Makoto Kimura
Deputy Director, Research & Information Department(MIPRO)
Taiwan is home to many IT, electronics, and automotive parts that rare making inroads into China and other Asian countries. Recent aggressive business alliances with Japanese companies are quickly increasing interest in the Japanese market.
Taking this opportunity, MIPRO held a company invitation seminar in Taipei on Oct. 2, under the joint auspices of Interchange Association, Japan IAJ); Taiwan-Japan Economic Trade Development Fund Association (TWJP); and Taiwanese Corporate Society for Commerce with Japan, to invite advanced companies related to IT, electronics, and automotive parts from Taiwan. At this seminar, a total of six local governments (prefectures and cities) in Japan made presentations to invite investment from Taiwanese companies and held business talks with visiting companies.
The seminar proved to be a major success in that it received the participation of companies related to IT, electronics, and automotive parts that are interested in making inroads into Japan, and received coverage from major media in Taiwan, including the "Economic Daily News" and "Gongshang Shibao."
At the Invest Japan seminar entitled "Introduction of the Japanese Market to Taiwanese Companies," Mr. Ching, President of the Taiwan Corporate Society for Commerce with Japan, and Mr. Hitoshi Funamachi, Deputy Representative of the Taipei Office of Interchange Association, Japan, offered greetings to the participants.
Then President Shuji Miyazaki of MIPRO made a keynote lecture about "promotion of investment in Japan and support of foreign-affiliated companies," and Associate Professor Tomofumi Amano of the Graduate School of Economics, the University of Tokyo, spoke about "successful cases of investment in Japan by Taiwanese companies and Japan-Taiwan corporate alliances."
First, MIPROfs President Miyazaki mentioned the importance of increasing total direct investment in Japan and regional investment in Japan as urgent subjects. Such urgency is due to the fact that direct investment in Japan is less than 3% in terms of nominal GDP ratio, which is the lowest among the advanced countries, and that nearly 80% of investment from overseas is centralized in metropolitan areas, such as Kanto and Koshin-etsu. Based on an empirical study showing that the productivity of foreign-affiliated companies is greater than that of Japanese companies.
Prof. Amano pointed out favorable changes in the environment for foreign companies trying to make inroads into Japan. Such changes include growing enthusiasm for foreign investment, as accepting foreign investment increases the overall productivity of Japan, and institutional improvement through revision of the Company Law that allows not only cash but also stock as a cession counter value of a merger. Prof. Amano also presented leading business alliances between Japan and Taiwan.
Representing the local governments of Japan, six groups from Miyagi Prefecture, Ishikawa Prefecture, Hyogo Prefecture, Okinawa Prefecture, Kitakyushu City, and Fukuoka City made presentations about their geographical conditions and company invitation measures. Also, Mr. Hiroshi Kojima, manager of the East Asian Business Section of Mirai Consulting, a tax accountant company, explained in detail the legal and tax systems for establishing a company in Japan.
The representatives of the local governments that participated in the Taipei seminar visited Nankang Software Science Park on the following day to interview parties concerned from Limpus Technologies Inc., which deals with UNIX software. The representatives also interviewed personnel of the Digital Contents Institute, which is affiliated with Taiwanfs Department of Economy, the Institute for information Industry, and the Taiwan Design Center.
