When I choose a book, I decide what I want to get from the book and start reading.
I want to benchmark successful companies that are hitting the jackpot in Japan!
The book I picked up with this thought in mind was “Korean Wave Management LINE”. I understand that this book was published in 2016 by reporters covering NewsPicks (economic news) in Japan and was published as an e-book in Korea. Although it is a 2016 book, it is a book that explains why LINE was successful. It was so successful that it is currently under pressure to sell its shares in Japan, but I will talk about that later and first summarize how it achieved success.
Korean management LINE
The book provides detailed information about how the company LINE was founded and how it created the LINE chat app and other related ecosystems. Of course, I am interested in these aspects, but the purpose of picking up the book was to gain the know-how of being the only successful company in Japan.
Although it is introduced in this book, it cannot be said that Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motors, and LG Electronics were successful, and LINE is introduced as the only Korean company that was successful. Of course, Naver Japan’s Hangame was also successful before that, but it was not as successful as LINE.
Please see the image below. According to survey data from February 2024, the number of Line users is 95 million….
Number of monthly SNS users in Japan – https://growthseed.jp/experts/sns/number-of-users/
Japan’s population is about 125 million, so it is no exaggeration to say that almost everyone who carries a smartphone uses LINE. Of course, I understand that LINE has a high market share in Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia in addition to Japan.
In the latter part of the book, there is talk about listing on the Japanese stock exchange in a way other than the way Japanese companies usually do, and that’s what I want to know.
Let’s summarize how to become a successful business in Japan.
How to succeed as a Korean company in Japan
CEO’s will
Thorough localization
Excellent talent in Japan
give trust
you’ll be lucky
Let me summarize them one by one.
1. CEO’s will
Naver CEO Lee Hae-jin has been to and from Japan, making her feet sweat. And he said he put a lot of effort into learning about Japanese culture. you’re right.
It was a software product that was doing well in Korea and I invested in it like this.
Why is there still a deficit in Japan?
Entrepreneurs who see entering the Japanese market as a way to make money can clearly see how successful they are in Japan. You need to think about whether you have the will to make it happen.
2. Thorough localization
It is said that LINE’s actual business execution was carried out by CEO Shin Jung-ho. Of course, at the time it was introduced in the book, it was positioned as a CGO (person in charge of global business strategy), and the CEO was a Japanese person named Idezawa, recruited from Livedoor. It is said that CEO Shin acted inconspicuously even in the Japanese media. The LINE app was also designed to lead the Japanese trend without any Korean elements.
Localization is not just about translating and displaying popular software or products in Korea into Japanese; it should be applied broadly to everything, including the product’s UI, functions, and manuals.
3. Recruiting outstanding talent from Japan
LINE was fortunate enough to be famous as a search site in Japan. live doorBy purchasing the company (founded by Takafumi Horie), it was possible to hire excellent IT talent, and as a result, Japanese culture was naturally absorbed into the company.
4. Give trust
When the headquarters is in Korea and gradually expanding from an office to a branch office in Japan, a representative position. It is also very important whether the branch manager or representative of the Japanese corporation has the trust of the headquarters. Branch offices that have less financial power and resources than the headquarters often request work from the headquarters, but if what they want to do is restricted by the trust of the headquarters, sales momentum in Japan will also be lost.
For example
Can you give customers a 20% discount on this product?
When asked this question, the answer that you will check and answer is an answer that undermines the trust of Japanese customers. It would be a good idea to talk to the head office in advance and coordinate in advance that up to the 30% discount rate will be handled by the branch office.
5. You’ll be lucky
Doing everything from 1 to 4 does not guarantee success.
You have to be lucky.
In fact, LINE also created LINE in a short period of time after seeing that when Japanese people could not make phone calls during the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, Koreans could use KakaoTalk to ask each other how they were doing, and it has since become embedded in the lives of Japanese people. .
RSUPPORT, a company I know, is said to have lost its remote support service tools due to the Great East Japan Earthquake. Before that, I had been wondering if I should close down the business because I had been knocking for several years without success, but then I hit the jackpot in the revival of the business.
How do you feel? Although it is a 2016 book, it seems to have given 90% of the points for Korean companies succeeding in Japan.
In addition to LINE, other companies that are successful in Japan are as follows. Please refer to it together.
R Support (https://www.rsupport.com/ja-jp/)
Remote solution specialist
Achieved No. 1 market share in Japan’s cloud-based remote solution market in 2021
Supplied solutions to Toshiba, NTT Data, etc.
InnoRules (https://www.innorules.co.jp/)
Provides solutions such as decision-making automation systems
Secured 25 customers after entering Japan in 2012
Has large customers such as Panasonic and Mitsubishi
More than 10% of total sales occur in Japan
Jiran Jigyo Soft (https://jiran.jp/)
Provides mail security, messenger program, etc.
Entered Japan in 2004 and has over 15,000 trading companies.
Achieved annual sales of KRW 14.7 billion (more than 10% of group sales)
Target for listing on the Japanese stock market in 2025
Well, finally, I will finish summarizing LINE since the publication of the book in 2016.
LINE has grown beyond a messenger into a lifestyle platform that provides a variety of services such as simple payments, internet banking, and securities, and the public’s dependence on LINE has increased so much that it is even responsible for the administrative work of the Japanese government and companies.
In this situation, the Japanese government is pressuring LINE to sell its shares.
In response to the personal information leak that occurred in 2023, Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications requested Naver to sell its stake in LINE Yahoo’s holding company.
The Japanese government seems to have felt a sense of crisis because LINE was created by a Korean company and its data is managed.
Additionally, there appears to be an intention to foster domestic platforms and secure data sovereignty.
Currently, Naver is negotiating with Softbank to adjust its stake in A Holdings (LINE Yahoo’s parent company).
That’s it!
If you’ve read this far, are you saying that if it becomes a hit in Japan, the Japanese government will come under pressure? I’m sure there’s no CEO who thinks, “Shouldn’t I quit because I’m scared?” lol
First, let’s start with the jackpot!
Thank you for reading this far!
Reference site:
CultureSix times the size of Japan’s domestic… Korean IT company captivating the Japanese SW market[ICT](https://munhwa.com/news/view.html?no=2023102301031907006001)
