Mr. Mitsuru Omori, Senior Manager, The Japan Research Institute
Mr. Masato Nakagawa, Executive Fellow, DENSO Corporation
The Finance Office for SMEs of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) held an investment seminar for its clients at the Nagoya Chamber of Commerce & Industry on November 21, 2018 to share and exchange views on overseas investment. The seminar, entitled "Investment Seminar for Japanese MTEs and SMEs," was attended by those clients headquartered in the Tokai region of Japan.
Japanese MTEs and SMEs are continuing to expand their business overseas. Given this situation, JBIC organizes investment seminars for such enterprises across the country, tailored to their needs as well as of the region where they are based, in an effort to support them not only with regard to financing, but also in accessing information about the overseas investment environment. For enterprises operating in the Tokai region, JBIC has so far hosted an investment seminar in Nagoya and Hamamatsu every other year, with this year's seminar taking place in Nagoya.
Toshiyuki Suzuki, Director General of the Finance Office for SMEs at JBIC, started the seminar by explaining that Thailand and Mexico, where many companies participating in the seminar have already started business, draw more attention from JBIC's clients as investment destinations. He also mentioned that the number of commitments made by JBIC to businesses in Thailand, Vietnam and Mexico has increased in recent years. His presentation continued to explain the signing of a new United-States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) by the Trump administration, which replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), as well as the impact of the current U.S.-China relationship on companies' production locations and supply chains.
Mr. Mitsuru Omori, Senior Manager of The Japan Research Institute, Limited. delivered a presentation entitled, "Results of a Survey on Human Resource Management and Investment in Labor-saving Technology in Thai Subsidiaries of Japanese Firms." Based on the survey results, he discussed local human resource management and investment in labor-saving technology to be used in factories, focusing on the following six points: i) skills and training of potential Japanese employees who may be transferred to Thailand, ii) characteristics of local staff, iii) local recruitment of management staff, iv) current situation and issues pertaining to local human resource management, v) potential for investment in labor-saving technology to replace factory workers and vi) impact of the "Thai Plus One" investment policy.
Mr. Masato Nakagawa, Executive Fellow of DENSO Corporation, followed with his presentation entitled, "Forefront of Technology Development in Europe - Approach to Development in an Efficient and Rational Manner." Referring to his experience serving as the first director of Aachen Institute, Germany, Mr. Nakagawa discussed the following three points regarding technological development in the country: i) a German way of doing business to drive competitiveness in the auto industry and its industrial structure―the fields of competition and cooperation, ii) a German way of working and iii) an industry-government-academia partnership program such as the Aachen Cluster.
The seminar was attended by JBIC's clients who are interested in human resource management in their overseas subsidiaries and/or manufacturing capabilities to gain a competitive advantage. Following the seminar, a networking reception took place to connect the participants and lecturers.
JBIC will continue to help Japanese MTEs and SMEs to expand their business overseas by providing them with information about overseas investment through seminars.