Photography by Hiromi Iguchi
Now into its 16th round, the Japan Market Expansion Competition (JMEC) can perhaps best be described as a professional development program started by the foreign business community to help international interests flourish in the challenging Japanese market, as well as to nurture promising entrepreneurs through the process of crafting a business proposal.
“JMEC has evolved greatly since its inception, growing from a small business plan writing competition to a non-profit organization,” said Tanja Bach, JMEC Assistant Program Director and former participant in 2007 (JMEC 13).
The entrepreneurial movement was initiated by the Australian and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan in 1993, based on the New South Wales Enterprise Workshop, and is currently supported by 13 foreign chambers of commerce—including the ACCJ, a platinum sponsor—as well as corporate sponsorship from the Japanese business community.
No doubt the two-part program, which consists of a series of lectures by business leaders in the first phase followed by around 250 hours of market research and meetings in the second, is oft- referred to as a “mini Masters of Business Administration”—but a lot more affordable at 100,000 yen for the 5-month duration.
In an interview with the Journal, Jim Weisser, CEO of telecommunications provider PBXL and member of the JMEC executive committee, cited four common uses of the program: As an MBA sampler; to learn how to start one’s own business; as a way to seek exposure to business management from an unrelated field; and, for corporations, as a professional development course for staff.
Weisser, who is also an ACCJ governor, said he is sponsoring one of his employees to be a participant in the ongoing JMEC 16. Corporate sponsors can send up to seven staff to JMEC as a form of business training at no cost, depending on their level of sponsorship to the program.
Unlike a formal MBA, participants of JMEC—who average 31 years in age—get the opportunity to work on a real project with a real client, not just theoretical case studies. Such a priceless opportunity prompted over 100 applicants to sign up for the program this year, of which only 60 were selected to work on the cases of 10 participating clients. The next JMEC program will run from July 1 of this year to June 30, 2011.
JMEC Program Director Laura Loy
A recent survey of JMEC clients—which includes the likes of National Australia Bank, Crafts Americana Group, Groupe Synergie Alliance Inc., Lloyds TSB Bank, and the Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan—showed that every two out of three business proposals get implemented within six months of receiving them. To date, a total of 140 business plans have been presented.
Regarding some of the proposals that fail to come to fruition, Weisser explains, “Sometimes, the teams come to the conclusion that it would be better for the client company not to go through with the original idea of the client, and suggest a better alternate proposal.”
But 1,000,000 yen—the cost to clients for a business solution from JMEC—is a small price to pay to avert a potential business error, said Weisser. Clients also receive a proposal which is the result of over 1,200 hours of market research.
The promise of innovative business solutions is the primary draw for most clients who approach JMEC for its unique suite of services and market insight. This also leverages JMEC’s diverse base, which counts a total of nearly 800 participants hailing from 45 countries since the program started 16 years ago. JMEC participants are also encouraged to challenge the traditional way of doing things when change is needed.
