Koito Manufacturing shines light on India

It seems that Japanese anciallary suppliers are partnering with Tata thereby confirming a trend to focus on the Indian market. Given the current trends many more such partnerships are likely to come up. Editor
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NEW DELHI: Koito Manufacturing Co, the maker of headlamps for Lexus-brand cars, is designing lights specifically for ultra-low cost cars as it tries to win more business from India's Tata Motors and Nissan Motor Co.

"Koito the world's biggest maker of headlamps, is in the final stages of creating a simpler light that uses half as many parts as its more expensive models," said President Masahiro Ohtake in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Koito and other auto parts makers are reengineering products to supply cars that will cost almost half as much as Suzuki Motor Corp.'s Maruti 800, the cheapest car currently on the Indian market.

Toshiba's JV in India

It was reported in Business Standard on April 16, 2008 that Toshiba is setting up a JV for turbines in India. This will add more product offerings from the diversified conglomerate in addition to its digital products. Yet another sign of confidence from Japanese firms. Editor
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L&T reportedly in partnership talks with Japanese biggie.

The $63 billion Toshiba Corporation, one of the largest power equipment manufacturers in the world, today confirmed that it would set up a joint venture in India to manufacture turbines for large power plants. Further, the JV will explore bidding for the upcoming mega power projects.

We are in talks with more than one Indian company to form a joint venture to manufacture turbines and to bid for upcoming major power projects, said Yuzo Kato, managing director of Toshiba India.

Reportedly, the engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is in advanced stages of discussion with Toshiba for the joint venture.

"It is too early to announce about the partner. The Indian power sector is booming and we foresee major opportunity for us in future," he added on the sidelines of a press meet in Mumbai to launch new generation notebook personal computers, LCDs, TVs, fridge and washing machines.

Toshiba is targetting revenues of over Rs 4,000 crore by 2015, of which a major part will come from the power and industrial sector.

The country plans to add over 78,000 mw capacity in the next five years and over 80,000 mw in the 12th plan. Many Indian and international companies are seeking to take advantage of the big power sector opportunity.

Further, many of these manufacturers will have to set up base here as the government is likely to make domestic manufacturing mandatory for power plant suppliers.

L&T has already floated a joint venture with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for super-critical boiler plants. The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) is also foraying into manufacturing power equipments, according to Anil Ambani, its chairman.

Public sector Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) is the only leading domestic manufacturer of boilers, turbines and generators. It is in the process of increasing its capacity to 20,000 mw by 2012.

Toshiba is planning to set up a facility either in Tamil Nadu or Gujarat to manufacture supercritical steam turbines of upto 1,000 mw capacity, sources said.

A Toshiba official said the investment required for the turbine manufacturing joint venture could be around $200 million.

Toshiba had got an order worth $350 million to supply five 800 mw steam turbine generators for Tata Power's Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) coming up in Gujarat.

Toshiba also supplied 3X173 mw power generation equipments for the Teesta V hydroelectric power project in Sikkim. The company also has another major order at hand, Kato said.

Commenting on Toshiba's plans for digital products, Kato said the company's primary objective was to beef up brand awareness in India, which is comparatively lower than other countries and increase market share. It has appointed actress Vidya Balan as brand ambassador.

The company is targeting more than 10 per cent market share in home appliances and LCDs and more than 15 per cent of the notebook PC market in next three years.

It plans to launch Toshiba Innovation Plazas as a part of its retail expansion plans. Currently, the company operates 30 Toshiba shops which sells notebook PCs in India. Some of the Toshiba shops would be converted into Toshiba Innovation Plazas in near future, he said

Nihongo Bashi completes 5 yrs in India - Thank you !

I am extremely humbled and pleased to announce that Nihongo Bashi has completed its 5th year of successful operations in India. The support we have received from parents and students has been truly overwhelming. The new financial year is once again upon us and it is time to regroup and reflect at the memories of the academic year 2007-08.

At Nihongo Bashi we look at the year past with a lot of good memories including

1. Support for AJP program from Cognizant Technology Solutions thereby becoming the 5th major IT company in the Top 7 IT companies to be the user of AJP
2. Opening of two new locations viz. Kolkata and Pune with leading local Engineering Schools
3. Student enrollments crossing the 1,000 mark for the first time
4. Successful completion of the first batch of PG Diploma in Japanese Management
5. Launch of the JobSkills© finishing school(www.jobskill.in)

With hope and optimism we look forward to Academic year 2008-09 anticipating a growth of 75% to 100%.

Once again I would like to thank all the students and their parents for the confidence reposed and look forward to continuing successes as we focus on grooming the future leaders for the Indo-Japan sector.

Karthik TIRUPATHI
President
April 9, 2008

As US demand softens, Indian firms eye Japan

Finally...it seems that Japan is getting the attention it
deserves in the mindshare of Indian IT Companies. Lot of data points in this article from Wall Street Journal. Happy reading. Editor
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New Delhi: With a likely softening of demand for their services from buyers in a slowing US economy, Indian tech services vendors such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Wipro Ltd, Satyam Computer Services Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd are increasing their focus on a market that has until now not believed too much in outsourcing: Japan, the world’s second largest economy.

Traditionally, Japanese corporations have outsourced tech and support units or have relied on services to their information technology or IT relationships built over years with local vendors.

There has been “a lack of competitive element which has not pushed them to think differently,” said Sanjeev Nikore, corporate vice-president and global head of sales and marketing at HCL Technologies. With increasing global competition, “that is changing”, he added.

The Tokyo headquarters of New trend: Shinsei Bank Ltd. The bank, formerly Long Term Credit Bank, has transformed itself into a profitable bank using modern-day banking processes and technologies. (Kaku Kirita / Bloomberg)

According to estimates by India’s largest tech services firm TCS, or Tata Consultancy Services by 2010, spending in Japan will touch $95 billion, or Rs3.82 trillion at today’s IT currency rates, growing at an annual rate of 3.2% from 2005. Currently, work worth around $32 billion is outsourced, a number expected to grow by a quarter to $40 billion by 2010. Around 4%, equivalent to $1.28 billion, of the outsourced work is sent to offshore locations—a market segment that a spokesperson, quoting research compiled internally, said is expected at $5 TCS billion by 2010.

Though it takes time,said Yukihara Yorifuji, IT services group manager at researcher International Data Corp., Japan, some Japanese customers “may delegate even custom development”. Local businesses, Yorifuji said, through a spokesperson, could ship work directly to offshore firms bypassing local vendors.

The top five tech service vendors in Japan are Fujitsu Ltd, NEC Corp., Hitachi Ltd, a local unit of International Business (IBM) Corp., and NTT Data Corp. IBM Japan, set up in 1937, is the only non-Japanese firm with a strong presence.

TCS, which set up its subsidiary in Japan in 2002, today has some 1,800 workers servicing Japanese businesses, including more than 300 based in that country. An offshore delivery centre in Kolkata drives all Japan specific initiatives for the firm. TCS’ revenues from Japan amount to around $100 million (revenues for the company in fiscal 2007 was $4.3 billion), but expectations are high. “We expect this to grow rapidly,” said a company spokesperson adding the focus will remain on embedded systems.

The Japanese way of thinking

Reading this article will tell you a lot about the Japanese mind and the way they approach or would like to approach a business discussion overseas. Look at the extent of preparation that is advocated by the author!. Emphasis is also laid on "human relations" underscoring the Japanese approach that we all know. This article appeared in JETRO newsletter Vol.47 Jan. & Feb. 2008 TTPP NEWS For International Business Matching and is authored by Ms.Yoko Kawaguchi, President, Y's Worth Corp. Editor
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The other day, I took part as a lecturer in seminars in Vietnam for local exporters on how to enter the Japanese market. I also attended business meetings for a buying mission from Japan organized by the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan. I would like to summarize my thoughts, based on those experiences, on how to make effective use of such buying missions and business meetings.

1. Consider in advance the sales channels, prices, and volumes of the products purchased

Beginning buyers in particular tend to end up spending all of their energy on finding and importing the products. They leave questions like how to sell the products at home and how to make a profit from them for later and therefore fail in many cases.

To order to determine if your firm can handle certain products, you have to
think of who you are going to sell the imported products to. And in which way?
Then you have to think at first about profit structure (purchasing prices,
sales prices and volume, and resulting profits). A business which studies and plans for this in advance can make full use of the free time at the country visited to tour factories, uncover more new products, and return successfully.

2. Prepare materials introducing your business in advance to facilitate mutual understanding

When the potential business partner is from a developing country or a small
business, some people take a condescending attitude to them. Do not forget that you can only do business if they supply their products to you. Further, it is not enough to just obtain information on the counterpart. It is important to introduce your own business by preparing corporate brochures in English, photographs and samples so as to accurately describe your business to the future business partner as well.

Without mutual understanding, good human relations cannot be built and good business will not result. A Vietnamese businessman I met the other day started as a craftsman in a small farm town but in a few years time grew to a manager of a business with annual sales of US$10 million. Anyone can succeed in that way, so it is important to be humble when talking with others.

3. Examine not only the products, but also the reliability and flexibility of the manager

I often see Japanese buyers who just look at the products offered by exporters and instantly repeat words such as "Yes, I will buy" or "No, I will not buy". In other cases they say only "Yes, the products would sell in Japan" or "No". How about asking the exporters questions like "Can you make this type of product?" or "Can you change the product in this way?"

This should be the natural consequence if observing the rule of the first point above.When I talk business, I always look at not only the product, but also whether the manager can be relied on and whether he is flexible enough to work positively with me by nature. This helps to avoid risks. Try it by all means.

4. Develop an "eye" for new products on a regular basis

Developing an "eye" for new products is a something that has to be worked on daily. Do not say it is too much trouble or that you will not find anything even if going somewhere. It is important to take every opportunity to go out and carefully examine new products in order to develop an eye for them.

Right before I left for Vietnam this time, I had a meeting in the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan and saw a product which I thought I could sell well in Japan. In Vietnam, I coincidentally found the manufacturer on one of my tours. I learned that he had received a US$5 million order from a large mass merchandiser chain in Europe and that the product was selling well in a branch of that chain in Japan.

The manufacturer told me that when he previously exhibited the products at an international trade fair in Japan, he failed to receive any inquiries from Japanese businesses. This is probably because in general the booths of developing countries lack refinement in display skills and the manufacturers have little information about the Japanese market, so fail to showcase the products suitable for the Japanese market.

5. Use "buying missions" and "business meetings" of official organizations and commerce and industry associations

Joining a "buying mission" organized by a public organization, foreign embassy in Japan and commerce and industry association offers you many merits over going on your own. Since these are package tours, the travel costs are lower and you do not have to arrange for flights or hotels. Reputable local firms are introduced. You can get support from the mission attendants. Highly skilled interpreters are arranged. All of this is convenient for private entrepreneurs and small businesses. The content of the mission will differ with each mission, but the other participants will all be professionals so even if the industry or the products handled differ, there will be much to learn from them.

Even if not traveling overseas, Japan hosts many international trade fairs and business meetings inviting exporters from overseas. Interestingly, you can sometimes learn from exporters about trends in Japanese industry which you cannot see while in Japan. Let's make positive use of buying missions and business meetings as places to meet new companies, find new products, and pick up new information!