Slowing growth in the Japan market is often caused by several factors acting together, including slow decision-making, hiring bottlenecks, and a thin sales organization. Strengthening a single initiative rarely increases growth speed if the other bottlenecks remain in place.
- The business is growing, but the pace has not kept up with competitors or headquarters expectations
- It is unclear which areas to strengthen to accelerate growth
- Decision-making takes time, leaving execution lagging behind
- The company has not committed to using outside resources and is trying to manage everything internally
This article explains how foreign companies can think about accelerating growth in the Japan market.
Typical Factors That Slow Growth
Slowing growth in the Japan market is often caused by several factors acting together, including slow decision-making, hiring bottlenecks, and a thin sales organization. Strengthening a single initiative rarely increases growth speed if the other bottlenecks remain in place.
For foreign companies in particular, a gap often opens between decision-making that must go through headquarters approval and the speed the Japanese market demands, and this gap itself can become a constraint on growth speed.
Levers for Accelerating Growth
The following levers, used in combination, are effective for increasing growth speed.
| Lever | What It Involves |
|---|---|
| Delegating decision authority | Expanding the range of Japan-specific decisions that can be completed locally |
| Strengthening the sales organization | Hiring and standardizing sales processes to increase deal-handling capacity |
| Using outside resources | Sharing specialist areas such as hiring, legal, and accounting with outside partners |
| Leveraging partnerships | Using a partner's existing network to accelerate market reach or brand awareness |
| Visualizing KPIs | Tracking growth speed quantitatively to identify bottlenecks early |
Points to Watch When Accelerating Growth
Pushing growth speed up too aggressively while neglecting foundational work such as hiring or back-office operations can leave the organization unable to function later on. It is important to keep speed and foundation-building in balance.
Using outside resources is an effective way to accelerate growth, but deciding in advance which areas to keep in-house and which to hand to outside partners makes it easier to balance cost against results.
Summary
- Slowing growth is rarely caused by a single factor; decision-making, hiring, and sales capacity often interact
- Consider delegating decision authority, strengthening sales, using outside resources, leveraging partnerships, and visualizing KPIs
- Do not neglect foundational work such as hiring or back-office operations in the pursuit of speed
- Decide in advance which areas to keep in-house and which to hand to outside partners
Contact
JBN provides one-stop support for foreign companies looking to accelerate growth in the Japan market, from strategy through execution.
To discuss accelerating your growth, please contact us.