The case of Kikkoman, the Japanese Soy Sauce company with one of the oldest brands in the world (1838); (presented by Rohit Deshpande) was extremely illuminating on many levels.
How could a Japanese company enter the USA market in the 1950's, shortly after the war? In addition, with a product of which 95 per cent of Americans were not consumers.
It was the first Japanese company to do this and by all accounts has been a role model for the Japanese car companies and others that have followed.
The case is well worth a read, but for me, with our new office in Auckland, it was incredibly useful to understand how Kikkoman worked out the USA market and subsequently learnt from the that market to reinvigorate their business in Japan.
I will be sending David Webb (who is heading up our NZ business), a full page of notes on this.
(THE Name Kikkoman roughly means the Tortoise that lives 10,000 years)
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