SEEKING NEW WAYS TO OVERCOME THE DIFFICULT BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT OF THE POST-COLD WAR ERA . . . |
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Small- and medium-size businesses in Japan have been guided in the past by the conventional wisdom that: "When seeking a safe spot in life, find and come under a big tree". This is an old saying that means that small businesses are in the safest haven when operating as a regular subcontractor of a large reliable firm. The underlying philosophy is, expressed in contemporary terms, that we believed in a world where everything "large was beautiful." In the U.S., Japan, and all other industrial countries, there were super triple-A corporations which dominated the economic scene, while the small- and medium-size firms clustered around them, forming pyramidal families in each sector of the economy, sharing life and cooperating with each other in times both good and hard. However, as we enter the post-Cold War era, the whole world has begun moving in the direction of integrating itself into a single, global free-trade market, while more and more segments of national economies were rapidly being "internationalized." It seems to me as if the whole world is rapidly becoming an open field for unfettered international competition, driven by the "law of one price" as we move inextricably toward the economic order of the 21st century. It signals the coming of the era of mega-competition as the economies of all nations become progressively integrated into the world trade system, where large corporations are reassigning their management resources worldwide, not just raw materials and capital, but also involving the work force. Under such strategic globalization, small- and medium-size businesses are faced with some difficult problems in every country, where we can no longer rely on the secure subcontracting relationships of the past.
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AN APPEAL TO ALL SMALL BUSINESSES OF THE WORLD TO PARTICIPATE IN ORGANIZING OUR OWN GLOBAL YELLOW PAGES AND BUILD A SYSTEM FOR WORLDWIDE INFORMATION EXCHANGE AND COOPERATION ON THE INTERNET |
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From now on, in most advanced industrial countries, an ever-increasing number of large firms will outsource more and more supplies, parts, and components in ever-increasing quantities. This will no doubt impact many small businessmen in such a way that we must look for new business opportunities and arm ourselves with the best of the tools and technologies that the market can offer. There will also be firms, such as our own here in Japan, who will find it difficult to capitalize on their core competencies, fully utilize their technical expertise due to the lack of information on the available business opportunities in the global market, or cannot find the badly needed partners to break into new areas of business.
As an effective means of coping with such problems in the new international business environment, I propose that we join our forces to construct a "GLOBAL CYBER BUSINESS PARK FOR SMALL BUSINESSES" on the Internet. The idea is to rally small businesses of all countries possessing recognized core competencies and technical excellence so that together we may create our own business park for quick and productive exchange of information, exploration of new business possibilities, and many other modes of beneficial cooperation. I for one remain convinced that through such a business park, we can expect to nurture truly productive joint endeavors which will ultimately give life to a new vision of small businesses of the 21st-century world.
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Secretariat for the Construction of the Global Cyber Business Park for Small Businesses: yokamoto@sbpark.com
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What we manufacture does not get to be seen by most people. Our products, which are machine parts, are built into construction equipment such as bulldozers and cranes, dump cars, ocean-going vessels, aircraft, and precision machine tools like NC lathes and machining centers. Modern construction projects such as the building of a new waterfront, deep underground development, the trans-Tokyo Bay Bridge, and many other on-going and in-planning projects require new technologies. Also, there are others such as resort development, which require a careful consideration of the problems of environmental protection. I take great personal pride in assisting those who are involved in these epochal undertakings by providing them with precision machine parts I manufacture. I try my best to respond to their specific needs by constantly upgrading manufacturing technologies, improving on existing quality control systems, and utilization of the latest tools of production management. It is my sincere personal desire to continue to work with my business group so that we may together maintain a virtuous circle of the harmonious relationship between human beings and technologies.
Please contact me at: hasegawa@gol.com |
Secretariat for the Construction of the Global Cyber Business Park for Small Businesses: yokamoto@sbpark.com
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