casino operations and development. This was yet another disappointment in a long line of setbacks for those who would like to see casinos in Japan as a boost to tourism and local economies.

Integrated Resorts were meant to be an important part of PM Abe’s development model, but now some people say Japan has missed the boat on another regional opportunity. The question now is whether developer and operators that were interested have thrown in the towel? Or is the market opportunity too large to abandon, with those that know Japan playing the long (waiting) game?

Kiyoshi Nishijima has spent a good deal of his time involved with major hospitality projects in the region, as well as various government entities. 10 years ago he founded CLC and three years later formed the Japan Gaming Development Organization (JGDO) for the purpose of representing casino/gaming interests in Japan as a lobbying organization. Since then he has become a legal representative of Melco Crown Entertainment with respect its interests in Japan. Kiyoshi will be able to give us good insight into where the casino bill is headed, whether indeed Japan has lost the opportunity and perhaps some other interesting stories from the work he has done so far to push this casino bill through in Japan.

Date– Thursday, 18 August 1230PM-1400PM
Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Roppongi Hills Club- La Cucina Restaurant (Italian)
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

Life is not just about knowing people, it’s about knowing good people. There’s no beating the quality of CEO Insights members and our guests around a table. As an executive, it can be lonely at the top and CI fills that void. As we close out and say “sayonara” to summer 2016, we want to give an extra opportunity for our CI groups to get to know each other. The evening of September 1st, we will break away from our regular luncheons and biannual forums and have arranged a special event. This evening of strictly food and networking gives members a chance to catch up with fellow CEOs after a relaxing summer break.

For the evening, real estate developer Pembroke welcomes us back for special outdoor barbecue reception at their luxurious Azabu Gardens property’s Rooftop Terrace. The catering is by Tokyo’s Elio’s restuarant. Please sign up early as space is limited to the first 25 CEOs to sign up.

CEO Insights – Sayonara Summer Barbecue (SS BBQ) Reception

When: Thursday, September 1st, 7pm – 9pm.
Where: Azabu Gardens (Behind Roppongi Hills)
Cost: 8,000 yen / person
RSVP: Ms. Miho Imai

*Payments shall be made via bank transfer. Due to booking with the catering, no cancellations after 5pm on 25 August (Friday)