This month the C8 will have our annual Japan Labor update with Baker Mckenzie’s well-known Japan-based foreign lawyer Jean-Denis Marx.  At the CEO, team related discussions seem to be frequent as a good team is essential to any successful business.  The C8 discussion with take us through hiring, firing, managing and motivating with a solid knowledge of legal infrastructure.  This meeting will be a double-header.  In closing the meeting, we will go digital.

Just two years ago people were predicting the end of email as a way of doing business.  However, at 204 million emails per minute, ecommerce, marketing and even taxes are reliant on this technology.  It will not be going anywhere anytime soon.  However, that doesn’t mean something new isn’t on it’s way.  Things continue to evolve through advances in technology development.  Will we even continue to use cash?

Date – Thursday, 8 May 2014 1230PM-1400PM

Venue–
Roppongi Hills Club- Italian Restaurant- La Cucina
51 fl. Roppongi Hills Mori Tower
6-10-1 Roppongi,
Minato-ku, Tokyo, 106-6151 Japan

So many companies come to Japan and fail to bring the Global success of their products to the Japan market.  Does it have to be that way?  Is Japan all that different from other markets in Asia or the world for that matter?

As a first-time CEO in Japan, Leanne Cutts, President of Mondelez Japan (formerly known as Kraft Foods) will discuss the challenges of building a first-class sales organization in Japan. How do multinational businesses build sustainable and profitable brands in Japan such as Clorets gum, Oreo and Ritz? Hear about the successes and failures of the journey along the way to avoid the “mindlessly global, hopelessly local” syndrome.  Join us for the CEO Insights as we discuss

• Marketing global brands in a local market
• What business models work
• How To Integrate The J- Team With the G-Team

Date – Friday, 9 May 2014 1230PM-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

Many companies believe in growth via the building sales teams, hiring supporting staff, building new facilities and a lot of hard work.  One area that many CEOs don’t think about it M&A due to the baggage that can sometimes come along with buying a company.

If you want to get to market sooner, the c-level can speed things up by buying into that area.  Although, we see many firms doing this, some are successful and others are failures.  In the April CEO we will be talking about Japan and other Asian nation success stories and how to identify key opportunities.

The CEO welcomes Mr. Bruce Power, of Westgate Advisory.  He’s been doing M&A work for nearly 25 years.  He has covered a broad range of industries such as IT, Internet servicees, logistics, pharma, manufacturing as well as food and beverage firms.

Date – Friday, 11 April 2014 1230PM-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

More On Bruce-
Bruce Pomer has spent his career at Merrill Lynch, Bank of America Securities and Shinsei providing M&A advisory services related to Japan for over 25 years before establishing Westgate Advisory 5 years ago.  Bruce has significant experience advising foreign companies in Japan for acquisitions, minority investments, joint ventures and fund raising and similarly has advised Japanese companies both in Japan and overseas for similar transactions.  He has covered a broad range of industries from IT and Internet services to logistics, pharma, food & beverage and general manufacturing.

Everyone he talked to in 2009 told him the managers and owners of traditional Japanese SMEs don’t believe in paying for consulting services.

“It’s like trying to sell air,” they said. “Things, machines, products—that’s what they understand. And in any case they’re all terribly conservative! They’ll never trust a foreigner!”

However, all this turned out to be wrong—at least with the clients he found.

In April, CEO Insights will welcome Dr. Steven Bleistein to tell his story and talk about what brought success for Steven and his clients. he’ll also share some of what has not worked out. In addition, he has some nagging questions about his own business and business in Japan, which he would like to pose to the CEO. We suspect the discussion around these will bring out our collective wisdom to everyone’s benefit with great CEO INSIGHTS.

Date – Thursday, 10 April 2014 1230PM-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

About Steve- Dr. Steven Bleistein is owner and CEO of Relansa, Inc., based in Tokyo’s Marunouchi Ward. Steve helps companies and people grow capabilities and achieve outstanding performance results. Steve grew up in Denver, Colorado. He holds both U.S. and Australian citizenships. Steve speaks Japanese and French (but not Australian). Steve’s favorite sport of the moment is Nordic roller skiing. You will often find Steve skiing on the 40km Rinrin Road around Mount Tsukuba, close to his home in Japan.

Society has always used information. However, as the amount of digital data skyrockets, we can do new things and unleash new forms of economic value. Data has become an asset, the “oil” of the information society. From business to healthcare and education, the ability to collect more data and learn from it in novel ways allows organizations to optimize their performance or create new forms of revenue.

In the March C20 Meeting we’ll be talking about

• The dark side of big data
• How big data means more jobs
• Why CEOs need to understand big data

See you there!

Date – Friday, 14 March 2014 1230PM-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

Every business depends on its sales force, and the ability to attract and keep top performers is critical to success. For international companies in Japan, the chronic shortage of qualified bilingual talent makes the challenge particularly acute.

In the March CEO Insights meeting we will welcome Mr. John Tucker, CEO of specialist executive search firm CDS (part of the Recruit Group). John is no light weight former English but is actually a Harvard University grad running a sizable human resource business in Japan.  John will share some lessons he has learned in building his team — and doubling revenue over the past four years — including:

• The No. 1 thing that motivates experienced sales people (hint: not money)
• Trade-offs between “building” and “buying” a sales team
• Accommodating diversity while maintaining culture
• Why it sometimes makes sense for even a recruitment agency to use a recruitment agency

Date – Thursday, 13 March 2014 1230PM-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

When the first mobile phones came out in sizes such as shoeboxes, people thought it was convenient, but not practical. Car phones came around the same time but weren’t quite life changing yet. Then the phones got small enough for pockets and people in all walks of life started using mobile phones in various places. Undoubtedly, mobile phones have changed people lives.

In Feb, the C8 CEO Insights luncheon is pleased to welcome Dr. Mick Itoh. Mick is the Managing Director of R&D and strategy in Japan, as well as CEO of Docomo Capital based in Palo Alto, California. He will be sharing with us on how he sees the business and technology landscape is changing due to advances in telecommunications and mobility. How companies are prospering in this next generation, and how some firms are actually missing the boat. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear from one of Japan’s leaders from a flagship firm.

Date – Thursday, 13 February 2014 1230PM-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

Advertizing in Japan has many facets such as print, internet, radio and other ‘channels’  Unlike other markets, television does seem to remain somewhat effective.  Did you know that Japan was one of the first nations in the world to experiment with TV in the 1920s? In the February CEO Insights meeting welcomes Mr. Mike Rogers from Switch Media Lab in Tokyo.  Mike has been working in music, radio and television in Japan since 1984.

Mike will discuss the history of entertainment and television broadcasting in Japan and why our favorite Japanese heroes, the Yakuza, are so important to all aspects of entertainment in this country. He will also explain how this relates to today and why the TV ratings system in Japan is a monopoly and how it got there with an eye on the incestuous relationship between broadcasters and ratings agencies. There will also be explanations on exactly how the current system works and why it is so difficult to get proper ratings data as well as trends and good news what the future holds for television advertisers in Japan.

Questions about advertising in Japan?  The Feb C20 Insights meeting is one you want to attend.
Date– Friday, 14 February 2014 1230PM-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

No time to head to NYC for a ball game?  No problem-

In February of 2013 it was the same situation, but a small group of us met at the Tokyo American Club for the annual Super Bowl festivities to watch the American Football game.  Some of us didn’t know the rules, others didn’t know who was playing.  We did have a few experts among us that helped us all become instant specialists on America’s biggest game.

We enjoyed the chance to catch up over a breakfast buffet and see what was going on in the world of American Football.  We’ll be meeting again this year from 7AM on February 3, 2014.

Running a firm in the Japan is no easy task.  Some CEOs have to even cover this at the regional level as well.

There are operational, financial, marketing, and other issues that the CEO has to be constantly thinking about.  With a new year many people set new goals for the year.  Most individuals set regular exercise as there New Years resolution and usually fail in implementing that.  CEOs don’t have that luxury.  CEOs must effectively use their resources or risk giving the reins of the enterprise to some new younger challenger.

In the January CEO Insights meeting we’ll be talking about Setting and Achieving Organizational Goals.  Some areas to be covered will be-

-Setting and motivating the front line sales team for a new year of effective revenue generation
-Insights on how to make sure your Customer Service team is really servicing the customer.
-Engaging and developing the back office team

Enjoy this chance to find out what works well from other CEOs who’ve done it already.

Date– Friday, 10 January 2014 1230PM-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