Expanding Strategy & Operation (S&O) into the China market
Here we introduce a manager working in Shanghai who collaborates with local members in pursuit of their greatest mission, which is to expand support from strategy formulation to execution for companies advancing their business operations into the China market.
Expanding Strategy & Operation (S&O) into the China market
Experiences in ABeam ~ Impressive Project~
Meeting expectations as a professional
Since 2018, I have been living in Shanghai, where I work as a manager in Strategy & Operation, providing Japanese and local Chinese companies with support ranging from business strategy formulation to execution, helping them expand sales into the China market and enter new business fields.
In a project involving the establishment of a joint venture between a Japanese firm and a state-run Chinese company, for example, a major role for ABeam was in avoiding the emergence of communication gaps by bringing organization and visibility to the content of business operations, and to the conceptual approach each company was taking toward the business and decision-making.
The reason for singling out ABeam was that we have capabilities in both the Japanese and Chinese conceptual approaches to business. In addition to myself, a Japanese, there were two local members, so we formed a team of three. Since it was made up of members with diverse combined capabilities of language, accumulated experience and knowledge, the team was able to provide support that combined the advantages of Japanese conscientiousness and soundness with characteristic Chinese speed and dynamism.
Managers for local subsidiaries of Japanese companies are under intense pressure to produce results together with local employees during assignments of limited duration. While we share with them the sense of being businesspeople working in China, the very fact that we are consultants enables them to come to us and discuss many matters. Regardless of industry, business type or service field, they come to us seeking our professional opinions, so in responding, we avail ourselves of support from local members and from Japan.
Why ABeam ?
Opportunities for personal growth are also to be found in the rapidly expanding China market
I studied abroad at a Chinese university out of a desire to acquire a foreign language overseas so that I could differentiate myself from others. After graduating, I worked for about eight years at a major Japanese telecommunications company, where I was involved in global new business projects. That gave me many opportunities to interact with consultants, and I sensed that they had acquired high levels of specialized expertise as professionals. That occasioned my own desire to apply my command of the Chinese language and acquire a high level of specialized expertise as a consultant in a global environment.
As a global consulting firm from Japan and Asia that is actively advancing into the China market, ABeam was a good match for my own ideas. Actually living and working in China gave me many opportunities to talk with managers on the front lines of progress in business in China. In doing so, I had contact with the real issues in the industry and got to exchange views with consultants, so that I felt myself growing day by day.
In its pursuit of the Real Partner® management philosophy, ABeam goes beyond merely presenting sound arguments for what should be done in the workplace, getting on familiar terms with the client, and taking care to provide consulting services that can really accomplish something. I believe that consulting is meaningless unless it involves a realistic grasp of real issues, genuinely rings true, and is effective. Also, I was told by a senior coworker on the first project I was assigned to that, "If you're ever get yelled at by a client, you should make up for it through your work." I came to see this as the way consultants act. While the importance of service quality goes without saying, it is also essential that we take an autonomous attitude as we stand before the client and move projects forward. That is the core of self for a consultant.
Future ~Growth Story~
Becoming a consultant who combines Japanese and Chinese traits
My own greatest mission on this assignment in Shanghai is to expand the S&O domain in China. As a Japan-China "hybrid," my task is to reach higher levels together with the local members.
There has also been a recent increase in cases in which our clients are local Chinese firms. There is a logical, severe aspect to these projects, and they demand immediate results and correct answers. It is also true that we often receive high marks for quality, due to our logical explanations and materials composition, our conscientiousness and carefulness.
Gaining the trust of a new client depends first on being able to gain appreciation for one's own capabilities. To put it simply, "What we're selling is ourselves. If we don't present value, we won't be appreciated." It may be that I feel this sensation particularly strongly because I work in China.
In order to achieve expansion and enhancement of the S&O domain, we can provide consulting services that combine Japanese meticulousness with the speed of execution demanded in China. In doing so, we contribute to the growth of Japanese companies and local Chinese firms.