by carterjmrn | Sep 12, 2011 | Japan Market Entry
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, or GEM has pointed out that in “2000–2009, Japan recorded one of the lowest rates of entrepreneurial activity amongst the world’s leading nations.” The GEM report from 2009 said that “Japan’s citizens exhibit the greatest fear of...
by carterjmrn | Aug 15, 2011 | Uncategorized
Two recent high-profile information security breaches — Sony and U.S. marketing firm Epsilon — have once again highlighted the critical importance of information security. Each of these incidents were called “perhaps the largest and/or worst information leaks in...
by carterjmrn | Aug 8, 2011 | Uncategorized
Two recent high-profile data breaches — at Sony Corp. and U.S. marketing firm Epsilon — have once again highlighted the critical importance of information security. Each of these incidents was referred to as the largest and/ or worst information leak in history and...
by carterjmrn | Jul 7, 2011 | Green Consumer
In the autumn of last year I reflected upon the extraordinary summer heat we had experienced, and the effect of seasonality upon near-term marketing success — or failure. If you recall, last year convenience stores fared well thanks to brisk sales of chilled foods and...
by carterjmrn | Jun 6, 2011 | market-research-blog
At the beginning of this year, I predicted a “perfect marketing storm” in terms of the rapid evolution of both sales/distribution channels and consumer communications channels, requiring companies in Japan — whether foreign or domestic — to work even harder than...
by carterjmrn | May 2, 2011 | Uncategorized
I am filled with hope as I watch literally everyone I know scrambling to find ways to contribute to the rebuilding of the Tohoku region in this post-quake period. Indeed, it is difficult to think of anything else these days. Almost on a daily basis, we hear stories of...
by carterjmrn | Mar 28, 2011 | Uncategorized
On March 13th, 2011, I sorrowfully opened a folder on my laptop called “earthquake.” One week later, it is as full of documents, links and other data as any one of my complicated market research projects. It is difficult to think of anything else, even for those of us...
by carterjmrn | Dec 6, 2010 | Carter Group Viewpoints
Japan is without a doubt the hottest consumer laboratory in the world for consumer connectivity. Looking at “mobile” subscribers, there are some 69 million subscribers using mobile data services, making mobile Internet penetration in Japan more than twice that of the...
by carterjmrn | Nov 10, 2010 | Carter Group Viewpoints
It was back in 2006 that columnist, Maki Fukusawa, alerted us to the possibility that Japan’s fabled salarymen were mutating into something rather more touchy-feely. In a series of articles published on the Nikkei Business website she coined the term “soushoku danshi”...