HIDAJournal 2013 AUTUMN No.3

12/22

10 HIDA JOURNALWe hope Japan’s service quality standards will be adopted in developing countries.Kanezen Corporation (Company Hosting Trainees from Abroad)company is engaged in a training program in Japan for the development of marketing skills of its local employees in China (Hong Kong and Shanghai) by using HIDA’s support project for overseas local personnel training for small service businesses.We interviewed Mr. Kenji Seto, General Affairs Division Manager, to ask him about the progress in the training program and the development of sales personnel. (Interview data: September 2, 2013; interviewer: Hirokazu Baba)Kanezen Corporation is a general food trading company with a history of more than 80 years. The company has the largest share of the market for Tanba-grown black beans and Hokkaido-grown soybeans, which are the company’s main products. In addition to these products, Kanezen deals in a wide range of food products, including flour, seasonings, food additives and processed foods. Starting from August this year, the KANEZEN CorporationHead office:1-1-26, Oimazatominami, Higashinari-ku, Osaka CityEstablished:October 1956Capital:24 million yenNumber of employees:89Line of business:(1) sale of food materials; (2) design,development and sale of original productsFirst, please provide us with an overview of your company.Originally founded in 1930 as Kanezen Cereal and Sugar Store, Kanezen was incorporated as a joint-stock company in 1956. We are engaged in selling food materials mainly to large food manufacturers. We deal in a variety of food products, including beans, seasonings (glutamic acid, etc.), food additives, flour and sugar. By making the most of our know-how and networks of suppliers and customers that we have developed over the past 80 years of business as a cereal store, we also make proposals for the development of new products. To that end, we provide producers with information and technical guidance as well as working in collaboration with our customers to develop products. We have also created an original brand, “Tanba no Kurotaro,” using Tanba-grown black beans and are selling our products under the brand name.After branching out into South Korea in 2002, your company has recently branched out into Hong Kong and Shanghai.In celebration of the 80th anniversary of our company, we established an Overseas Business Division and spent almost an entire year studying Mainland China from north to south as our next-generation market. In Mainland China, consumer preference for safe, reliable and healthy food products is becoming stronger than ever. Therefore, to make proposals for food materials in quick response to local needs, we established a local subsidiary in Hong Kong in 2011 and in Shanghai in 2012. At present, we sell dry foods and seasonings to local food manufacturers and restaurants in China while also managing local suppliers.What prompted you to use the HIDA program for the training of your employees in Hong Kong and Shanghai?In China, we have transactions mostly with Japanese companies. Since many of the purchasing managers of our customer companies are Japanese, we have been feeling the need to train our local employees to learn about business manners for the Japanese. We have sent Japanese staff to China for short-term training. However, we believe that the best way to get Chinese employees to understand the selling points of Japanese products (quality and cooking methods) and ways to obtain customers’ trust is to get them to experience first-hand how products are actually manufactured and sold in Japan. So, upon being informed of HIDA’s program at a seminar sponsored by JETRO, we decided to use the program to get our local staff in Hong Kong and Shanghai to visit Japan.So you have been aware of the need for training in Japan since long time ago.Yes. The greatest advantage of conducting training in Japan is that you can directly feel the products Kanezen is dealing in, along with the scale of our business. Trainees will be able to have tours not only of our company’s facilities but also of the factories of our affiliated companies and suppliers and to see how products are manufactured, thereby deepening their knowledge of the products. At the same time, they will be able to understand the relationship between Kanezen and its local subsidiaries (in Shanghai and Hong Kong) as well as our company’s basic business policies. Such experience will enable Chinese employees to act in accordance with our company’s policies.Also, this is the first opportunity for our Japanese and Chinese employees to meet each other face to face. During the brief period

※このページを正しく表示するにはFlashPlayer9以上が必要です