Georgia bio-tech, pharmaceutical or medical supply companies with an eye to setting up shop in Japan stand to benefit from uncertainties caused by the recent merger of Japan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Labor, according to William Farrell, former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ.)
Mr. Farrell, who has three decades of experience in Japan and also serves as president of Virginia-based Dynamic Strategies Asia (DSA) consulting group, was in Atlanta to address members of the Japan America Society of Georgia (JASG) at a lunch held May 24 at the Swissôtel in Buckhead.
The key now for U.S. companies is to form alliances, through firms like DSA that specialize in political analysis and business intelligence in Japan, with Japanese policymakers eager to bring reform to ailing sectors – like those of the merged Ministry of Health and Welfare and Ministry of Labor, he said.
Additional opportunities, maintained Mr. Farrell, exist in the insurance, telecommunications and financial services sector as the Japanese government struggles to define a path of social and fiscal reform for each in the midst of Japan’s economic crisis.
Mr. Farrell also advocated close relationships with consumer groups in Japan as a means of reaching and influencing the Japanese populous who now seek choice in their consumption of goods.
His book on the subject, “Crisis and Opportunity in Changing Japan,” discusses the issues of reform, its effect on international business and how to best take advantage of that.
For more information about the JASG, contact James Foster, executive director, at (404) 524-7399 or jfoster@us-japan.org or visit www.us-japan.org/jasg. For more information about DSA, contact Mr. Farrell at (401) 849-5620 or wfarrell@dsasiagroup.com or visit www.dsasiagroup.com