* * * * * * * * * T E R R I E 'S T A K E * * * * * * * *
A weekly roundup of news & information from Terrie Lloyd.
(http://www.terrie.com)
General Edition Sunday, June 5, 2005 Issue No. 329
+++ INDEX
- What's new
- Services lineup
- News
- Candidate roundup
- Upcoming events
- Property
- News credits
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+++ WHAT'S NEW
There was an interesting piece in the news this week about
the Justice Ministry planning to formulate laws to allow
the creation of an electronic market for trading accounts
receivables and other similar forms of debt. Although it's
not clear yet whether the Minstry will actually run the
market, or just select operators -- for whomever gets
involved in this, it will be a licence to print money.
The reason is that Japanese small and medium-size companies
are perennially chasing credit, of any sort. Thus a market
where they can finance through their receivables is
something most of them haven't had access to before.
There is a credit-based pecking order among Japanese
companies. At a certain point in their growth, the larger
ones qualify to issue Tegata ("promissory notes") which the
banks will recognize. Although anyone can issue a tegata,
if the banks won't accept it, then suppliers won't either.
But once the banks do accept a company's paper, it becomes
a signal for those companies to go out and start beating up
on their sub-suppliers by forcing them to accept tegata
instead of cash. The online market is for the benefit of
these smaller sub-suppliers.
Larger companies can also buy factoring services from
trading companies and some enterprising banks. Factoring is
similar to using tegata, except that the receivables are
deliberately on-sold after a sales transaction, directly to
the factor. This way, the seller gets their cash straight
away and the risk of collection falls to the factor. The
factor analyzes the financial quality of both the seller
and buyer, and sets their commission accordingly. The
cheapest rate we've heard for factoring is 3% of the value
of the deal, although generally the rate is much higher
than this.
We often wonder why the banks don't make more effort to
service the credit needs of smaller companies -- it's a
massive market opportunity. Possibly the major reason
is the cost of producing and tracking all the loan and
evaluation paperwork. But in these days of computerization,
lenders could simply force companies seeking such financing
to automate as a condition of receiving the credit line.
Certainly this seems to be the objective of the Ministry's
proposed new system -- which will kill three birds with one
stone:
1) set the standards for quality and quantity of disclosure
of financial data by debtors -- reducing lendor
risk,
2) recreate the utility of an electronic market without
costing the SMEs a huge IT investment,
3) set up a market which will encourage financiers to
compete on rates and terms.
With 5m+ companies in Japan, this new market could be quite
a radical advance in SME credit.
Lastly, a comment about why financial institutions have
been historically reluctant to recognize the tegata of SMEs.
Mostly, it's been because of the long credit terms
manufacturers have been giving SME customers -- many times
exceeding 90 days. Thus, a struggling SME can start churning
its tegata as many as 2-3 times before payment problems on
the first order start to become noticed.
Therefore, when a supplier senses a financial problem in a
customer, they immediately panic and imagine the worst.
It is not unusual for an SME rumored to be having financial
problems to be suddenly set upon by creditors' bailiffs and
removal men, who proceed to strip the company of all desks,
OA, and other assets -- on the basis that the repossession
is a "payment in kind" or protecting the creditor's rights
by using the assets as security.
...The Information Janitors/
============== AMT Group's Exclusive Seminar ==============
"Leadership Awareness Seminar" (in Japanese) at AMT Group's
Development Den in Yotsuya. 10:00 - 15:00, June 16 & 17
In a small group (maximum 6 participants):
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* Access 100+ ways to motivate yourself and others
* Practice presenting before a group of peers and
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Total investment: JPY97,000.
E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for details and to register.
And...for a FREE subscription to Andrew�s Ax Leadership
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===========================================================
+++ SERVICES LINE-UP
Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] if you want your company here.
* Personal International Investor -- a convenient source of
ideas and information on how to invest profitably as an
expat in Japan. Every Thursday, 48 weeks of the year.
Completely free.
http://japaninc.typepad.com/personal_intl_investor/
* Advertise with Japan Inc newsletters. JIN and Terrie's
Take cost just 2 yen per person to reach 51,000 people.
Great for last minute offers and event advertising.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
* Get a low-cost office in Tokyo, at the Venture Gas
Station incubator. Just JPY80,000/month, in
Minami-Aoyama. Spaces closing fast -- enquire now.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] Inc. magazine has gone quarterly. Subscriptions
now just JPY3,600 a year. Sign up at
http://www.japaninc.com/mag/subs.html
* Find new bilingual sales staff -- a specialty for
DaiJob.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
* Anyone can buy a .JP domain...online...real-time...in
English! Register now at: http://www.JapanRegistry.com
>>>>--------------------------------------------------<
========================= PM-Global =======================
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We help corporate executives, project sponsors, project
management and other stakeholders address project risk and
help them be more proactive by employing Risk
Identification and Contingency Planning methodologies.
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.pm-global.com/
===========================================================
+++ NEWS
- 1.7GHz, SB, eAccess get the "go" light
- 1m people aged 90+
- AIDS cases surge
- Recruit takes on Yahoo Japan
-> 1.7GHz, SB, eAccess get the "go" light
Our speculation several weeks ago about who would win the
upcoming 1.7GHz bandwidth being released by the government
at the end of this year, was very timely. According to
insiders, both Softbank and eAccess are expected to get at
least 5MHz each, with the remaining 5MHz being awarded
additionally to whichever company exceeds 2.5m customers
first. ***Ed: Should be an interesting race to the start
line, as both companies try to load up on consumer
customers.** (Source: TT commentary from yahoo.co.jp, Jun
3, 2005)
http://tinyurl.com/9qwmv
-> 1m people aged 90+
The extent of the aging of Japan has really struck home
this year, with the release of statistics showing that
there are now more than 1m people aged 90 or older, and
23,000 people aged 100 or older. People aged 65 or older
account for 19.5% of the country's population and a
surprising 7.4% of the workforce. (Source: TT commentary
from forbes.com, Jun 4, 2005)
http://www.eitb24.com/noticia_en.php?id=65494
-> AIDS cases surge
Unprotected casual sex is a Japanese preference which is
starting to have major repercussions among the young.
According to UNAIDS, the official number of HIV/AIDS
suffers in Japan is 10,070 people. However, according to
the head of the AIDS Clinical Center in Tokyo, there are
more likely 20,000 and 30,000 people who are infected and
don't know they have the virus. In 2004, 1,165 newly
infected suffers were reported, up 14% on 2003, and one of
the fastest rates of increase among developed countries.
(Source: TT commentary from etaiwannews.com, Jun 3, 2005)
http://www.etaiwannews.com/World/2005/06/03/1117763544.htm
-> Recruit takes on Yahoo Japan
We're not sure what happened to the highly touted exclusive
recruiting ad deal that Recruit and Yahoo put together
several years ago, but it looks like the alliance isn't
working out. This week Recruit announced it would be
starting an online ad business by investing JPY4.25bn into
buying 11% of cell phone content distributor Cybird.
Recruit has a massive online business, posting job wanted
ads and company details on its various web sites. These
sales total roughly JPY105bn, rivalling Yahoo Japan's
JPY117bn. Now that Recruit is expanding into online ads
beyond recruiting, mainly for ads about shopping and eating
out, the online ad business should heat up, inventory will
increase, and online ad prices will come down further.
(Source: TT commentary from nikkei.co.jp, Jun 1, 2005)
http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Nni20050601D01JFA08.htm
NOTE: Broken links
Many online news sources are now removing their articles
after just a few days of posting them, thus breaking our
links -- we apologize for the inconvenience.
>>>>--------------------------------------------------<
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===========================================================
+++ CANDIDATE ROUND UP
DaiJob, Inc's executive placement team, AMBITION Consulting
-----------------------------------------------------------
DaiJob has great candidates. Contact Alex Burr at
[EMAIL PROTECTED], or Ph: 03-3499-3040 for details.
-> HR Assistant Manager / Associate
Female, early 30s, Korean, 1-kyu Japanese, bus. English
Experience:
- 5 yrs in Japan with 3+ years in HR & General Affairs
- Recruitment management for new employees managing entry
and exit process
- Strong people-to-people & negotiation skills
- Interested in Corporate Recruiting and Employee Relations
* Looking for JPY5M. Available at 2 weeks notice.
--------------------------------------------
-> Sales/Marketing
Female, 30yrs old, Native Japanese, Flunet English
Experience:
- 4yrs account manager, PR, consulting in travel indsutry
- Account management of more than 100 client companies
- Negotiated with air-travel and hotel providers
- Successfully closed over 20 deals in 2 yrs, creating
cost-savings for clients of about 30%
- Researched travel needs of potential clients
- Developed and presented tailored sales proposals to
senior-level managers
- Seeking entrepreneurial position to develop business
for an Asia-based int'l firm
* Looking for JPY5M. Available immediately
--------------------------------------------
-> Procuremnt/Logistics Manager
Male, early 30s , Native English, Fluent Japanese
Experience:
- 4 yrs purchasing experience in IT, shipping & retail
- Negotiated with local and international suppliers
- International freight movement of high-worth equipment
- Managed stock, client demos, and outside warehouse ops
- Increased sales from JPY5m to JPY13m yen/month over a
6-month period for my last employer
* Looking for JPY6M. Available immediately
--------------------------------------------
Contact Alex Burr at [EMAIL PROTECTED], or
Ph: 03-3499-3040 for details.
--------------------------------------------------------
DaiJob's executive placement team, AMBITION Consulting!
+++ UPCOMING EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
============= Entrepreneur's Handbook Seminar =============
Terrie Lloyd, founder of over 12 start-up companies in
Japan will be giving an English-language seminar and Q&A
on starting up a company in Japan. This is an ideal
opportunity to find out what is involved, and to ask
specific questions that are not normally answered in
business books. All materials is Japan-focused.
For more details: http://japaninc.com/handbook_seminar3/
===========================================================
_______________________________________________________
IT events announcements are priced at JPY50,000 per week.
For more information, contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
========================================================
+++ THIS WEEK'S PROPERTY
No new listings this week. But you can see existing
properties at:
http://japaninc.typepad.com/australian_properties_e/
E-mail us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for more details on any
property listed here.
>>>>--------------------------------------------------<
END
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+++ ABOUT US
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