Thursday, October 7, 2010

Tourism in Japan: A New Frontier for Australian Business

(Published in the Australian New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan Newsletter, October, 2010
http://www.anzccj.jp/static.php?menuid=13&artid=84)

Niseko is now synonymous with commercial success for Australians in Japan, but are there other opportunities for Australian tourism and service industry ventures around the country?
Since 2000, Australian tourism and investment in the Niseko region of Hokkaido has continued to grow. The recent ‘endaka’ may see something of a reduction in the numbers of Australian skiers who can afford to travel to the Niseko this season, but any reduction would likely be a small aberration and have little noticeable impact on the region these days, as while Australians alone account for 55% of all visitors to Niseko, since 2006, the percentage of non-Australian foreign tourists to the region grew from 9% to 45%. This growth in foreign tourists continues to help the region prosper in the face of a continued decline in the number of Japanese tourists to the region who still make up 75% of all tourists, but whose numbers continue to decline steadily.

Visitors from Hong Kong booked 15,802 nights of accommodation in the region last year, compared with 5,330 nights of accommodation booked by Australians. The ‘bolter from behind’ in the race for beds in the Niseko region has been the mainland Chinese who at 3,604 nights of accommodation have overtaken the number of Korean, Singaporean and American tourists and have almost caught up to the Taiwanese (whose numbers have dropped from a high in 2007).

Despite some pressure on real estate investments in the Niseko region attributed to the Global Financial Crisis or ‘Lehman Shock’, in the recently released statistics for Japanese real estate values, Kutchan Town (a part of the greater Niseko region) has experienced the highest growth in real estate values in Japan for the second year in a row and is only one of 330 or so survey points amongst the 22,000 in Japan surveyed to have experienced growth, or at least held the their value.

Earlier this year YTL Group, one of Malaysia’s leading infrastructure conglomerates relieved Citi Group of the Niseko Village development, which includes the Niseko Hilton, Higashi Yama and Green Leaf Hotel properties. This is the Malaysian company’s first foray into Japan and in anticipation of the continued growth in tourism from Asia, they are starting with a US$10 million refurbishment of the 200 room Green Leaf Hotel and are continuing on a program of sales to foreign tourists. In a continuing trend towards Asian investment in the area, which commenced with the sale of the Australian owned Nihon Harmony ski resort to PCCW of Hong Kong in 2007, the Yamada Onsen Hotel was sold to Chinese interests last Spring and in September this year GHM of Singapore and Club Med have just announced a major high end investment in Rusutsu town. The Capella resort group from the US is on target with a greenfields development scheduled to commence in 2012.
Whilst it’s interesting to see the impact that Australian tourism and capital has had on regional Japan, how can Australian businesses learn from this example, can this be replicated in other parts of Japan and what opportunities are flowing from the wider growth in foreign tourism numbers in Japan?

These days Australian officials meeting government and industry representatives in other regions of Japan are often asked if we can get Australians to replicate the Niseko phenomenon in their corner of the country. And while there is no denying that the insight, nous and perseverance of a succession of our countrymen and women was critical, the ingredients for the successful growth of Niseko also included the facts that:
•business practices are probably relatively less restrictive in Hokkaido compared to other parts of Japan
•guaranteed excellent powder skiing in the same time zone as Australia during our long holidays is probably a safer investment than what our own ski fields have to offer, and once the commitment is made to Japan,
•air transfers to Sapporo via Narita or Kansai are probably easier for travelling Australians than having to transfer to trains. Also,
•the investment in Japanese language options in schools in Australia has probably also paid off as now many Australians are comfortable with travelling to Japan and
•the working holiday visa also meant that Australians could provide a ready and willing workforce during the ski season, thus fuelling the demand.

No doubt dealing with the local authorities over the years has had its challenges, as is probably the case for businesses in Australia as well, but from the perspective of the Australian Consulate and Austrade Sapporo, the regional government organisations of Niseko appear highly committed to building the infrastructure needed to attract and retain foreign nationals. They are working on solving international education options for foreign and mixed-race children and multi-language capable medical facilities. This month the towns of Niseko and Kutchan have announced the amalgamation of their tourism promotion efforts and are expanding the use of social media marketing devices such as Twitter and Facebook to improve their exposure. One of Niseko’s biggest assets is Paul Haggart, a long-term Japan resident Kiwi with fluent Japanese and excellent cultural awareness, who is their Tourism Strategy and Promotion Section Manager. Niseko also employs a Chinese national to help build that business.

As several key figures in Niseko point out, the ‘White Season’ tends to sell itself but there is a concerted effort to promote the “Green Season” as well as the “Brown Seasons” of spring and autumn and more and more tourists are finding the Niseko area has numerous attractions and diversions to keep them entertained in a relaxing environment. ‘Food tourism’ is also big on the menu.

Statistics recently published by the Japan Tourism Agency point to Japan being the 33rd most visited country in the world and Japan ranks 8th in Asia. To put this into context, Australia is ranked 11th in the world just behind Mexico whose foreign tourism is obviously dominated by sun-seeking Americans. France is the country with the most foreign visitors and the US ranks second in the world. China is the most popular foreign tourism destination in Asia and is ranked 4th in the world. But Japan is working hard to build its image, be more accommodating, especially of the Chinese tourists and international tourism to Japan will continue to grow.

As we watch Japan struggle to capture and cope with the sudden boom in tourism especially from China, are there opportunities for Australian businesses to capitalize through the provision of goods and services to Japanese companies?

The anecdotal evidence seems to be that whilst the Chinese are spending a lot while in Japan, spending tends to be primarily on bargain priced electrical goods or cosmetics and medicines from discount stores. Australian managed bars and restaurants in Japan make the same lament as their Japanese counterparts when it comes to serving Chinese diners – they tend to choose the highest quality/cost foods on the menu and drink tea all night, thus eroding the profits of the establishment.

Bearing in mind that it’s generally tough going for higher cost and better quality food and beverage products from Australia in this deflationary Japanese market, there may be possible niche supply opportunities for Australian companies exporting products and ingredients tailored to the Asian markets to also look at diversifying their supply to businesses catering to those customers in Japan.

However, there are probably more significant opportunities in the services sector. Quite a few Australians throughout Japan are involved in hotel businesses, from management positions in the major international chains through to the entrepreneurial Australian who has invested in a couple of the quintessentially Japanese ‘love hotels’. This should indicate that Australian expertise and insight into services associated with profitable and successful tourism business is valued in Japan.
Therefore, I can envisage opportunities for Australians with experience in providing training, management and expertise associated with running tourism related service industries as being highly regarded in Japan – a position which is backed up by our own successful tourism industry and the recognised success of Australians in the sector in Japan.
High personnel costs in Japan mean that Australian businesses which can identify staffing efficiencies, offer a full suite of services targeted to specific sectors of the tourist market without the inefficient ‘over-servicing’ of customers as often happens in Japan, will find opportunities for growth in line with the growth in tourism to Japan. New entrants to the market have the advantage of being able to go to where the market need is rather than relying on the expectation that foreign tourists will travel somewhere merely because that’s what Japanese tourists have always done. This is another reason why Niseko has flourished while other Japanese ski resorts have floundered, even though shinkansen lines were laid to their doorstep.

In the meantime, happy skiing! And if you need some more warm weather, you can always fly from Haneda to Kuala Lumpur for 5,000 yen!


David Lawson
Trade Commissioner and Consul
Australian Consulate (Austrade), Sapporo
David is currently filling this position on a temporary basis. David joined Austrade in 1997 to fill the same role in Sendai after running a Japan-specialist consultancy for 9 years. Since finishing his term in Sendai in 2001, David spent 4 years as Austrade’s Trade Commissioner in South Australia and recently completed an assignment as Consul-General and Trade Commissioner in San Francisco.

Monday, June 14, 2010

World Innovation Forum 2010 (NYC) - Insights by Mitch Ditkoff

"Thought leaders will soon be a thing of the past"

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/33FpIr/www.business-strategy-innovation.com/wordpress/2010/06/world-innovation-forum-2010//r:t


World Innovation Forum 2010
Submitted by Blogging Innovation on June 13, 2010 – 9:28 am by Mitch Ditkoff

I just returned from the World Innovation Forum in NYC.

My big insight? Thought leaders will soon be a thing of the past.

In their place? Feeling leaders — business savants who have made the journey from head to heart and aren’t afraid to let the rest of us know what they’ve learned along the way.

I’m not talking warm and fuzzy. Nor am I diminishing the thoughtfulness of WIF presenters. They were. Thoughtful, that is. Very.

But it wasn’t so much their thinking that moved me — as it was the feeling behind their thinking.

No matter what business you’re in, the engine of innovation is really about being moved. That’s what movements are made of — the heartfelt, intrinsically motivated effort to get off of dead center and accomplish something meaningful.

This is the crossroads all of us are standing at these days — the intersection between this and that. What the newspaper industry is going through. And the music industry. And the television industry — just to name a few.

My heroes, these days, are the people who don’t just stand at the crossroads, but dance — inspired individuals who find great delight in the paradoxes, get juiced by the challenges, and realize that “innovation” is not a program, initiative, or model, but a way of life.

That’s the main reason why I enjoyed the World Innovation Forum so much.

Because that was precisely the mindset of the presenters — and the people who attended — no matter what industry, pedigree, or astrological sign.

As I watched the 13 WIF presenters do their conference thang, I got some unexpected insights into the art and science of delivering a memorable presentation to a global audience of innovation-hungry patrons.

So, for all of you conference keynote wannabees out there, take note. Here’s part 1 of your tutorial.

1.Be in tune with your purpose: If you’re going to hold an audience’s attention for more than 10 minutes, you’ve got to begin by holding firm to your purpose… your calling… what gets you out of bed in the morning. If it’s missing, all you could ever hope to deliver is a speech — which is NOT what people want to hear.

If your purpose is clear, you’re home free and won’t need a single note card.

Mark Twain said it best: “If you speak the truth, you don’t need to remember a thing.”

2.Be passionate: Realize you are on the stage to let it rip. Completely. People are sitting in the audience because they want an experience, not just information. They want to feel something, not just hear something.

So play full out. Pull the rip cord. Jump!

3.Connect with the audience: You may know a lot of stuff. You may have a double Ph.D, but unless you know how to connect with the audience, your knowledge ain’t worth squat.

If you were a tree falling in a conference room, no one would hear it.

So tune in! Establish rapport! Connect! And that begins by respecting your audience and realizing you are there to serve, not preach.

4.Tell stories: That’s how great teachers have communicated since the beginning of time. Storytelling is the most effective way to disarm the skeptic and deliver meaning in a memorable way.

“The world is not made of atoms,” explained poet, Muriel Rukyser. “It’s made of stories.”

No bull. Parable!

5.Have a sense of humor: There’s a reason why HAHA and AHA are almost spelled the same. Both are about the experience of breakthrough. And both are sparked when the known is replaced by the unknown, when continuity is replaced by discontinuity.

Hey, admit it. At the end of the day, if you can’t find the humor in business, you’re screwed. So, why wait for the end of the day. Find the humor now.

6.Get visual: It’s become a corporate sport to make fun of power point, but power point can be a thrill if done right. A picture really is worth a thousand words.

If you want to spark people’s imagination, use images more than words. The root of the word imagination is image.

7.Have confidence: Do you know what the root of the word “confidence” is? It comes from the Latin “con-fide” — meaning “to have faith.” Have faith in what? Yourself.

That’s not ego. It’s the natural expression of a human being coming from the place of being called.

So, if you’re about to walk out on stage and are feeling the impostor syndrome coming on, stop and get in touch with what is calling you.

Let that guy/gal speak.

8.Trim the Fat: When Michelangelo was asked how he made the David, he said it was simple — that he merely took away “everything that wasn’t.”

The same holds for you, oh aspiring-keynote-presenter-at-some-future high-profile-conference (or, at the very least, pep-talk-giver to your kid’s Junior High School soccer team).

Keep it simple. Or, as Patti LaBarre, the delightful MC at the World Innovation Forum put it, “Minimize your jargon footprint.”

9.Celebrate what works: If you want to raise healthy kids, reinforce their positive behaviors — don’t obsess on the negative. The same holds true for conference keynotes.

If you want to raise a healthy audience, give them examples of what’s working out there in the marketplace. Feature the “bright spots,” as Chip Heath likes to say. Share victories, best practices, and lessons learned.

Save the bitching and moaning for your therapist.

10.Walk the Talk: Good presenters are genuinely moved. Being genuinely moved, it’s natural for them come out from behind the podium and actually move around the stage — as in, walking the talk.
Big thanks to Michael Porter, Michael Howe, Jeff Kindler, Chip Heath, Andreas Weigend, Biz Stone, Seth Godin, Brian Shawn Cohen, Wendy Kopp, Ursula Burns, Joel Makower, Jeffrey Hollender and Robert Brunner for their presentations at the World Innovation Forum.

Special thanks to Seth Godin for his bold effort to remind people that “there is no map, not even a fictional map” — and that all he could do was point the way there. Lucid. (Start walking, people!)

And last, but not least, a big thank you to Patricia Meier, Santiago Muro, George Levy, Becky Gee, Sebastian Mackinlay, Kelsey Woods, and the entire HSM team for all their hard work, good cheer, and vision to make this year’s WIF such a delight.

Mitch Ditkoff is the Co-Founder and President of Idea Champions and the author of “Awake at the Wheel”, as well as the very popular Heart of Innovation blog http://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Twitter, ABC's "QandA" Program and social participation

After four years in the US, one of the things I most enjoyed about coming back to Australia was reconnecting with the Australian Broadcasting Commission's (ABC) excellent current affairs programming on radio and television.

One program I have particularly enjoyed has been the Question and Answer (QandA) program on ABC TV on Monday nights. Quoting the website (http://www.abc.net.au/tv/video/downloads.htm#?vid=qanda), "Q&A puts punter, pollies and pundits together in the studio to thrash out the hot issues of the week. It's about democracy in action - on Q&A the audience gets to ask the questions. Q&A is hosted by one of the ABC's most respected journalists - Tony Jones."

A third and perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of this program is the real-time TV audience participation generated through Twitter. Following #qanda on Twitter makes you feel like you're in a rowdy town hall political rally and rather than just shouting at your TV in a vacuum, Twittering allows you to share your comments with the wider Twitterati and QandA has also started publishing some of those Twitter comments on the bottom of the screen.

Has Twitter brought us back to old-style Town Hall politicking from the comfort of our own lounge room? How are the political parties responding and engaging with this new phenomenon? And how can I get a computer screen big enough to be able to capture the thousands of Twitter comments and how do I weed out the clever from the profane?

Perhaps an enterprising programmer can solve these problems for us all.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Monday, November 16, 2009

Some things to look for when seeking venture capital

Venture capital firms are not just a source of finance for the lucky few who manage to pitch their idea better than the thousands of other innovators competing for scarce resources.

A venture capital firm looks beyond the idea and is often more concerned with the team who will deliver the business growth.

In the same way, when seeking an investment by a venture capital firm, don't just spend your time marching up and down Sand Hill Road, rattling the tin for contributions hoping for the quickest offer of a term sheet. Instead, you need to view the process as a courtship. In the same way that a job interview is really an "inter-view" - an opportunity for a company to size you up, but also an opportunity for you to gain direct insight into the team you may be working with - you need to work out if you can work with this team.

  1. Will the VC team be able to help marshal all of the non-financial resources you will need to scale up your business? 
  2. Will they be an active or passive board member? 
  3. Can they help you find the right staff and do they have the connections to help you get the product or service to market quickly and efficiently? 
  4. Will they be a useful sounding board and source of ideas for when the going gets really tough?

Bear in mind that for the VC money they will have active board involvement to ensure that they maximize the return to their investment and minimize the risk that the entrepreneur is going to make mistakes. And they have most likely seen all those mistakes before.

Remember that this relationship will likely last several years and for the success of the business, it has to last. But there will be an end - because the VC must be focussed on 'the exit'. VCs are always looking at how they  will recoup their investment and pay back their Limited Partners with profit


So when preparing your pitch remember that the VC is not just a source of finance to help an innovator on the path to mega wealth, you have to make the relationship work.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Unleashing the Collective Genius of Employees

Unleashing the Collective Genius of Employees is the name of a webcast from Stanford University which I watched recently. It describes an excellent idea for capturing and encouraging innovation in the workplace. If you're interested in watching the whole seminar it takes less than 1 hour and can be found here. http://tinyurl.com/ylnf3fm

In summary, it describes a kind of 'stock market' for ideas in which participants (the employees) are given notional capital to invest in the ideas generated from within the company. The idea is that rather than have good ideas lost in the 'ideas basket' because of a lack of time or resources or because the promotor of the idea can't navigate the politics, there is a mechanism to have ideas investigated and championed (or quashed) based on an internal market mechanism.