• 
• 

Published on September 18, 2007

In collaboration with Thailand's Export Promotion Department, Tetsu Kaeida, Jetro's franchise expert, recently visited Thailand as part of a continuing plan by Jetro to promote the Thai services sector by franchising businesses from Thailand to Japan, especially spa and restaurant firms.

"The franchise business in Japan is attractive, because foreign franchises currently hold a market share of 30 per cent," Kaeida said. "Moreover, Japanese consumers are more open to foreign products and services, since many of them have travelled the world and enjoy consuming imported products and services."

Kaeida said Thai franchises possessed incomparable strengths, particularly their originality, which differentiated them from others. These strengths also include a unique work philosophy, the capability of company owners, good franchise structures and good service training modules for franchisees.

He listed four key success factors for entering the Japanese market: franchise businesses must develop their business models to match the Japanese working and consumption cultures; the products and services must have unique selling points or originality; the businesses must have good marketing; and a good franchising system was essential.

Of the 1,146 franchise brands registered in Japan in 2005, 457 were restaurants. They were running as many as 56,865 restaurants with combined sales of 4 billion yen (Bt1.19 billion), he said.

The Nation