Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.111 2021.03.01 Takahashi Minoru

It's fine to take a cautious approach to remote work

Thank you for your interest and continued support.
This is Takahashi from the Marketing Plan Research Laboratory.


With the end of the period of rapid economic growth, Japan is no longer the “number one country in the world.”
The sad reality is that Japan’s fate now lies in the hands of China and the United States.


The term “globalization,” which we hear so often, means that “competitors are everywhere in the world.”
While sales may be manageable, procurement in particular cannot be done without foreign partners—
in almost every industry.
Even in sales, foreign companies have entered the market and become competitors,
and there are likely many companies being forced into competitive bidding and price cuts.


"Why do we have to go digital? Isn't it fine to stay analog?"
There are still many company presidents who wonder this.
While tasks that cannot be replaced by machines—such as identifying problems, finding solutions, and engaging in personal, human-centered sales—should certainly be nurtured,
it’s advantageous to digitize tasks that can be digitized while you still can.
Sooner or later, foreign companies armed with sophisticated systems will arrive and sweep up customers so quickly that not even a blade of grass will have time to grow.


The same goes for buying a single computer.
Ideally, we’d want to buy Japanese-made products to support Japan,
cost inevitably takes priority, so we end up buying foreign-made products.


Back in the days when “Japan was number one,” it might have been okay to rest on our laurels a bit.
It would have been fine if domestic demand were robust and foreign companies were weak (or rather, back then, foreign companies weren’t even allowed into Japan).
But that’s not the case these days.
Rivals are scattered all over the world, and they’re pouring money into IT without hesitation.
We can’t afford to fall behind.


That's all, Thank you for reading.

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