Success stories

ECCO has been represented in the Japanese market since 1982 with a Japanese partner who had the distribution and license production rights for the Japanese market. The Japanese market has for many years been one of the biggest markets within the ECCO Group but it has been difficult to implement global strategic initiatives and align it with the ECCO Group’s overall strategy due to the partnership with the Japanese distributor being handled initially from the global headquarters and then from the regional headquarters in Hong Kong. The major challenges in this respect included language and cultural misunderstandings which were difficult to counter from a distance. ECCO was introduced to the ETP programme back in the 1980’s when the first ECCO employee participated yet many years passed without further involvement. In connection with the establishment of Asia Pacific regional headquarters for ECCO in Hong Kong in 2002 it was decided to actively engage in the ETP programme again in order to strengthen the partnership with the Japanese distributor. The objective for using the ETP programme was to gain a better understanding of the Japanese market and to strengthen the Japanese market’s understanding of the ECCO Group – bottom-line to considerably strengthen communication with the Japanese market. ECCO’s experience with the ETP programme has been very positive during the transition phase over the past years where the company has moved from a distributor to a subsidiary based business model in the Japanese market. Indeed, ECCO’s ETP participants from the 2004 and 2005 cycles have been a driving force in the implementation of this transition phase which would not have been possible without the language skills and cultural knowledge they gained during the ETP programme. The most tangible benefit from the ETP programme was therefore the establishment of a Joint Venture with ECCO’s Japanese partner which later resulted in the current ECCO subsidiary. More generally, Japan is and will remain one of the largest economies in the world for years to come, with a very advanced consumer environment which will continue to present major opportunities for EU companies. ECCO is convinced that ETP will continue to deliver benefits in this context in terms of cultural understanding and language knowledge for EU businesses.

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Japan is very difficult to understand and I found that learning the language was a very efficient tool to understand the Japanese way of thinking and doing business.

Executives who come to Japan to participate in the ETP have a serious advantage over people who do not. You are out of your company for one year, it is a big commitment on the part of your company and a big commitment personally. But at the end of that year, you are left with a deeper understanding of the country and its culture, not only in terms of language, but also business. You are given the tools to operate successfully and competently in that market.

ETP has been a very strong influencing factor for my career in Japan. One of the major issues is the ability to conduct business meetings with Japanese counterparts in business Japanese. The understanding of business Japanese and Japanese business culture at that level is extremely important when you are trying to read the mindset of your counterparts or when interpreting their reaction to your proposals. ETP gives you a competitive advantage and not only in the way that many people would think i.e., a competitive advantage over other foreign companies who do not have someone speaking Japanese. I think there is also a different kind of competitive advantage, namely over domestic companies. Learning the Japanese business culture and the business language as a foreigner enables you to make an impression on Japanese companies and Japanese people. Regardless of whether or not they like the content of your proposal, you will certainly be remembered. So if you can combine good content, a good impact and first-rate negotiation skills, then I think your chances of getting some business done in Japan are actually quite high. So in some ways, I believe that there is a competitive advantage over both foreign and local companies./p>

The skills I learned through the ETP undoubtedly helped me guide my company towards success in Japan. The programme gave me the tools to do it.

I believe that participating in ETP gives you a rare opportunity to get an insider's understanding of the Japanese business culture. The experiences that you gain by working inside a Japanese company as one of its employees, give you a unique understanding of your customer's situation and that of the people you meet in the Japanese business environment. The added advantage of the language gives you the ability to communicate and interact directly, and to be an active participant and partner instead of just an observer working through middle-hands.

I did my training at the global head office of ASICS Corporation in Kobe. By the end of my training, I had been offered a job by the man who later became the president of the company. I was the first ever foreigner to work there and six years on I still work for the same company, back in my home country Sweden. There are a few things in life which you can put your finger on and say ”this really changed my life.” ETP is one of them. ETP is not about what you experience during the hard months of studying Japanese and being a trainee at Japanese companies. It is what happens afterwards – years and decades on. Are you ready for a lifelong commitment and personal engagement as a promoter of Japan in Europe, and Europe in Japan? Then ETP is for you. I would never have met their majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan in their Official Residence if it hadn’t been for my Japanese connection through ETP. Countless other things happened and I remember them fondly. Once upon a time an international Swede who had lived in Stockholm, Barcelona and London was given the opportunity to join ETP. Many years later, she moved back to her home country, still working for the Japanese company where she did her training years earlier. Europe and Japan kept enjoying the benefits of what could all be traced back to one thing: ETP. To be continued. They call it a full-submersion program. That is exactly what it is. It is the first step of a lifelong commitment that will need your continuous nurturing. It takes a lot of energy and guts to go through with ETP but the benefits are millionfold.

ETP gives you the chance to focus on language training and achieve a working level in Japanese, while giving you sufficient access to the business world to familiarize yourself with business customs and to get valuable contacts in the business world.   Coming to Japan relatively early in my career I was convinced that there was only one way of doing things, only one successful way of doing business: ‘our way’. My most important learning was that both in life and in business there are ‘other ways’ and they can be successful too. So in short the most interesting part was and is experiencing the difference.

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ETP has given me the key to unlock the Japanese market. I can conduct meetings in Japanese, read the necessary documents and in the process, have gained the respect of my Japanese colleagues, licensees and clients. ETP is the most valuable resource for gaining access to this huge but still unique market. Participating in ETP has given me the knowledge and confidence to work in a complete Japanese environment seamlessly. Japanese clients and colleagues appreciate the effort one has to put in to master their language and understand their culture. It is a commitment that pays off both in terms of business advancement and personal development. After ETP we created a subsidiary for our company and developed the business. In my next firm, as President, International Licensing at Ralph Lauren, I had to deal with many licensing companies in Japan that had never had direct contact with head office and was able to align the Japanese product offering to the worldwide collection and open a flagship store in Tokyo. Today, in my consulting practice, I help many fashion companies with their market entry strategy into Japan. I am surprised every time I go to Japan, how much Japanese I still speak, even though I don't live there anymore and how much easier it is to do business with the solid foundation, that ETP provided me. I could not have done this without ETP.

The ETP provides a very solid foundation for any professional who wishes to do business in Japan or Korea in terms of language and communication, market knowledge, work experience and networking. ETP graduates acquire some very important skills and experience that provide great value to any organization wishing to develop its business in these countries.

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I spent my internship in a big local company where I had the opportunity to work in three different departments and gain many insights into the industry, to which my company is relatively new. Only then did I fully understand the Korean way of doing business. By spending my days surrounded by local employees, I further understood their culture.

For me ETP Korea was way beyond an educational program for business people. It was a door to great adventures, deep insights, cultural (mis) understandings, business connections, and language minefields. It was a winding road to hearts  & minds of hyperoverworked super dynamic people living by Han river, and upon facing culture and people so different I ultimately got to know myself better. Yet nothing could be more rewarding as going through all that with an enormously great bunch of people what was ETP 6.